Aside from a few small visual improvements, Woosabi version 1.0b is very much code complete. Although, version o.1a has been used successfully for the past year by pretty demanding (and with quite rightly high expectations) beta client - who has used the product to run an art business split over several galleries. They use Woosabi to do all of the following from one simple interface: sell artwork, invoice customers and pay their artists, create and publish new exhibitions including hi-resolution images of all artwork on their public website, create and send marketing campaigns announcing new exhibtions and to massively reduce their dependence on IT support people.

The long and short of it after 12 months is that we’ve only spoken around 3 or 4 times with regard help or problems, which in my 12 years of development experience is nothing short of a miracle!

They’ve not had a single moment of downtime, and even if they did Woosabi’s offline tool Kimosabi is on hand to provide access to any important data in the event of their web connection being unavailable.

So as we move into our public beta phase next week (we’ll be issuing accounts to the many people who’ve signed up to our beta programme here) we’re all very excited and rightly confident of the wonderful product we’ve built. Why don’t you sign up and tell us what you think too.

Equally exciting for me, will be my forthcoming trip to San Francisco to meet up with an old friend and assess what the venture capital landscape is like in one of the great cities of the world!

One Man Band

No, not a street musician with a ukulele, large bass drum and cymbals strapped to the knees. That sounds like fun, but we’re actually referring to those talented people out there who simultaneously juggle every role their businesses needs to make it a success.

Sales, marketing, accounts… the list can be endless and the work involved in managing all these roles can itself hinder the work you really prefer and enjoy doing each day. We have a better idea that will change all that and free up more time for what’s really important both in your work and your life. Woosabi is simple and easy to use, building all the essential business tools in to a prescriptive system that is organised, accessible and allways working for you.

The very welcome and confidence boosting quote from University of Ireland-Galway below regarding woosabi.com’s sister company, InPractice and its Relationship Management software, should be a real fillip for all concerned with the development of woosabi.com Customer Relationship Management Software programme. The successful “Engine” running the InPractice Healthcare & Educational placements throughout the UK and Ireland (soon Sydney + Vancouver??!!??) is the the basis of the the woosabi.com business model for its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) “Engine” software……………………..

…………..Great news for InPractice = Great news for woosabi.com

Following the development and implementation of the application, Lorraine Kent from the National University of Ireland, Galway, said: “The new InPractice online application is fantastic! It was great to see the placement database up and running so quickly . It’s already saving time and confusion. It only took a little while to become proficient with the software and its versatility and ease of use is a joy! Best of all we are able to provide new levels of professionalism for our placement providers and students”

So we’re just two days shy of March 1st - our target date for launching the product for beta testing (insert pun of choice using the word beta here). And using the immortal refrain of backseat drivers and children everywhere:

“Are we there yet?”

Before I answer that I just want to have a word about deadlines and whether they are helpful or not. Personally, I believe they are vital. They help focus everyone in a team. They also help you make difficult decisions, such as ‘will this bit of functionality make the cut’ aka ‘does the product really need this?’. If there’s not enough time, there’s not enough time - unless it’s a core part of your product. Deadlines also tell you an awful lot about the people in your team, their abilities and their thinking under pressure.

“Tea cups and tantrums”

The World Cup winning coach Clive Woodward hilariously and without any embarrassment calls this T-CUP, “Thinking correctly under pressure”. People under pressure will always fall in to two groups when confonted with a problem: one type will find a way to solve it and the other type will find a way not to solve it. The more important part is to realise that both types will try to ’spread’ their viewpoint throughout the team. One is positive, one is negative and pressure will show this up everytime.

I once inherited a development team (not as fortuitous as it sounds) which had a particularly lazy developer within it; when it came to Crunch Time he was totally unable (unwilling might be more accurate) to estimate any of his work and rather than aim for something and miss he completly froze. Instead, when asked how long a certain job would take, he replied with the following gem that has stayed with me ever since:

“It will be ready, when it’s ready. I work by the ID credo”

Which I suppose is fine if you are in fact working for ID, the developer of, at one point, the definitive First Person Shooters (Doom & Quake). Not suprisingly I met with the CEO and we made the decision that the programmer should contact ID games to see if they had any work for him. Even with a deadline looming, I felt it better to jettison deadweight and keep the team positive, if overworked! Negativity is a deadly cancer in a development team and must be cut out immediately.

“I love deadlines. I love the wooshing noise they make as they go by” - Douglas Adams

The other reason deadlines are important is that they a vital piece of external communication. They tell your customer when something will be ready. It also forces you to communicate with your customer during development if the date looks like it’s going to slip. Better to talk to them, get their feedback as something that is pushing the deadline back could be cut if they deem getting the product more vital than having function x working. Of course, by doing that you put pressure on yourself to deliver and that’s the nature of deadlines (the Etymology of that word is quite stark). Without being too glib, if you don’t like deadlines then product development is definately the wrong job for you.

So are we there yet?

Yes. Actually, after that massive preamble, ‘Yes’ doesn’t feel a big enough statement of euphoria really so feel free to insert the profanity of your choice here: #$%*** Yes!

It feels really amazing to say this. We’ve a few little glitches to sort (well, that’s what beta testing is for) and some polishing to do but amazingly we’ve hit our March 1st deadline. Which considering we only have two engineers on the project, one of whom is a recent graduate and the other has a full-time job, this is phenomenal. In fact, I’ll go further than that, it’s nothing short of miraculous and proves you do not need big budget development teams for startups. No, what you need are these two things (assuming you’ve the ability): Positivity and Dedication.

Okay, better crack on, I’ve got another project whose deadline is next week! Where’s that coffee!?

An exercise in CRM?

In the last few days I have been managing the leads, supplied by www.businessinfocus.co.uk Cardiff office, for our woosabi.com beta test programme; although an “almost ideal candidate” for the woosab.com product per se, www.cisscoassociates.com are not the ideal beta testers for woosabi!! (bit of a boo hoo here from me…I am easily upset you know!)

Why CisscoAssoc not right?… you may ask….the simple reason? Cissco Associates have their own web, e mail and IP support/supplier (possibly not giving the required CRM as they are looking for a provider of a CRM package); however, for the woosabi.com beta programme, it is essential that beta testers can set up their systems/businesses using the complete woosabi.com CRM programme. For sound commercial reasons (all Cissco Assoc Mktng/PR implemented + on a roll) Cissco Assoc not able to link fully with the beta programme.

I had the potentially unpleasant duty of informing Andrew of Cissco Associates of this fact….his response? Very professional and pleased that Woosabi.com communicated the detail to him. Furthermore, Andrew wants woosabi.com to keep in touch with its development programme as it could well be that Cissco Associates might well become a potential user of the www.woosabi.com CRM Management software system.

It could be argued: woosabi.com + cisscoassociates.com = an exercise in effective CRM

Just reading Eds blog again (50 Tricks to get things done quicker), I see one of the features included in the ”Golden Rule” —”do unto others as you would have done to you”— continues on my recent “reflection theme”. In R Branson’s activities for success in his book, Screw it Let’s Do It! isn’t it interesting that even the “great man” appears to relate to the Golden Rule with one or two of his own golden rules of success:   i) Consider the implications of your actions on others  ii) Do no harm 

In business, as in life, the approach of “do no harm” should be pretty well the upermost in an organisation’s priority list. I wonder how many companies profess to have the “do no harm” philosophy/culture in theory…but find it hard to put into working reality. Can you think of any CRM company that fits into the “Say doesn’t Equal Do” bracket (don’t publish it yet, lawyers + all that stuff!!)? Woosabi.com CRM, in its theory and reality, MUST fit into the “SAY = DO” bracket of the “do no harm” philosophy.

Just re-read (when I say “just”…doesn’t = a few minutes ago, more like over the last few days…when I say “few days”…I mean over the last week…when I say “week”…well you get my drift!?) R Branson’s Screw it Let’s Do It! Some lovely little phrases that RB gives that I believe apply to Woosabi.com product and its launch and more importantly, to business in general and to areas of life…(bit profound there..but I’m on a roll). I’ll post a few (when I say “few”……..) today and the the coming days (when I say….!!!) 

So here goes - which ones apply to me, you, Woo?

Believe it can be done

Have goals

Prepare well                                       

Have faith in yourself

Help each other

Grab your chances

Chase your dreams

The system is not sacred                                                       

To win you have to break the rules

…………………………………………………………….More to be posted……………………………….

The Tag Team

We agree two heads can be better than one, so we’ve made it easy for partners to collaborate without geographic limitations or the headache of choosing who gets to wrestle with day-to-day admin and planning.

Delegate the burden of your everyday business management to Woosabi, the system can make decisions based on settings options and will notify you only if a task needs your attention, as and when it’s needed. Operate your business worldwide all you or your partner need is access to the web. Be it home office or hotel lobby, regardless of where you are working or what time of day it is where you are, woosabi gives access to real-time view of customer, supplier and new lead interactions with your business.

Our product is in pre-flight and we’re steaming ahead mixing, boiling, and brewing our business tools for our Spring Launch.

We’ve also started planning beyond the release and making sure we’re giving our audiences what they want. We’re dedicated to creating simple, smart and affordable tools for business startups, small and medium size enterprise (SME), and well… everyone!

Which WOO are you? Well to answer this question,  in the roll up to our launch we’re going to be introducing you to all the WOO characters who we feel typify the audience Woosabi is here to help. So to start off, please let us introduce…

The Budding Entrepreneur

For a budding Richard Branson (Virgin) or Sahar Hashemi (Coffee Republic) launching a new venture can always be tricky. Many early entrepreneurs hold down full-time jobs while their business ideas are developed, and we’d say that’s a smart move.

Be smart and start your process with Woosabi. Get the most from your precious spare time with easy planning tools and keep ideas, research and contacts centrally organised and secure. All you need is a modern web browser then pay-as-you-go only for what you need. With no lengthy contract or tie-in if you decide to change tack simply close your account free of any charge. When you ‘go for it’ simply scale up your entry account with any extra tools which will help you launch and grow your business.