Comments on: On meeting Phil Hodgen http://www.accmanpro.com/2008/03/17/on-meeting-phil-hodgen/ Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:01:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Dennis Howlett http://www.accmanpro.com/2008/03/17/on-meeting-phil-hodgen/comment-page-1/#comment-4618 Dennis Howlett Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:19:37 +0000 http://www.accmanpro.com/2008/03/17/on-meeting-phil-hodgen/#comment-4618 Excellent points Philip and which speak to the issue of change but ones that are increasingly being accommodated in the newer forms of software. My sense is that once people get familiar with things like RSS in IE7 then I think we'll see a mass shift - that's maybe a year out. Excellent points Philip and which speak to the issue of change but ones that are increasingly being accommodated in the newer forms of software. My sense is that once people get familiar with things like RSS in IE7 then I think we’ll see a mass shift – that’s maybe a year out.

]]> By: Phil Hodgen http://www.accmanpro.com/2008/03/17/on-meeting-phil-hodgen/comment-page-1/#comment-4617 Phil Hodgen Wed, 19 Mar 2008 23:23:32 +0000 http://www.accmanpro.com/2008/03/17/on-meeting-phil-hodgen/#comment-4617 Actually I think I have identified the essential element I need for collaboration software. (I'm talking of project-driven business transactions, where all of the project communication and documents are centralized and shared among people inside and outside of my business). Normal people live inside email to communicate with each other. For better or worse, I deal day-to-day with normal people, and not the people who have Twitter accounts and a blog. The software tool has to adapt to the way people are, rather than the way they should interact with each other if they knew what was good for them. In my experiments with internal collaborative software as well as software to work with the outside world (OK, an extranet, if you must), I have noticed that if you don't pander to people's basic familiarity with email and their intrinsic fear of the new, you're going to fail. People just won't use the tool presented to them. This is one reason I pitched BaseCamp to the wolves, although there are several other reasons as well. :-) Actually I think I have identified the essential element I need for collaboration software. (I’m talking of project-driven business transactions, where all of the project communication and documents are centralized and shared among people inside and outside of my business).

Normal people live inside email to communicate with each other. For better or worse, I deal day-to-day with normal people, and not the people who have Twitter accounts and a blog.

The software tool has to adapt to the way people are, rather than the way they should interact with each other if they knew what was good for them.

In my experiments with internal collaborative software as well as software to work with the outside world (OK, an extranet, if you must), I have noticed that if you don’t pander to people’s basic familiarity with email and their intrinsic fear of the new, you’re going to fail. People just won’t use the tool presented to them.

This is one reason I pitched BaseCamp to the wolves, although there are several other reasons as well. :-)

]]> By: Phil Hodgen http://www.accmanpro.com/2008/03/17/on-meeting-phil-hodgen/comment-page-1/#comment-4616 Phil Hodgen Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:03:46 +0000 http://www.accmanpro.com/2008/03/17/on-meeting-phil-hodgen/#comment-4616 Dennis, It was a treat that you and I happened to be in San Francisco at the same time. I'm glad we could meet for a cup of coffee. I deeply resent the intrusion of inflexible software in my business ("No," says the software vendor, "you will run your life the way our software is written and you will LIKE IT!") so hearing from you was invigorating. The message I got from you? (1) There IS software outside the legal-specific vertical market. (2) I will have to put up with a bit of systems complexity in my life, small-pieces-loosely-joined notwithstanding. I'm keeping my eyes open and will look at Wordframe. I can't believe that 4 people (that's our full-time staff here) need TWO f-ing servers. Yet that's what we have. I don't want to live in that world. Dennis,

It was a treat that you and I happened to be in San Francisco at the same time. I’m glad we could meet for a cup of coffee.

I deeply resent the intrusion of inflexible software in my business (“No,” says the software vendor, “you will run your life the way our software is written and you will LIKE IT!”) so hearing from you was invigorating.

The message I got from you? (1) There IS software outside the legal-specific vertical market. (2) I will have to put up with a bit of systems complexity in my life, small-pieces-loosely-joined notwithstanding.

I’m keeping my eyes open and will look at Wordframe. I can’t believe that 4 people (that’s our full-time staff here) need TWO f-ing servers. Yet that’s what we have. I don’t want to live in that world.

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