I’ve been a fan of bbPress for quite some time; I’ve even contributed code to the project. For those that aren’t familiar with it, bbPress is an open-source forum system written in PHP. It’s fast, lightweight, easy to install and even easier to use. It also scales, quite well.

bbPress was originally written to power the support forums WordPress.org, which get quite a bit of traffic. Later, it was released as a separate project. While it doesn’t have nearly the feature set found in more popular systems such as vBulletin or phpBB; it makes up for it in simplicity. It’s designed to be conversation-centered, where the clear focus is on what people are saying, not the bells and whistles provided by the software.

I’ve used it for a couple sites and couldn’t be more pleased; though now I fear the end may be near.

Automattic, the company behind Wordpress.com (and ListPress.com) has committed to supporting the project; though primarily in context to its role in the WordPress world. bbPress as a separate product has so much potential, though it seems Automattic has little interest in this; instead the interest seems to be in making bbPress just another add-on for WordPress.

At one point there was a lot of excitement and interest surrounding bbPress, though for a project like this to succeed you need input from the community, you need an open and fast paced development process. Unfortunately for bbPress, it had no such process. There were people who had the skill, time, and interest to lead the project and make it a success; but they were pushed away and the project was allowed to stagnate.

Today, there is some activity going on, and I’m glad to see that it won’t fade away completely; though I see little chance that it will live up to what it could have been. I have a lot of respect for Matt and Automattic; they’re very successful and build great products; but they could have done so much more.

bbPress will go on I’m sure; though I believe only as a shadow of what it could have been. Though maybe Matt will prove me wrong, I certainly hope so.

When it comes to small business project management, Basecamp by 37signals has been the king of the hill for some time. Now though, there is an exciting new player in the field: Open Atrium. It’s a Drupal based open source project management system somewhat like Basecamp, though with many more features.

Open Atrium is new on the scene, with beta 1 being released just 4 days ago – though it’s already rather polished and seems to work well. While there are some hiccups with the installer and a disappointing lack of documentation, it’s still very easy to install and takes only a few minutes to get running.

It has all the major features that you would expect, plus a few extras such as a twitter-like shoutbox system. Here are the highlights:

• Blogging
• Calendar
• Dashboard
• Document Storage
• Task Management

Being open source and self-hosted adds some nice benefits; unlimited customization, full control of your data, and my favorite: can be installed on a non-public web server. Having you project management system sit behind a VPN is a great way to avoid data leaks and embarrassments.

I’m still debating which is best, Basecamp or Open Atrium – but if you want to save some money, Open Atrium is worth looking into.

Over the next few weeks (and months) I’ll be posting a series of articles on the tools and services that start-ups can use to make their business both more efficient and more profitable. This is aimed at ISVs (both micro and close to micro) though most of this should apply to any technology startup.

When you are starting a business, there are many important considerations with anything you use, here are the keys points I’ll be looking at:

• Expense – This is probably the top requirement. Budgets tend to be quite limited, and there are always too many demands on what budget is available.
• Effectiveness – It has to work; when running an ISV you simply don’t have time to waste. There is software to build and a business to run – there’s no time to waste on things that don’t work.
• Power – Just because you’re running a small business, doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the power and features available to significantly larger business.
• Flexibility – ISVs have a great benefit over larger businesses; agility. The very nature of smaller businesses give them a great ability to adapt to change – and the tools and services they use should be just as flexible.

There are many great resources out there – the challenge is digging through the clutter.

Posts so far:

• Start-up Tools: Microsoft BizSpark
• Start-up Tools: Open Atrium

I normally don’t write posts just to point out an article by another author, but the latest by Jeff Atwood is a must read:

Hardware is Cheap, Programmers are Expensive

I point this out because this is something I’ve been fighting recently. It’s easier for management to tell the development team to fix a performance issue than to request money for the new hardware that’s needed.

In the long run it would be much cheaper to just throw more hardware at it – though that requires higher level approval. Whereas assigning a couple developers doesn’t require going nearly as high.

I love what I do, and I work with a great team. While it’s still far from perfect; I can say that I do love my job. For the last couple weeks though, I’ve had to remind myself of this several times. I’m sure we’ve all done it, in this industry it’s hard to avoid. You read an email or receive a phone call and repeat the mantra “I love my job, I love my job, I love my job.”

Unreasonable clients, managers that just don’t understand; there are so many reasons, so many triggers. While reciting this mantra often invokes laughter from those nearby, some thought should be given anytime it’s used. More often than not, used as a joke, but a joke masking true problems.

Some issues are unavoidable, some no amount a planning or preparation will help with; for those I can offer no advice. For those, even a perfect environment won’t help. It’s the others I care about, those issues that shouldn’t be, the deadlines that should never have been set, and those whose sole cause is lack of planning or forethought. Those are the ones that tire me; those are the ones I hate.

When I run into one of these situations, it makes me wish this was closer to reality than a dream of how we want things to be. However, why shouldn’t it be reality? Why do we allow this to happen time and time again?

Wait, read that last sentence again. Why do we allow, why do we allow? Yes, as developers we allow this to happen, and often encourage it. Late nights, working weekends, 90-hour weeks. Those could all be prevented, and could be reduced significantly should we stand up. If we do not take a stand, we encourage those that push us too far by doing just what they ask. Why should they stop if they can get a single developer to do the work of two?

A Solution?

So, what are we to do? Taking a page from Rob, here is my modest proposal. A few simple rules for both developers and managers to keep in mind. While rules such as these can never be enforced, keeping these things in mind could make life more pleasant for everybody.

Managers…

• shall keep requests for after hours work to a minimum. While there are “crunch times” on occasion, these should be minimal.
• shall seek input from at least one developer before estimating a project. An estimate should not be created without consulting those that will be working on it, as they should have the most realistic idea of how long it will take to implement.
• shall not ask developers to implement a hack or kludgey solution to meet an unreasonable deadline or request; especially if it will compromise stability or maintainability.
• shall understand that developers are often passionate about their work, and the quality of the software they produce. Asking a professional to implement a solution based on a bad design, or inferior technologies will often be viewed as an insult, especially when this is done to meet an unreasonable goal.
• shall shield developers from unnecessary distractions and meetings. Distractions can destroy productivity.
• shall not ask developers to do the job of a Support technician. Tasks such as installing or configuring third-party software should not be given to a developer.
• shall filter all requests and put policies in place to ensure that requests do not go directly to a developer.
• shall give developers the freedom and opportunity to test different development methodologies when the schedule allows.

Developers…

• shall make every reasonable effort to complete a task, including working long hours (so long as the hours and frequency are reasonable).
• shall not complain about boring or undesirable tasks.
• shall alert management when an issue arises that may impact a deadline, as soon as possible.
• shall build the best software they are able to.
• shall provide accurate estimates when asked.
• shall be available as much as possible should an emergency arise.
• shall not over-build, or over architect just for the sake of doing so.
• shall try to understand the pressures and forces at play when communicating with management.
• shall make an effort to improve development methods and processes.

If you agree with this last, take it to your manager and talk about it; if not, build your own and talk about it. Either way, the idea is to talk about the issues and try to find ways to get everybody on the same page. If we make no effort to improve things, then we are just as much a part of the problem as anyone else.

If you don’t like things, complain; but complaining to a friend or co-worker won’t help, you need to let management know that there are problems and that you have some ideas to fix them.

Today I had to do something I’ve not done since I switched to Vista: burn a ISO image. Normally I would just fire up Nero and be on my way; but my version of Nero is old, and I didn’t feel like fighting with it. So I decide to find something new.

I found a fair bit of discussion on the topic, and a few highly recommended (and free) choices:

• ImgBurn – This is a well polished application, it exposes a fair bit of information about what’s going on, and some of the behind the scenes details. Novice tend to prefer knowing as little as possible, but for more advanced users, it looks like a winner.
• CDBurnerXP Pro – This one received a several recommendations, though I’d have to advise against it. While it seems like a well built application, it’s obvious that it’s not been tested on Vista (the warning about running on Windows 95 or Windows NT doesn’t inspire confidence).
• ISO Recorder – This is one that I didn’t get a chance to test, though it sounds quite promising.

Of those I tested, all had the same major flaw: none worked. ImgBurn came the closest, though failed to actually start writing. After a quick search I turned up the reason: my old Iomega CD-RW drive was so old, it doesn’t follow the standards newer drives implement.

So now I’m facing buying a new copy of Nero (as it’s always worked for me), when I stumbled upon a writeup for BurnCDCC. Even though I thought it would be a waste of time, I went ahead and tried it. After downloading the whopping 69KB file, I fired it up, and sure enough; it worked!

So if you’ll looking for a free way to burn ISOs, and have and old, hopeless drive; BurnCDCC just might help. Seems to be a great little program, and I have to appreciate the simplicity. Something nice about software that does one thing, and does it very well.