it's ALL about the experience

Ready, set...snow!

Some days things just don't go according to plan.  We arrived in Seattle on Tuesday, well organized for a product launch party: Software? Check.  Venue?  Check.  Appetizers? Beer? Wine?  Check, check, check.  And then quietly, late yesterday afternoon, Mother Nature intervened.  We awoke this morning to several inches of snow and ice coating the world around us, and after some discussion we cancelled both the party and our business appointments for the day.  It's been almost as much work postponing the event as it was planning it...but what can you do?  Make lemonade out of lemons, Alise says.  So...I'd stay and chat, but there's a snowball fight brewing outside. Gotta run.

Musings on the long, funny road to product launch

We've been very quiet over here in the ImprovedExperience.com camp for months...just ask any of our customers who have been patiently waiting for the launch of Get Better Hires, our Recruiting Business Intelligence tool that has been a year in the making.  Feels a bit like when your dad is snoring in the other room, and then suddenly his sleep apnea kicks in - you wait in growing panic for what seems like an eternity, and then the anticipated sounds of life return and all is well.

We have been working like crazy people on two continents (our team is spread out from Dallas to Miami to Copenhagen to Penza (and major points to the first person who figures out where that is)). Requirements specifications, software development, testing, fixing, retesting...who knew that there were so many critical details and best practices to adhere to when bringing an idea to life?  <grin> For two small-town technical recruiters, this has been a journey to another universe (hell, maybe?)...it is a very different thing to recruit technical people, than to be one yourself.  And this much is certain: if it weren't for the brilliance of our technical guides in this project, we would have been well up the proverbial creek without a boat - let alone a paddle.

If I have learned anything in this project, I have learned two things: first, you can never be clear enough.  In software development, just when you think you are understood you discover that you have left out something so stupidly basic that you shake your head in wonder.  It is a lesson in checking your assumptions - like the moment when you realize that yes indeed, you may actually have to remind your nine year old to breathe.  You suck it up and move on, because there isn't room for ego in really great software development.

The second lesson for me in this product release has been patience (which lives right next door to humility).  As I've experienced it, software development is the process of breaking every thought, every nuance, into a million steps that can be tested - and then negotiating when you discover that it can't be done the way you want.  My husband tells me that software is never ready until it is ready - no exceptions.  And the time it takes to be ready doesn't just kill me - it tortures me to the point of insanity.  It causes me to lose sleep, bite my nails, be very short tempered...but in the long run, it teaches me patience and perspective.  Growing up is a bitter-sweet experience.

The hard work is about to pay off, though.  We'll be launching the product in Seattle on January 11th at a party for some of our favorite people in the whole world: recruiters.  More to come on this front - but for the moment it has to be said that we're looking forward more than anything to welcoming the full spectrum of feedback from those who use our products this year.

On behalf of all of us at ImprovedExperience.com - Alise, Claudia, Deniz, Met and Constantin - we wish you excellence and amazing experiences in 2007.  And if you plan to be in Seattle on the 11th, be sure to let us know...we'll send you an invite so you can see for yourself what we've been up to.  Cheers!

Technorati tags: Recruiting, Software Development