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As someone who has worked http://www.dynamicalsoftware.c... on such systems in the past, I concur. Graphical programming languages are not used by serious engineers. It is easier to express a complex algorithm textually than by any manner of drag-and-drop manipulation of icons. My take on the OP's attitude is this. Programming is too hard. It should be easier. The OP is obviously not a good programmer because, if they were, then they would realize that what is hard about programming is not the mouse vs the keyboard. Rather, it is the abstract cognitive ability to analyze a problem into smaller, more manageable parts then synthesize a solution up from those parts into a system that is accurate, reliable, consistent, and performant. I first heard this programming is too hard sentiment in the 90s. Frankly, I can't help but label this as just another sense of entitlement by a generation who has not had to suffer from anything other than the existential angst of their own mediocrity. Hard words, I know, but there you have it.

J2EE folks should definitely check out JDO as a better way to develop for the cloud. With JDO, you can stay relational or move to EC2 or GAE without making a big code commitment.

Database, web, frameworks, IDE are all important if you want to get into J2EE. I recently gave a presentation at the local JUG about GWT which is Google's toolkit for writing RIA in J2EE. About half of the talk was an introduction to GWT and the other half covered GWT specific issues with regards to Eclipse, Maven, Spring, JDO, Hibernate, GAE, EC2, Acegi, Lucene, FreeMarker, etc. The point is that there are a lot of OSS Java libraries out there that rapidly accelerate your productivity in Java development and it is important to learn how to consume some of these APIs if you want to be competitive.

Estimating requirements is very important and software engineers should attempt to improve their estimating skills. Overly optimistic estimates is the second highest cause for runaway projects. Consider a statistical approach such as FPA whose accuracy improves over time. Having to double your estimate is just a symptom of poor change management and other process immaturities. If you get push back on FPA because of its complexity, then consider rolling your own more simplified approach.

Estimating requirements is very important and software engineers should attempt to improve their estimating skills. Overly optimistic estimates is the second highest cause for runaway projects. Consider a statistical approach such as FPA whose accuracy improves over time. Having to double your estimate is just a symptom of poor change management and other process immaturities. If you get push back on FPA because of its complexity, then consider rolling your own more simplified approach.

That's what we learned when we asked a similar question with another FOSS project called KATO. Those who responded said that they couldn't figure out what KATO could do for them. You need to be very specific and concrete. Say it in five words or less and surface it very prominently.

I vote for suggest new features and options. We are proposing a redesign to an open source project called KATO (mainstreaming software agents) where we have made available a discussion area and survey for soliciting feedback and ideas on the redesign. You can make a difference there on that project in only 5 minutes.

Assisting with remote project collaboration is exactly right. That's what I'm planning to do with it.

Most innovations typically play along the periphery of what is permitted because the norm is, by definition, in the middle. By its very nature, social networking runs contrary to U.S. constitutional rights to privacy. That doesn't stop facebook's popularity but I guess that it could cause any large corporation's legal department to blow a gasket. As a participant in an enterprise offering in social networking, I've run in to the opposite end of this spectrum. Companies don't want to reveal their internal problems yet risk doing so as they start searching around in social networks not directly under their control.

There is a lot more to managing a software development project than project management. Gantt charts are great for the time management aspect of a software development project but what the client is paying for isn't effective use of the team. It is a quality application delivered on time and on target. That means relevant and well articulated requirements, good analysis, accurate estimates, flexible and relevant architectures (both software and information), well written code, and consistent testing coverage. As project manager, you don't author any of these deliverables. What you do is foster an environment where these deliverables can grow naturally from the hands of your team.

There have already been plenty of great resources mentioned here to get you started. Here are a few more resources for your consideration. I wrote developing successful software specifically for the purpose of helping introduce a more holistic approach to developing software based on my 25 years experience in the field of professional, enterprise grade software development. Also, here is an article that I wrote which is a review of some advice on software engineering that I believe is relevant to your inquiry. Good Luck!

There is a lot more to managing a software development project than project management. Gantt charts are great for the time management aspect of a software development project but what the client is paying for isn't effective use of the team. It is a quality application delivered on time and on target. That means relevant and well articulated requirements, good analysis, accurate estimates, flexible and relevant architectures (both software and information), well written code, and consistent testing coverage. As project manager, you don't author any of these deliverables. What you do is foster an environment where these deliverables can grow naturally from the hands of your team.

There have already been plenty of great resources mentioned here to get you started. Here are a few more resources for your consideration. I wrote developing successful software specifically for the purpose of helping introduce a more holistic approach to developing software based on my 25 years experience in the field of professional, enterprise grade software development. Also, here is an article that I wrote which is a review of some advice on software engineering that I believe is relevant to your inquiry. Good Luck!

There is a lot to be said for the bazaar model of intellectual work. The open source model is certainly an early adopter but by no means does it have a lock on this approach.

There is a whole new crop of innovation management tools that use crowd-sourcing techniques as a better way to work.

May I humbly submit some of my own tools in this field as examples here? Take a look at this general purpose problem solving platform called Cogenuity? Cogenuity currently uses a challenge based approach with a heavy emphasis on social networking and collaboration.

Another tool that I wrote is Code Roller which is a collaborative software development project life cycle management solution. It combines software engineering deliverables, process and workflow with project management practices, social networking features, and a crowd-sourcing style recommendation engine.

Both of these tools are free as in beer.

Oh, by the way, the infoworld link from the original submission here is broken.

Wow, the OP asks for examples of applications that encourage innovation. There are over two hundred responses and none appear to actually answer the question.

Take a look at the Why Not? idea exchange. This one is most probably the best fit for stimulating ideas but is the least appropriate for corporate use.

The first of the challenge based innovation sites was most probably Innocentive. Please excuse the shameless self promotion but do take a look at Cogenuity (currently in beta) which does a better job than Innocentive at combining challenge based collective intelligence with social networking.

• Cogenuity has different types of challenges. The promoter can be the judge, anyone can be judge, or a select few (chosen by the promoter) can be the judge.
• In some challenges, there is only one winner who gets the entire purse.
• There are also challenges where there can be multiple winners who share the purse.
• Teams can be formed to work on solutions to challenges.
• Solutions are highly collaborative with support for document sharing, etc.
• Both teams and challenges have discussion areas (i.e. forum topics).
• There is also support for message in-box, blogging, and micro-blogging.

I have blogged about Cogenuity and about these and other problem solving applications elsewhere.

Good luck with your search!

Wow, the OP asks for examples of applications that encourage innovation. There are over two hundred responses and none appear to actually answer the question.

Take a look at the Why Not? idea exchange. This one is most probably the best fit for stimulating ideas but is the least appropriate for corporate use.

The first of the challenge based innovation sites was most probably Innocentive. Please excuse the shameless self promotion but do take a look at Cogenuity (currently in beta) which does a better job than Innocentive at combining challenge based collective intelligence with social networking.

• Cogenuity has different types of challenges. The promoter can be the judge, anyone can be judge, or a select few (chosen by the promoter) can be the judge.
• In some challenges, there is only one winner who gets the entire purse.
• There are also challenges where there can be multiple winners who share the purse.
• Teams can be formed to work on solutions to challenges.
• Solutions are highly collaborative with support for document sharing, etc.
• Both teams and challenges have discussion areas (i.e. forum topics).
• There is also support for message in-box, blogging, and micro-blogging.

I have blogged about Cogenuity and about these and other problem solving applications elsewhere.

Good luck with your search!

I worked in a small company that used a software development project life cycle management application called SourceForge Enterprise Edition. You can download and use what they call the SFDE version of it if you have 50 users or less. This is a VmWare appliance where CentOS is the guest OS. We had no trouble with it whatsoever. We looked at what it would cost to upgrade to RHEL and, frankly, that was just out of the company's reach financially.

I have been writing business application software for over 20 years. SFEE is most probably the best life cycle application that I have run across but, ultimately, I was still unsatisfied with it. You have trackers and artifacts that you have to customize in order to get change requests and defects. It's kind of a round peg in a square hole deal. Trackers are too generic, too agnostic. I agree with 37signals that software should be opinionated. That is why I am "scratching an itch" by developing a real collaborative software development project life cycle management application.

I am calling this application Code Roller. This app has a lot of features.

• Users can collaborate on requirements, use-cases, test plans, designs, and diagrams.
• Documents can be attached to any of these kinds of items. Documents are managed with multiple taxonomies.
• All of these things can go through a software development friendly workflow process of review and approval/rejection.
• Time is managed through tasks and events.
• The user can also work his bug list.
• A dashboard style interface shows you at a glance what projects that you are working on and what teams that you are a member of.

For more information, please check out my white papers. I would absolutely be honored if members of the /. community would become beta testers.

I worked in a small company that used a software development project life cycle management application called SourceForge Enterprise Edition. You can download and use what they call the SFDE version of it if you have 50 users or less. This is a VmWare appliance where CentOS is the guest OS. We had no trouble with it whatsoever. We looked at what it would cost to upgrade to RHEL and, frankly, that was just out of the company's reach financially.

I have been writing business application software for over 20 years. SFEE is most probably the best life cycle application that I have run across but, ultimately, I was still unsatisfied with it. You have trackers and artifacts that you have to customize in order to get change requests and defects. It's kind of a round peg in a square hole deal. Trackers are too generic, too agnostic. I agree with 37signals that software should be opinionated. That is why I am "scratching an itch" by developing a real collaborative software development project life cycle management application.

I am calling this application Code Roller. This app has a lot of features.

• Users can collaborate on requirements, use-cases, test plans, designs, and diagrams.
• Documents can be attached to any of these kinds of items. Documents are managed with multiple taxonomies.
• All of these things can go through a software development friendly workflow process of review and approval/rejection.
• Time is managed through tasks and events.
• The user can also work his bug list.
• A dashboard style interface shows you at a glance what projects that you are working on and what teams that you are a member of.

For more information, please check out my white papers. I would absolutely be honored if members of the /. community would become beta testers.

I worked in a small company that used a software development project life cycle management application called SourceForge Enterprise Edition. You can download and use what they call the SFDE version of it if you have 50 users or less. This is a VmWare appliance where CentOS is the guest OS. We had no trouble with it whatsoever. We looked at what it would cost to upgrade to RHEL and, frankly, that was just out of the company's reach financially.

I have been writing business application software for over 20 years. SFEE is most probably the best life cycle application that I have run across but, ultimately, I was still unsatisfied with it. You have trackers and artifacts that you have to customize in order to get change requests and defects. It's kind of a round peg in a square hole deal. Trackers are too generic, too agnostic. I agree with 37signals that software should be opinionated. That is why I am "scratching an itch" by developing a real collaborative software development project life cycle management application.

I am calling this application Code Roller. This app has a lot of features.

• Users can collaborate on requirements, use-cases, test plans, designs, and diagrams.
• Documents can be attached to any of these kinds of items. Documents are managed with multiple taxonomies.
• All of these things can go through a software development friendly workflow process of review and approval/rejection.
• Time is managed through tasks and events.
• The user can also work his bug list.
• A dashboard style interface shows you at a glance what projects that you are working on and what teams that you are a member of.

For more information, please check out my white papers. I would absolutely be honored if members of the /. community would become beta testers.

I don't live in Europe but I have hired foreign nationals in the past. I never really developed insight into their hierarchy of Universities so I would just ask another foreign national if that had heard of it. The OP mentioned four years work experience so, to me, that would be more relevant. Actually, I have fairly specific criteria that I use when evaluating a candidate.

Good advice. Mod parent up. From a technology perspective, a Version Control System, Test Driven Development, and Continuous Integration can go a long way towards improving quality. If the OP is in a MSFT shop, then you are most probably stuck with VSS or TFS. VSS is file based so it is not very good for distributed development. You will need to enhance VSS with SoS if you have remote developers. TFS doesn't have that problem and also has support for TDD's unit testing. If the OP is willing to use OSS, then there are plenty of good options available. There is plenty of good advice here as to OSS VCS. There are various unit testing frameworks for Java, .NET, Ruby, PHP, C++, you name it. Also, check out Cruise Control for Continuous Integration.

Technology alone cannot solve quality issues, however. Changes in methodology, process, and even corporate culture may also be needed. Take a look at my site for more advice on that.

Sorry, it's just not that simple. Here's why.

• What you are describing is what I call old school usability testing. The problem? Testing with just one person isn't statistically relevant. You have to test with large numbers of people in order to get any accuracy. This gets very expensive.
• These kind of testers didn't pay for the software. So their tolerance is going to be a lot higher than paying customers.

The solution? Ship it. The support calls will be a much more accurate indicator on the quality of the end user experience. If you feel uncomfortable about any potential negative impact that a poorly designed application could have on the target market, then roll out the application in phases. Pick a test market and just sell it there. Roll it out to the full market once the quality of the end user experience on the test market has been assured. If you found this to be interesting or helpful, then check out this article which points out this and other similar techniques.

I agree. Curiously, I just blogged on this topic just last week.

I can see why the feature is so unpopular. I think that it is more important to see on a single queue what my next videos will be than to have a separate queue for each family member.

I congratulate netflix for saying no to non-strategic features.

Quite right. This page contains links to pages that may of interest.