Microsoft’s Development Tools

Microsoft has continued to enhance their “Express” development tools.A few years back, while developing a workflow project, I had the need for SQL server on my laptop. Rather than go through the paper maze of doom that most corporations throw up to thwart anyone who might try to spend some precious corporate coin, I tried the express version.

The tool worked installed easily, worked great, and had better administration tools than paid for versions of SQL Server.

With their new tools for 2008, you can get the latest and greatest versions of Microsoft SQL Server, Visual Studio, C# , C++ or Visual Basic.

This is most helpful for consultants or any business who needs to stay current with their toolsets, but doesn’t feel like spending their dollars on costly upgrades.

They also offer an interesting tool called PopFly.  It seems to be the new web development tool for the Facebook generation. You can create little applications – called gadgets or mashups – that you can then add to your web site.

While all these new tools make web development even easier, it does tend to make people believe that developing anything that is on the web is equally easy, and that if their 15 year old can make a Facebook page in a day, well that inventory control application should be about the same.

It’s not always easy to explain the finer nuances of software development in this fast paced, ever changing culture. But at least Microsoft is making it a bit easier on developers to get the latest tools. And anything that lets you avoid the purchasing paper maze has got to be a good thing.

Change

Everyone believes that change is good. The mantra of “change” is heard throughout corporate boardrooms, political halls, and living rooms across the land. Yet, when change comes to sit in their laps, it is often looked upon like a snotty, sticky child at Christmas. You can’t get too mad, but you want it kept at arms length.

One project I worked on that really brought this home was an upgrade of a warehouse operations application. It was used by a few hundred users in a large corporation, with the users located in diverse locations around the country. The legacy application was Microfocus Cobol based, and had some lovely, colorful ANSI screens. It had been in place for many years, and was reviled by all who used it.

Management decided to upgrade to a wonderful new version of the application done in the client server genre, with a new fangled (at the time) Microsoft SQL Server database on the backend.

All seemed poised for grand success.

However, when the end users were shown the new application, complete with tab interfaces, drop downs, and many of the other now standard bits of a Windows application, they balked like children being asked to clean their rooms on a Saturday morning. Some had to actually find their mouse, which was often buried under stacks of dusty yellowed reports from years gone by.

So as we allowed our test group to use the application, the bug reports piled up, and the manager’s faces frowned sternly at me. Somehow, I had to not only get the application installed and working, manage the vendor, and manage the project, but also be the corporate ambassador for this new technology.

Being the creative sort, I faced the grumbly voicemails and fussy faces with a bit of cheer and some distraction. First, I created a fancy full color booklet, spending a few evenings stapling the copies together. Then I got management on board with the concept of a change management team. This team included some of the fussiest grumblers. We made them feel special, part of a team, and truly listened to their feedback, addressing what we could, and explaining what we couldn’t.

We did some multimedia presentations, which we put on special floppy disks – which are probably collectors items these days. I even put on some “trade shows” in the different city locations, demonstrating the application, and showing how it would make life easier for people.

In the end, though one or two remained highly dubious of the endeavor, most saw the wisdom of accepting this new change. The application was rolled out, and when I revisited the company after an absence of seven years, still in use.

The right presentations, and training documents helped make the project a success in every location.

Change is often desired, but it’s never easy. With a lot patience, courage, and a bit of luck though, it often delivers on the hype.