Intelligent Design : Product Management

Household/Individual 2.0 - more than just a pretty face!

CurtisHarris — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:54:00 GMT

Last night we released a very significant project that will impact everyone who uses Fellowship One; a total replacement for the Household/Individual detail pages. Accounting for over 35% of our web traffic, nearly 100% of our users access these pages in the course of a normal day. While the exposure of this project makes it significant, the underlying architecture is equally as important and is the aspect of product development that can be, but shouldn't be, overlooked.

It is always obvious when screen design changes, what is not so obvious are the scaffolding and foundation changes that must be considered. This is an area that is easily ignored when software development is rushed, on a tight budget, or farmed out since the end user doesn't see or typically understand what this is; in the end this will determine how easy it is to make improvements, support, and extend the functionality. We did not short cut this step! A significant effort was put into a solid foundation that will help us continue to build upon, reduce errors and support what you see. Database calls and render times were tested and re-tested to work toward an optimum performance; this was very important since we are displaying so much on one screen. The scaffolding was built in a way that will allow us to extend abilities to 3rd party vendors so they can begin building external solutions while keeping Fellowship One as the database of record. In short, the changes you see today are much more than just a pretty face; they represent a starting place for a big future.

As always, we hope you appreciate and enjoy the changes that were made.

Reminder: if you had been following the design conversations we had 5-6 months ago, you will undoubtedly notice that there are some things we have further improved upon, but also some aspects that are missing; this is an iterative process and you can expect improvements to come.Please be patient and make sure you let us know what you would like to see by submitting your ideas on the IDEAS tab above.

Check out the EDUCATION tab above for more information and direction to learning opportunities available.

F1 Strategy: the next few years (Dynamic Church '08 presentation)

CurtisHarris — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:13:00 GMT

It's a bit long, but here is the presentation I gave at DC08 re: our strategy for Fellowship One. It includes:

Development strategy
How we choose the projects we work on
Our active roadmap
How you can help us both define projects and shape the future

Check it out here -> F1 Strategy: the next few years

Parent's of... Children of...

CurtisHarris — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:23:00 GMT

Hit the IDEAS tab and sort by praise points... #4 on the list is the request to send an email to the parents of participants. Awesome! Great idea! Of course you may also want to send an email to all parents of kids who qualify for VBS; or, for that matter, create a group, export data, create assignments, etc.

Good news! As you know, we are aggressively attacking the ideas list (31 of the top 100 will be closed by the end of Summer) and very soon we will be able to deliver on #4. Check out my latest video on the UPDATES tab and let me know if we need to change anything. Thanks.

I have yet to see anyone who doesn't stare at this in awe during a demo

CurtisHarris — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:16:00 GMT

F1 Analytics... reporting on steroids. I have yet to see anyone who doesn't stare at this in awe during a demo; frequently following that dazed look is a frantic "how do we get our hands on this ASAP!" We have been working on our data warehouse for quite a while now and suddenly the light can be seen at the end of this tunnel. The video posted highlights many features, certainly not exhaustive, of the latest addition to our reporting toolset we have titled "F1 Analytics".

While I feature Rick Chatham in the video (he has been the guy running this show), I don't want to leave out some well deserved props for Geoff Whitney and Brian Vinson as both have played key roles in making the dream take root; I'm not even sure how to share the deep value and help they have brought.

-> Go To Post in Updates <- (must be signed in)

Check out a secret development project...

CurtisHarris — Thu, 08 May 2008 04:15:00 GMT

Finally, another behind the scenes look at what we are developing! Check out my latest video that gives you a tour of a project you have probably never heard of, but will give you the ability take report results and:

create a new group OR add to an existing one
send those people an email
export the files
(future) make mass changes to the data such as status change, add assignments, contacts, attributes, etc.

I am not always successful at this, but I do try to keep my videos short and to the point; this one is only 2 minutes 12 seconds... success!! Check it out by following the video under the UPDATES tab: Click here to find the video (must be signed in)

Q2 Road Map

CurtisHarris — Thu, 08 May 2008 02:31:00 GMT

All right, this is the last road map for a while... I know you guys would prefer to see the behind the scenes software development. Check out our Q2 road map over on the UPDATES tab-> Q2 Road Map (must be signed in)

What new features will you see at the conference?

CurtisHarris — Wed, 07 May 2008 08:18:00 GMT

Get a look at our conference deliverables road map. The list includes:

Feedback from our January release
Check-in 2.5
Reporting solutions
Mass Action
List of People
Top Ideas

Check out the video posted under the updates tab: Updates Post (you must be signed in)

The church with the most impact on our road map and design is... (envelope please)

CurtisHarris — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 05:31:00 GMT

(I am purposefully posting enough preamble that you have to click into the blog to get the answer)
The best place to influence our road map priorities and design is hands down the IDEAS tab in the experience site. Looking at statistics including number of ideas and comments posted, seeing the constructive comments with good details that include why they want something, and diligently praising the ideas that make the most sense for their church... the winner is Bayside Church in California (specifically Dan Lott).

Watch my latest video under the UPDATES tab that includes a short interview with Dan -> Interview with Dan (must be signed in)

RLC 1.5 - better than 1.4!

CurtisHarris — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:26:00 GMT

Actually it's a whole lot better; not quite 2.0 standards since it doesn't have the fancy new design, but hey, sometimes we just need to get the features in. With the new version of check-in (see my post: Sneak Peak @ Check-in 2.5) we took the opportunity to add a few changes to how RLC's (room/location/class) behave, some of the improvements are:

Age range - now you can support the classroom for the 3-6 month old
Clarity - we improved verbiage and field placement, in addition we present the parents to both physical rooms and activity groupings
Overrides - the override settings for printing (or not printing) by RLC are now easier to use

Check it out under the UPDATES tab here -> RLC 1.5 post (you must be signed in)

Mass Action preview (wanna change status for 1000 people at once?)

CurtisHarris — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:13:00 GMT

Ever wish you could quickly change the status of a group of people? Add a contact record? Create an assignment? Add an attribute? Of course the only reason I ask a question with such an obvious answer is because I want you to watch my latest video...

To view the video you need to access the UPDATES tab -> Mass Action

Sneak Peek @ Check-in 2.5

CurtisHarris — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:48:00 GMT

Our newest version of check-in includes pictures, more secure tags, faster check-in, self check-in, themes, USB support, automated tag cutting, and more. In my latest video, I review the "assisted" side of this upcoming release.

Get access to the video under the UPDATE tab -> Check-in 2.5 (Assisted)

Do we have a clue?

CurtisHarris — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:46:00 GMT

After any big release, we get a flurry of response... many sing our praises as if we can do no wrong, but others wonder if we have a clue. We hear:

Why are you replacing things that already work? Search, People List, Add Household, Contacts
When you replace things, some things improve but on others we feel like we take a step backwards.

My latest video seeks to give you an answer to these questions, check it out under the UPDATES tab

Report Feedback (part II)

CurtisHarris — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:44:00 GMT

We had tons of great feedback from the last report user interface review, 33 comments to be exact… thanks! This video takes what we have heard from you and highlights areas that we are going to change and areas we are still trying to figure out. Please take some time to review the video and let me know if we are on the right track.

In addition, several comments suggested that I didn’t do a good job of explaining that this project (changing the user interface) is being done largely to support the bigger project REPORT BUILDER! If you have not reviewed those posts, please do; I think you will love where we are going.

New post here -> New Report UI (part 2)

Report UI (part 1) post here -> Need Feedback - New Report UI
Report Builder post here -> Report Builder
and another one here -> Will Report Builder replace Query Builder?

Need Feedback - New Report UI

CurtisHarris — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 02:14:00 GMT

We decided to replace the existing reporting solution with a new interface that will make it easier to integrate the Report Builder project (featured previously). Matt Vasquez, our UI guy, has just given me his first attempt at doing that. I am opening it up to you for comments, please watch the video and give us any feedback you think is appropriate.

Please read my post under the UPDATES tab for access to this video. Go there now -> New Report UI

Thanks in advance.

How do we improve weblink account creation?

CurtisHarris — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:00:00 GMT

Recently we have had discussions around how we could improve the weblink account creation feature. Please read my post for this question under the UPDATES tab. Go there now -> How do we improve weblink creation?