May Flowers

As they say, April showers bring... well you know!  All of the hard work in March and April has the application almost ready for the v1.0 release.  I've said it before, there are still a million details to add, but it should be close enough to get out there for the world to see.  I know that between now and the Fall Season that I'll be able to get most of the extra details completed.

My approach to this all along has been an extremely agile methodology (something I advocate and teach in my day job).  Building software in that methodology helps to eliminate over thinking it up front and allows it to organically grow.  If you were to build your house this way you would start with just the framing and then address each room individually.  The rooms may start out with only curtains for walls and as you become more comfortable with the house, you might add sheetrock or other wall material.  You would have the opportunity to change your mind as much as you like and eventually have a room that fit you exactly.  You would be able to change the elevation of the house many times until you settled on the style and colors.  Unfortunately, you might not be able to live in the house for a while, but it would be exactly what you wanted when you got to the end, or if it wasn't you could keep making changes to your hearts content.

This application has been similar to that.  I've made sweeping design changes and completely removed or added functionality based on where I thought the site was going.  Now I'm at the point where I'm nitpicking details about colors and placement (not the fun stuff) getting it ready to launch.  Finishing is always the most time consuming part and I have to catch myself from not adding another feature until I finish the ones that are already there.

Regardless, the software has performed wonderfully.  I completed the Organization comparison and used it to identify the players who were leading in all of the categories across multiple teams.  It was very cool!

I missed an opportunity this week however.  This coming Saturday and Sunday is the end of year Mayla tournament where dozens of local teams will be present.  Had I been more marketing savvy, I would have been ready to show off the software during the tournament.  At this late date the all I'll be able to have ready would be business cards and flyers, neither which excite me.  So if anyone has any ideas about how to show off the software during the tournament, please drop me a note!

This week, I'll be working on the small details, trying to polish up the areas that still have a need.  I have a few features that I would like to add, but I won't until the polishing is complete.