Blog

What Is A MVP - A Minimum Viable Product?

Today we take a cautious look into our wizard's kitchen. I would like to show how we approach new development projects. There are two different approaches for us.

We Simply Build The App

When the scope of a new app is very manageable, it's easy to assess the risk of development. The cost is low because, for example, only one developer is working on it for a short time (less than a month). In this case, we define a feature set, the app is built and out to the public with it. This was the case with Phone Memos, Meeting Cards and also with Herein.

The Feature Set Is Too Large For "Just Building It".

Sometimes, during initial discussions about a new app, you can immediately see that this scope will exceed the person-month limit. Or - as in Merlin Project – the product is of strategic importance. In this case, we are talking about a risk investment and here, of course, we proceed accordingly more cautiously.

When To Pull The Plug On Your Project

Recently, an article appeared in our local newspaper reporting the closure of a restaurant just a few months after it opened. The reasons given by the operator were that despite the positive feedback from the guests, the restaurant operation will not be profitable in the foreseeable future. This is due to the general price increase and the associated cost explosion.

Surely this is only one case among many. A project is terminated here because the operator sees no future in the current situation. But when is it time to consider a project a failure and end it? Is it enough that the budget has been used up? Should it only be abandoned when the project goal cannot be achieved?

TED Talks for Project Managers

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to the dissemination of ideas.

The importance of TED in the United States is comparable to that of the World Economic Forum in Davos in Europe, one of the most prominent forums for information exchange across sectors and interdisciplinary boundaries. However, TED has evolved from the progressive, liberal, tech-savvy environment of the West Coast, and so TED is much more about inspiration, positive thinking, "looking forward", and networking with other "changemakers" than Davos is.

True to the motto

Ideas worth spreading

an exclusive group of professionals from a wide range of fields share their ideas in the form of short (maximum 18 minutes), powerful talks at the annual innovation conference. The best of these are later published on the TED Talks website as free videos.

Merlin Project now also supports Noteplan

At the latest with version 3, Noteplan has become a serious representative of Markdown-based note-taking apps.

With the flexibility of Markdown - which lets you quickly write text and create tasks - the app also offers some options for recording and organizing tasks. Add tags and mentions very easily, speeding up your workflow with natural language typing and auto-completion of tags, mentions, and links.

The reason I got in touch was due to numerous requests from Merlin Project customers who also use Noteplan for further documentation: They were looking for an easy way to hand over their data.

That's how I met the owner and main protagonist this year; Eduard Metzger lives and works in Panama, so he enjoys not only the good weather there, but also an excellent infrastructure. As a result, he always makes a very relaxed impression in our conversations.

Thanks to our AppleScript interface we were able to realize a simple data transfer. A free sample script can be downloaded here.

Architects are project managers

And project management a part of architecture

Architecture is a complex discipline with many demands on architects.

Your job as an architect is not only to conceptualize and design a building. There are a multitude of regulations and laws that must be followed. The many trades must be built by different and specialized companies. In addition, the work must be coordinated with other planners, such as structural engineers, engineers for technical building equipment and representatives of manufacturing companies.