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A while back I blogged here about good user interface design in If You Don’t Love It Don’t Release It, and I’ve mentioned a few times about releasing early and that I believe you should. I’m writing this post to expand on these two things a little.
Releasing early is something that was intrinsically avoided by most and indeed frowned upon by many, yet it has become the battle cry of the mISV (and ISV’s!). It’s based on the premise that if you keep coding to perfection with a complete feature set you will never, or at least take a long time, to release *anything*.
Steve Jobs (Apple) famously is supposed to have said: “Artists ship”. I think it applies to all of us.
What’s the point if nobody sees it and it’s not out there performing its function? Until a product is released it’s a theory, no more and vapourware at best. Trust me - I have a Bachelor in Vapourware and doing my best to avoid a Doctorate! 
Another big no no trumpeted at us for decades, it seems, is that you shouldn’t write a product that has established competitors. This is bunk. It’s a generalization. Copying what someone else has done is clearly lame, but competing with a new product is completely logical and unavoidable in almost every instance. As always there are exceptions.
Recently I had the pleasure to try out a brand spanking new product by a new mISV. While the developer and owner of IceTips Software is no newcomer to writing code or even being independent he’s certainly new to embracing the more recent and modern drive behind what has been called “Web 2.0” (which tends to be applied to anything and everything these days) or what I prefer to call “Bootstrapping Common Sense.”
It would seem he’s taken on what he’s learned and applied it well. It’s to soon for him to be a roaring success, or even a little bit successful (product is that new), but it’s a nice product and it’s very clear from the user interface and his dedication to get it right (he is lightening fast on replying to user issues, that’s experience first hand BTW) is crystal clear.
His product is a Build tool for developers. Now – yes there are lots of established build tools out there. I use one (so should you) already and I’ve been a happy and loyal user of it. But Build Automator (that’s the name of the product) is actually very fresh and clean.
It’s not jam packed with every bell and whistle that so many build tools overwhelm us with, though he has said he has some additional, and very useful, things to add in the near future, the point is he’s released!
This artist has *shipped*!
In an online forum I am a member of he was asked (when he announced Beta) whether or not he’d be giving away free copies to Beta testers. He replied beautifully by stating that the product was release ready *now* and neatly side-stepped this inevitable and annoying line of questioning. I too grow weary of folks looking for a freebie. He’s built this to feed his family and for the pleasure of running a business (I assume). He has the domain knowledge, code skills and design skills so why the heck not be paid for it?!!
Now – about loving it. I said he loves it – right? Well it’s very clear he does, beyond his fast replies to what were a few minor issues (related to my hardware). He’s gone with the, what I feel is, smooth Office 2003 look featuring the blue gradient toolbars and menus. I’m not saying this is the *only* way of producing a pleasing interface, it isn’t the only way. But it’s one way and it works well with this application.
His primary application icon is professionally designed and *unique* to his program. First impressions count and this impression was flawless.
The installer was smooth. The installer didn’t change associations to various files on my system without my permission or any shenanigans like that, it didn’t place an icon on my task tray, it installed the program cleanly.
The icons in the toolbar are *clean*. They blend well, they are not the same colour of course which would not be right, and they work well together. They are chosen with care and consideration. They are logical for the task at hand and I’m told he’s actually replacing some of those in the next build or so – so here’s a mISV who really does take pride!
Build Automator features nice clean dialogs, with careful and considered use of white space where needed, while not totally abandoning the standard Windows grey theming on XP (runs perfectly and properly on Vista too of course).
Program functionality is neat and tidy and seems to be well thought out and coded. The program does what it’s supposed to do – build projects for developers. While IceTips is yet to add all the build options for the different compilers it currently supports most common ones including Delphi, Clarion 7, Clarion#, Visual C++, Visual C#, Visual Basic. It supports a growing number of installers (more being added soon I’m told) and other tools one would expect. The ability to FTP a build up to your server (coming soon I’m assured) isn’t there yet, something I personally need but it’s a flying start for a very usable product.
I’m not in the habit of recommending products, but if you’re not using a build tool now, or are looking for a new one I think Build Automator is worth some time checking out. The price is right and IceTips seem keen to be of help if you have any questions. In the sense of checking out a nice fresh, *clean* user interface it’s essential viewing by all ISV’s as I firmly believe it’s an indication of where and what we should be trying to achieve, especially if you are in the pre-release stage or just starting your project.
IceTips and Build Automator can be found at:
He has a blog, too. I’ve added that link to my Blog Roll but you can access it direct here:
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