Blog
Code Elixir
Aaron's thoughts on software and business
Oct
15
CUSTOM SOFTWARE
Forget the Hourly Rate and Hire the Best
We're continuing our series on how not to get burned in a web development project. Step one: begin with a good contract and ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Aug
27
Custom Software
Setting Clear Expectations
We're continuing our series on how not to get burned in a web development project. Step one: begin with a good contract. Today, we tackle another don't-get-burned: ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Aug
13
Custom Software
Begin With a Good Contract
In our last article, we provided 3 steps to setting yourself up for a successful software development project. Today we continue by providing further information ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jul
30
Custom Software
Setting Yourself Up For Success
Choosing the right web developer can be a difficult process. Especially if you're new to the world of source coding, HTML and custom software, ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
May
31
Business Advice - 10% good stuff, 90% BS
We find business advice everywhere. Books, articles (like this one),
talks, from friends and coleagues... the list goes on. But as we gather ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Sep
30
11:45 AM
0 Comments
Topics:
Business
Should a Business Owner Care Which Programming Language is Used?
There is a lot of discussion out there about the programming languages. Which one is better? What should you use for your web ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Sep
10
01:00 PM
0 Comments
Topics:
Business,
Management,
Software Engineering
The Perfect Balance - Using Your Time and Money Wisely
Most software projects fail.
I am not sure what the exact statistics are now, but not long ago it was about 80% of software projects that ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Sep
03
The Future of Corporate IT
In the software world, we live in the wild, wild west. Software development is hardly more
than a handful of decades old and has only gained the attention of non-techies ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Aug
21
11:00 AM
0 Comments
Topics:
IT Department,
Software Engineering
Writing FUBAR - What the Hell are Programmers Thinking?
When I first began learning programming, I saw a lot of examples that looked like this:
int foo = 5;
int bar = foo ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Aug
09
The Matthew Effect
"For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever
does not have, even what he has will be taken from him" (Matthew 25:29) ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jul
29
If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail
Back in the days of grade school, we were all taught to put together an outline before writing our paper. I remember it well. And I think most of us hated it. ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jul
21
To Cloud Or Not To Cloud
The Cloud
It's the new buzz word.
In my last post I discussed Bleeding Edge versus Cutting Edge technologies. When a new technology suddenly ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jul
19
Bleeding Edge or Cutting Edge
In today's fast paced world, especially within the technology sector, everything is changing on a daily basis. What was new becomes common place and what was common ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jul
12
Simplicity Rules - Keep Focused on a Single Theme
Over the years I have been involved in the design and construction of dozens of applications.
What I have found is that the application begins ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jul
11
06:00 AM
0 Comments
Topics:
Business,
Management,
Software Engineering
The Value of an Outsider's Perspective
In my last article, I discussed the 15 minute rule. This is a simple little rule I use to help determine when it is time to either step away or ask for ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jul
10
Efficiency at its Best - The 15 Minute Rule
Whenever I start a new employee, there is a bit of time when they are feeling out the waters. Do they ask a lot of questions and risk annoying their boss ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jul
09
06:00 AM
0 Comments
Topics:
Business,
Management
Think Before You Leap (And Save Money and Time in the Process)
Over the last few weeks I have met with a new client. This client had done their homework and even had screen designs for how they wanted ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jul
02
Why Work When You Can Play?
Before I begin telling you how you can have fun and play all day instead of work, work, work, let me set up some "Aaron definitions" for you. These definitions ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jun
29
If You Want To Be A Programmer, Program!
If You Want To Be A Programmer, Program! Am I stating the obvious. You would think so. However, I am constantly talking to would-be programmers that have ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jun
27
11:15 AM
0 Comments
Topics:
Business
It's not that my prices are good. It's the other prices that are bad.
This is a quote I recently read on Michael Masterson's blog at Early To Rise. It struck home as I was thinking much the same thing ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jun
26
The Art of SQL Report Writing
Part 5 of 5
Query Optimization
While the topic of query optimization could fill a book and is as much of an art as it is a science,
I did want to ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jun
25
The Art of SQL Report Writing
Part 4 of 5
An Example
Here we are going to walk through a real world example. In fact, this is exactly what we have
done in updating our blog ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jun
12
The Art of SQL Report Writing
Part 3 of 5
Building Queries
Before I begin this section, I would like to emphasize that the technique here is
meant to get you a simple and methodical approach ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
May
30
The Art of SQL Report Writing
Part 2 of 5
Organizing the DB Diagram
The first step to any development project is to organize yourself and map out what you are
going to work on. I always like ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
May
30
The Art of SQL Report Writing
Part 1 of 5
Introduction
Today we live in a data driven society. There is data everywhere and it can be more easily
collected and processed than ever. Businesses ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
May
28
Software Start Up on a Tight Budget
Part 5 of 5
No matter how much you know, there is always an opportunity to learn more. The best of us are students of life as it allows us to keep growing without ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
May
28
Software Start Up on a Tight Budget
Part 4 of 5
Before you begin work to start creating your product, it is critical that you think through just how your business will operate. If you don't have this ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
May
24
Software Start Up on a Tight Budget
Part 3 of 5
Getting to Work
Once you have your idea mapped out, a rough idea of your business model and know who is going to help you start up and run your business, ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
May
22
Software Start Up on a Tight Budget
Part 2 of 5
Getting Yourself Ready
While most of us are eager to dive in and get started, it is immensely important that you take some time to map our your idea ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
May
21
Software Start Up on a Tight Budget
Part 1 of 5
Recently I went to a talk by a highly successful entrepreneur here in the Kansas City area, Jon Darbyshire. One of the things he said was that what ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
May
19
Usability - The Opportunities Everyone Has Missed
For the last 30 years the desktop computer has been available to the home user. Over this period, we have watched as the user interfaces have slowly ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
May
14
The Need for Speed
Today, everything seem to be changing on a daily basis. Products come and go almost in a blink of the eye. Today's fad is yesterday's has been. With how things seem to change so ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
May
11
Job Jumpers and How to Manage Short Term Employees
In an article I read yesterday in the KC Chamber Business Intelligence Brief there was an article on the new generation of workers and their attitudes ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
May
10
The Value of a CS Degree
It has been over 13 years now since I left my college days behind to enter the work world. I grew up in an environment where I was taught "get a good education, get a good ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jul
12
In his book Ready, Fire, Aim, Michael Masterson provides a number of insightful ways to help build a business from the ground up. One of the topics he mentions is the Rule of Gold vs. the Golden ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Feb
26
08:00 AM
0 Comments
Topics:
IT Department,
Management,
Software Engineering
Interviewing Programmers
Recently I had a client ask me about an article that claimed 99.5% of programmers they interviewed couldn't even write a few lines of simple code.
His question: "From ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Feb
15
08:00 AM
0 Comments
Topics:
IT Department,
Software Engineering
Software Development: Why is it Such a Mystery?
When tackling a software project, most people have difficulty grasping exactly what needs to be done and how they are to go about doing it. Software ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jan
19
08:00 AM
0 Comments
Topics:
Software Engineering
The 5 Most Important Things Programmers Should Know (but never learn in school)
Over the years of leading software engineering teams, I have had the opportunity to interview students from a number of ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Sep
11
Being a Leader in Your Industry
What is the best way to strangle your business to death? Hording knowledge and over concern about protecting your intellectual property could be sending your ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jul
25
Standards for Success
Over the years, it has amazed me how people respond when talking about standards...
Some people love them. They see the standards as guidance from the ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jul
19
It's an IT Revolution
One day, several years back, I went to a meeting with a number of other programmers to learn more about how software was developed and tools used at our company. It was a rather ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jun
28
08:00 AM
0 Comments
Topics:
Java Programming,
Software Engineering
Error Handling - Ignore, Hide or Run Away
Disclaimer: Note that throughout this article I am use System.out and/or System.err to send error messages to the user. In a real application you should NOT ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
Jun
19
Java Logging Made Easy
Not long ago I joined a friend of mine for lunch to discuss what we were both doing in our new jobs. My friend had recently started a job with a local IT training company teaching ...
Posted By Aaron Bono
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