3terra

It's amazing how much software is required to manage and run a professional services company. In addition to being good at architecting and developing client solutions, there is all of the other business related "stuff."

 

I've been a user of 37signal's Backpack for quite awhile. We've used it extensively to organize aspects of previous projects and I continue to be amazed by its usefulness.

 

We've now branched out to use BaseCamp for the project management side of things as well. Again, it's very simple but that's part of its elegance. What I'm very excited about is the use of Cashboard in our operations. It's not a 37signals product, but it has certainly been developed with that paradigm in mind (plus it also integrates very well with BaseCamp.)

 

Cashboard is an excellent tool for managing timesheets, estimates, invoices, and accounting-related information. Best of all, it's accessible anywhere and that's a very good thing for people on the move.

 

We deal primarily with Microsoft tools and it's been suggested that we "eat our own dog food" by using Microsoft tools exclusively. Luckily the ALT.NET movement is coming along nicely and people are realizing that it's best to use the most appropriate solutions that the community has to offer regardless of which company built the product.

 

… and the community has a lot to offer. If you want to be amazed, take a look here at the various issue tracking systems available. Tough choices but due dilligance has its rewards .

Richard Obuhowich

By Shawn Ellsworth

These days, the face of a company isn't its founder, CEO or even a PR firm... it's the company website. Businesses need to put their best face forward on the web, but websites are often riddled with easy to avoid mistakes. Here's a list of 7 mistakes to avoid when creating any website.

Hidden Content and Overcrowding
Imagine someone trying to find of buy something on your site. How many clicks does it take for them to find it. If it's more than 3, then they have already left. If you can't reduce the clicks to get to certain content, provide easy to find shortcuts to your most popular items. Providing too many links links and other components can make it hard for visitors to find the content they want. Work to create a balance.

Large Images and Flashy Animations
Large images, movies and animation files that take time to download will often put off everyone except for those with the fastest Internet connections. Even if they download your animations, people come to the web to quickly get what they want and don't have time to wait for a 30 second movie to play first. If it makes sense to provide heavy content like a movie, keep it simple and think about letting your visitors control if the animation plays and if sound is on or off.

Using Meaningless Icons and Metaphors
Don't hide access to important features and content behind an unintuitive graphic, icon or navigation scheme. If there is room, provide text beside your icons.

Using Graphics When Text Would Be Fine
Whenever possible, use text to tell your message versus large images. With modern design techniques there are ways to make text look nearly as attractive (or identical) as images. The great thing about text is that search engines like it and all visitors (mobile, visually impaired) can view it.

Get Sloppy with Text
With spellchecking easily available there is no reason to ever have spelling mistakes in your site's copy. But make sure that all grammar has been checked and that the voice of your site matches-up its audience.

Put Up A Velvet Rope
You need to make as much content as possible on your site available to visitors without registering. How will they know they love your website content or products without getting a chance to browse around first.

Take the Web our of Website
The occasional link to a PDF or Word document is fine, but try to keep as much of your content as HTML web pages. Your visitors and search engines will appreciate it.