getting things done
Posted on Become a Better Developer

Getting Things Done And Avoiding Busywork

We take a slight pause in the Creating a Software Solution series to look at productivity.  One of the key attributes of a good developer and team is the ability to accomplish goals.  Yes, this is obvious, but getting things done is not.  In this class and discussion we look at how to move things from your in box to the out box. Getting Things Done Instead of Working Hard We cover being busy instead of being productive.  Along the way we look at some tools and provide tips for your professional and personal productivity challenges.  This class can apply to anyone. However, we want to emphasize productivity as a step to take before moving to implementation of your software... Read more

pinpoint
Posted on AWS Tour

Amazon Pinpoint Targeted Marketing Made Easy

Amazon provides a broad range of tools, but Pinpoint drifts more into marketing than their standard developer tool. Pinpoint is About Applications The first thing you should know is that this service aims at communicating with your app users.  As a side effect, it tracks usage.  This service integrates with several other application related services we have not yet covered.  These include the Mobile Hub, Device farm, Cognito, and others. Pinpoint provides an API and related services to generate analytics for your application users.  Then you can feed that data into the messaging service to communicate with your users.  The message is sent based on usage.  Thus, it has an improved chance of being read.  Think of it as a form... Read more

estimating
Posted on Become a Better Developer

Providing Greater Value to Your Customer or Employer

We are employed to provide value to our employer.  That is the bottom line of any employment contract.  Thus, when you offer greater value to them, you are more likely to continue employment and advance in your career.  There are many ways to provide higher value so let’s look at some of the “low hanging fruit” steps we can take. Business Knowledge Provides Greater Value This is a fundamental part of any job and any role.  The more you understand the business you are in and how you bring value, the more you will be able to see opportunities to contribute more.  This knowledge is where you can provide process improvements and reduce waste.  Your regular tasks should all be... Read more

simple email service
Posted on AWS Tour

Simple Email Service from Amazon

As we continue our AWS tour, this stop is the Simple Email Service.  This service is a great tool for adding email to your AWS environment.  It is secure and scalable. Straightforward and Secure Email Almost every app we build these days requires us to send email notifications somewhere along the way.  This may be a registration email, a password change, or some other information.  Of course, sending those emails require an account and SMTP setup.  Typically we grab a developer email address to start and then move over to an app email later.  For example, we will create info@myapp.com or a similar address to handle the sending and receiving of emails. The challenge for all of this is that we are... Read more

cloud watch
Posted on AWS Tour

AWS Cloud Watch – Monitor Your Environment

When you start using some AWS resources, it will become useful to monitor them as well.  Thus, Amazon has provided the Cloud Watch service to efficiently accomplish this task.  It follows the pattern of being a low entry cost tool that can grow to a valuable enterprise solution. What Does Cloud Watch Do? In the world of odd names for Amazon services, this one ignores the trend.  The name sums up the service very well.  This one helps you watch your cloud services on Amazon.  The tool works in a fashion similar to other monitoring options on the market.  It provides a way to build dashboards, watches, and send notifications.  The tool makes it easy to select from a list of... Read more