nextcompTV - Episode 8

This week's video covers the progress were making on Version 3 updates and bug fixes.




As an example of the types of changes were making, here are a few screen shots.

1) Change to the way the pages are rendered to fill the browser's window.

Originally the design had a static page width that would fit most all screen sizes. We decided, based on feedback, that having the static page size really limited the use of some tables for those people with larger screen widths.




2) Changes to the Market Pricing page

We've slightly changed the way the Market Pricing page works. When you first open the Market Pricing page you'll be presented with a search area and a prompt asking you to enter a search or you have the option of showing all data in the table. This really improved performance because 90% of the time you'll want to search for specific jobs for pricing, rather than see all the jobs all the time.




3) Say goodbye to the Daisie error page.

As much as we love Daisie, it turns out that seeing her cute face each time an error occurs is quite annoying. When you get an error, you're not usually in the mood to see a cute puppy, you want a quick professional message with the options you have available to you. So we've redesigned the error page.




There are a host of other changes, some small cosmetic changes and some more fundamentally programming updates to increase overall performance.

Following Your Passion - Video

Summer is on it's last legs, the leaves are changing, and football starts this weekend. Here's a shout out to my alma mater the University of Washington Huskies. May they win some games this year!

There was no nextcompTV this week due to an extremely busy schedule. I'll be back next week but in a new format. I like the idea of broadcasting live, but I don't like the video quality on uStream. And really, how many people can break away in the middle of the work day to watch a video. Not too many. So I'm switching to using Quicktime. I'll pre-recording the TV show and then post it on YouTube. The quality will be much better and I can record the show at a more convenient time of the day.

We continue working on Version 3 roll-out. At this point, the roll-out is limited to a few organizations. We're working to finish a few features and getting the bugs out of the new version. Thank you so much to the organizations that are helping with this process. Version 3 is shaping up nicely. I'll keep the blog up to date with the latest news on Version 3.

I've put together one last video for the Summer. The video documents a mountain biking trip that my brother-in-law took me on and a brewery tour where he works part-time. He and I sat down for a short visit after the tour to talk about following your passion in work and play.

nextcompTV - Episode 7

In this episode I discuss the Version 3 roll-out in more detail and also talk about the importance of knowing your own style of work and knowing when to take a break to clear your mind so that you can focus and be more productive.



Up next is an interview with my brother-in-law. He manages and is part owner in two fast food chain restaurants and is also a brewer for a local craft brew pub. We talk about following your passion in the work you do.

Version 3 Update - hello from Pocatello, Idaho

It's the last few weeks of Summer vacation for my kids. We're spending the week visiting relatives in Pocatello, Idaho.


View Larger Map

It's a busy week at NextComp as well, so I've been working, but also taking time to do fun things with the family.

It's Tuesday, so that means another episode of nextcompTV. Today I talk about Version 3 a bit, the importance of balancing work and family, and my thoughts on volunteering and the importance of donating time to a cause that you believe in.

Here's the TV show...




One more vacation related video, here's a marble racing tower that my youngest son and daughter and I made. They can spend hours playing with this set.




Here's a demo of a new feature in Version 3 - the Refresh Matches wizard. This is a much easier method for updating matches that is currently used in Version 2.



This video is available in high quality on Youtube.

Version 3 Market Pricing Overview

This is a quick 4 minute overview of how to market price a job using NEXTCOMP.NET Version 3. It covers the highlights of finding a survey match, editing matches, and running a Custom Query.

This video is available in high quality on YouTube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaQ2CYt5-S8

This video is also available on the public NEXTCOMP.NET website in the Demos section and on the NEXTCOMP.NET application Help page.




Stay up-to-date on our latest videos by subscribing to the NEXTCOMP.NET video podcast on iTunes by searching for NEXTCOMP.NET in the iTunes store or clicking the iTunes link in the sidebar (over there on the right of the page).

DEMO - Version 3 - Search Surveys

We're busy preparing for the 2009 WorldatWork show. There are lots of details to keep track up, including ordering booth giveaways, making sure the booth furniture is ordered, and of course finishing up Version 3 development.

We're making great progress and I had a chance yesterday to make a short demo of the new Search Surveys page in Version 3. I wanted to share the process with you, just in case you wonder how these types of demos are made.

It starts with a general idea of the flow of the demo. I ask myself questions such as:

• What do I want to show?


• What do I not want to show for this demo (trying to keep it short and on point)?


• What do I show first, second, and third, etc.?

I hand write some notes and then I run through the demo, without recording it, a few times. I usually end up practicing the demo between three and five times. Then I'll setup a camera and actually video record myself making the introduction to the video and the closing comments.

Here's my high tech camera stand! I forgot my tripod, so I made do with a box and some books. It worked just fine though.



It was interesting this time since we're in a new office. I had to try a few different locations and angles of the camera. I didn't want too much clutter in the background. Notice that I covered up a few boxes with some artwork, in the background on top of the closed cabinets.



It's little stuff in the video that I'm looking for at this stage.

Once I've found the right angle, I'll actually record the introduction and wrap-up. I may do this a few times to get the wording correct and the framing of the video correct.

Next I'll switch to the screen recording. I'm using a tool called ScreenFlow. It's awesome for screen capturing. It's Mac only, but since I'm running Parallels virtual machine I can screen capture my Windows desktop if needed.

The next step, once the screen capturing is complete, is to add the zoom and pan effects to the captured video. This is a fun exercise and really lets me focus in on the important aspects of the demo. It's also really easy to accomplish with ScreenFlow.

I'll watch the video a few times and I may edit out some segments that seem off point or don't add to the demo. Then I export the movie for importing into iMovie 09.



iMovie 09 is where I combine the live video introduction and wrap-up with the screen capture. I add transitions to the video and titles. This is another fun part of the process because I can be creative with the titling.

Finally I export the finished movie to iTunes in three sizes: mobile, medium and large. The mobile version runs on iPods and iPhones the medium and large versions are used for uploading to the web for embedding in web pages.

The large size video is uploaded to Viddler where it's converted to a Flash video format. I can then embed the video in my web pages for viewing in any web browser.

That's about it. It takes some time, but hopefully the end result is worth the effort. We have many more demos planned and they will all be available on the Help Page in Version 3 under the Videos section and some of them will be available on the Demos page of our public website.

Here's the finished video.

Northwest Area User Group Meeting - March 30th - 9:30 AM

The Northwest Area User's Group meeting is now confirmed for March 30th from 9:30 AM to 2:00 PM. The Port of Seattle is hosting the meeting at their offices on the Seattle waterfront. I'll be contacting the Northwest area users this week with a personal invite, but I wanted to get the word out as soon as the location was confirmed.

The meeting details are below.

Address:

2711 Alaskan Way
Seattle, Wa.

Driving and Parking Directions:

http://www.portseattle.org/about/maps/directions-p69.shtml

The agenda is:

• 9:30 to 9:45 AM - Arrival and greetings
  
• 9:45 AM to 10:30 AM - Update on NextComp over the last year and where we're headed next year (NextComp Version 3 and Salary Planner applications)
  
• 10:30 AM to Noon - NextComp Version 3 - Introduction and discussion of features
• Noon to 12:45 PM - Break for lunch
• 12:45 PM to 2:00 PM - Continue discussion of NextComp Version 3
  

Other information:

When you arrive at the Port of Seattle office, you'll need to sign in at the front desk and get a name badge. The receptionist can provide directions to the meeting room.


I'm looking forward to the meeting and hopefully seeing you on March 30th!

Happy Holidays

Here's hoping that you have an enjoyable holiday season. 'Tis the season to enjoy time with friends and family, stay warm and try to take some time off from work.

We've had a very cold and snowy start to winter here in the Pacific Northwest. My kids missed three days of school due to snow and we're expecting more on Christmas eve.




Here's one of my favorite photo locations during the first round of snow...



After a bit of an absence over the last two months, I'll be posting regularly starting in the new year. October, November and December are the busiest time of the year for data loading, updating data, and providing customer support. I've also been very busy with programming on the new version of NextComp. We have two customers currently using the new version as we build out all the features. Expect an in depth review of some of those features in the next post.

I read a very heartwarming blog post today about the importance of appreciating each moment we have on this earth. Take a read if you have a few extra minutes.

Here's to a successful and exciting year in 2009!

Version 3 Navigation Preview

Here's a preview of Version 3's new navigation bar.

We've spent quite a bit of time looking at how the navigation within NEXTCOMP.NET can be streamlined and improved. We are still working out all the new navigation features. We're far enough along that we wanted to share some images from Version 3. The final navigation bar will most likely vary from this preview.

This is the Start Page running in the Firefox browser.


You can see that we've re-arranged the Start Page and changed the navigation bar at the top of the page.

The first button will always take you back to the Start Page.


The next button takes you to the Market Pricing page, where you can view your jobs, matches and projects.

A project is a new concept in Version 3. It allows you to group jobs together from one or more pay plans. For instance, if you are market pricing a group of IT jobs, you could add them to an "IT 2008" project. This allows you to view all the relevant jobs together without the hassle of searching and selecting indivual jobs from a list of all jobs.

The next button, Surveys, give you access to the tools for managing your survey library. We have a new way of managing surveys in Version 3. More on that topic in a future blog post.


The next button takes you to the Standard and Custom Query reports.


The reports will have a similar functionality as the current version. We do have some nice enhancements planned though, such as being able to add formulas to Custom Queries so that all of your analysis can be accomplished within NEXTCOMP.NET, rather than having to use Excel for parts of the analysis.

The next button allows you to manage your compensation models and you can quickly see a list of recently model jobs.


The next button gives you access to all of your organization's data.

Grouping fields, such as Job Group or Department play a larger role in reporting and analysis in Version 3, so this data type has it's own link. Locations have an expanded role as well. Version 3 will be able to automatically geographically factor data based on location, using geographic factors that you supply.

And finally, all of the tools you'll need to import data are located on the right of the navigation bar.

"New Features" Webinar Rescheduled

We've rescheduled the "New Features In Version 3" webinar from September 18th to September 23rd.

Here's the new date and time information:

New Features In Version 3
Tuesday, September 23rd
10:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time (local time)
Register for September 23rd webinar

Update On Browser Compatibility

I received an e-mail today from a subscriber which prompted me to do a little research into NextComp's compatibility with Internet Explorer 6 (IE 6).

Our project management website, Basecamp, is dropping support for IE 6 in October of this year. This prompted a subscriber to question whether NextComp was also dropping support for IE 6.

IE 6 was released in 2001 and has since been upgraded to IE 7. Many organizations are still running IE 6 as the official desktop browser.

The current version of NextComp runs fine in IE 6 and I'm happy to report that Version 3 runs well in IE 6.

There appear to be a few minor display bugs with the drop down menus. Those can most likely be addressed as we move toward full launch of the version. In any event, we'll periodically test our builds on IE 6 to ensure a smooth experience for our end user's that are using IE 6.

Here's a run down on browser compatibility based on our testing:

Current Version

• IE 6
• IE 7
• Google's Chrome
• Limited functionality in Firefox, Safari

Version 3

• IE 7
• Google's Chrome
• Firefox 2.0 and 3.0
• Safari 3.0
• Mobile Safari on the iPhone
• Some rendering issues with IE 6 (we'll work on those in our development cycle)

As always, please drop me a line at matt [at] nextcomp [dot] net with any questions.
Support related requests can be sent to support [at] nextcomp [dot] zendesk [dot] com

The e-mail addresses are spelled out to reduce spam bot's from picking up the addresses and adding them to their databases.

Google's Chrome

I've been testing NextComp Version 3 using Google's new browser called Chrome. So far, I'm impressed. Overall the browser if fast and clean. In fact, the browser is so minimal that it almost just disappears into the background. All I'm aware of is the application, not the browser.

A side benefit is that Chrome also works great with the current version of NextComp. It works better than Safari or Firefox with the current version.

NextComp Current Version in Chrome



NextComp Version 3 in Chrome



At this point in time, Chrome is Windows only, but when Google releases Chrome for Mac OS X and Linux there will be another cross-platform alternative for using NextComp's current version and new version on your favorite operating system.

Boston User Group Wrap-up

Thank you to the attendees of the 2008 Boston Area User's Group meeting. A special thank you to Dynamics Research Corporation for hosting the meeting and for providing lunch and an amazingly delicious platter of cupcakes for dessert. I limited myself to one cupcake, which wasn't easy.

I'm going to be sending each of the participants a copy of the presentation via Basecamp.

Also, as of today, NEXTCOMP.NET Gamma is going to be known as NEXTCOMP.NET Version 3.

Based on feedback during the meeting we've decided to go with the version number rather than the fun sounding but rather cryptic gamma designation.

There was a great exchange of ideas, tips, tricks, and other information during the meeting. We'll be incorporating that feedback into our programming on Version 3. Stay tuned!