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The Virtual Consulting Discussion List [VCDL]
http://www.TheVCF.com/vcdl.phtml
Sunday, November 9th, 2003 Digest #9
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List Moderator: Michael S.DeVries DeVries@cris.com
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ...
---> [NEW] <---
#1 Are You getting paid for All of your hard
work?!
- Michael S. DeVries
#2 Successful Software Measurement
- Methods & Tools, October 2003 - News, Facts
& Comments Edition
#3 Using Affiliate Programs to help sell Virtual
Consulting Products and Services
- Michael S. DeVries
---> [CONTINUED] <---
#4 Virtual and Trans-National
- Michael S. DeVries
#5 Sick of Spam?! :[
- Michael S. DeVries
#6 Benefits for Virtual Consultants?
- Michael S. DeVries
#7 What are your favorite / the best Virtual
Consulting Tools?
- Email Personalization Tools
- Michael S. DeVries
#8 How do you Get Paid? And/or Pay? -
- Merchant Accounts
- Michael S. DeVries
---> [NEWS] <---
---> [INTRO] <---
---> [HELP WANTED] <---
#9 More Virtual Consultants Wanted for a variety
of Real Paying Immediate Opportunities?
- The Virtual Consulting Firm
---> [ADMIN] <---
************* [NEW] ***************
#1 Are You getting paid for All of your hard work?!
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Michael S. DeVries <DeVries@cris.com>
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
Date sent: Tuesday November 4, 2003
Dear Fellow Virtual Consultants,
Are You getting paid for All of your hard work?!
How do you secure your software assets?
Many of us probably invest significant time and
effort in the
development, marketing and/or deliver of software
products, right?
Do you ever deliver your software and then either
get “stiffed” for
payment for it? :( And/or …
Find out that it is being sold and/or distributed
freely to others
without payment to you of any licensing, maintenance
and/or royalty fees
that you may have been due?
How much do you figure that this costs you in
lost revenue each year
from all of your software assets?
So …
How do you know?
And if you do …
What do you do about it?
Well we have, and continue to find, compile,
and provide access to
Licensing Software for your benefit and use! :)
You may find links to the sites for each of these
Licensing Software
products / applications at:
http://www.thevcf.com/vccenter.phtml#LICENSE
What other Licensing Software / systems have
you had experience with?
Which ones would you recommend to use or to stay
away from?
Why? or Why Not?
What is good / you like about these Licensing
Software / systems?
What don’t you like / could be improved about
these Licensing Software /
systems?
Please let us know and let’s “talk” about it
here in The Virtual
Consulting Discussion List, ok?
Thank you for your participation! :)
Your "Virtual" Moderator,
- Michael S. DeVries
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#2 Successful Software Measurement
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Michael S. DeVries <DeVries@cris.com>
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
Date sent: Tuesday November 4, 2003
Dear Fellow Virtual Consultants,
I saw the following article published in the
"Methods & Tools"
Newsletter and felt that it would be of interest
and benefit to us all
here in The Virtual Consulting Discussion List
as well ...
And hopefully a source of some healthy follow-on
discussions! :)
So ...
We are re-publishing it herein with the express
permission of the
publisher of the "Methods & Tools"
Newsletter.
I hope that you find it both interesting and
beneficial ...
And we certainly want to hear what you all think
about what is stated in
this article, ok?
Source: Methods & Tools,
October 2003 - News, Facts & Comments Edition,
www.methodsandtools.com
***************************************************
* Successful Software Measurement
It's not about the metrics
[...] measurement is not an end in itself; it's
a vehicle for
highlighting activities and products that you,
your project team, and
your organization value so you can reach your
goals. But it's only a
tool. To get anywhere, you must navigate the road
- you've got to make
decisions and act. To create an effective measurement
program, you
first must understand exactly where you want to
go or what you want to
accomplish; that is the "why" of measurement.
Success comes from channeling an organization's
pain into action
No matter how much I dislike this secret, I have
found it to be so. It
comes back to the fact that it's not about metrics;
it's about the
strength of the motivation to know or improve
something and to follow
through with action. No matter how noble the intention,
"Let's do
metrics" just doesn't provide sufficient
motivation. The single
biggest determinant of measurement success lies
in the answers to the
following questions: How badly do you want to
know the information,
and how will you use it.
Establishing a measurement program is easy: keeping
it going is hard
I am continually impressed by how easy it is
to think about
potentially useful measures and how hard it is
to implement an
effective measurement program. Within a project
or organization, it's
often easy to get people enthused about measures
- but all too often,
that enthusiasm does not translate into action.
Even when it does, it
is unlikely to be sustained. Getting the numbers
is easy; doing
something with them is not. What you need is no
less than to change
your organization's culture. Cultural change is
hard.
People skills matter more than quantitative skills
Every step of the measurement process requires
input from the people
within the project or organization who will provide
and use the data.
Emotion plays a strong role, especially at the
beginning, leading to a
variety of reactions from the individuals involved.
Fear that the
measures will be misinterpreted or misused can
also lead to
resistance. Positive and negative reactions accompany
any
organizational change; anticipating and managing
these are necessary.
Senior-level sponsorship and leadership are critical
Although this one might be so obvious that it
really shouldn't qualify
as a secret, it's absolutely key and often neglected.
Remember that
it's not about the metrics; its is about articulating
a vision and
following through with consistent and persistent
action. Without
these, measurement won't help. The person at the
top must participate
in the measurement program by - Articulating organizational
goals -
Behaving in ways that are consistent with these
goals - Creating a
culture that exposes, rather than hides problems
- Looking at the data
and asking questions - Making decisions and following
through with
action - Expecting lower-level managers to do
the same
Measuring individuals can be okay
This is probably the most controversial secret.
Every source of
guidance I've read on measurement advises against
measuring
individuals. [...] Let's look first at some counterproductive
ways.
Punishing people for reporting honest results
can quickly data
integrity. Organizations with effective measurements
programs do
punish who hide risks and problems; they don't
punish people for
exposing them, especially when they also offer
solutions. Rewarding
one programmer for producing more lines of code
per labor hour or
punishing someone else for producing less is also
inappropriate. That
course ignores the fact that code quality and
inherent task difficulty
vary.
Don't go overboard trying to be perfect
Anyone who has gotten down and dirty with data
quickly realizes the
importance of understanding what the data represent.
Even seemingly
straightforward data can be ambiguous. [...] By
the same token, keep
in mind that "the good is the enemy of the
perfect". You must
continually balance clarity of definition with
the need to get
started. In my view, it's best to get started
and work to improve the
measurement process over time.
Understanding the reasons for variability
in data provides a powerful decision tool
One of the striking characteristics of real data
is its huge
variation. Look at any graph showing the relationship
between size and
effort or between size and defects and you'll
see a very large spread
- so large that these data are typically represented
in logarithmic
scales. If you can understand what's behind the
variation, you'll
understand a lot.
Source: Betsy Clark, "Eight Secrets of Software
Measurement", IEEE
Software, September/October 2002
"You can't control what you can't measure"
is a typical consideration
of the world of software measurement. There is
no "one size fits all"
program to achieve this objective, but I think
that there is a lot of
common sense in the propositions of Betsy Clark.
And maybe some of this stuff could be interesting
if you try to
compare software projects across the .NET and
Linux platforms... ;-)
-------- [End of "Method & Tools"
Article] -----------
So ... What do you all think about all this?
Do you find these observations accurate for your
projects?
How about for your clients' projects?
What does all this say about the current "state
of the art or practice"
of software development and measurement?
What should be done about this "current
state"?
Don't be shy! ;) Let's hear what you have to
say about all this!
I hope this helps! :)
Your "Virtual" Moderator,
- Michael S. DeVries
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#3 Using Affiliate Programs to help sell Virtual
Consulting Products and Services
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Michael S. DeVries <DeVries@cris.com>
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
Date sent: Tuesday November 4, 2003
Dear Fellow Virtual Consultants,
Have any of you used an Affiliate Program to
help you sell Virtual
Consulting Products and Services?
If not you, then … Are you aware of anyone else
using an Affiliate
Program for their Virtual Consulting Products
and Services?
How does it work for you and/or them?
What is good / you like about these Affiliate
Programs?
What don’t you like / could be improved about
these Affiliate Programs?
What have you never seen in an Affiliate Program
for Virtual Consulting
Products and Services that you would like to see
and/or participate in?
What else do you all think about the use of Affiliate
Programs to help
you sell Virtual Consulting Products and Services?
Please let us know and let’s “talk” about it
here in The Virtual
Consulting Discussion List, ok?
Thank you for your participation! :)
Your "Virtual" Moderator,
- Michael S. DeVries
************* [CONTINUED] ***************
#4 Virtual and Trans-National
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Michael S. DeVries <DeVries@cris.com>
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
Date sent: Tuesday November 4, 2003
In the VCDL
Digest #8 Sun, 03 Aug
Randy Bennett wrote:
> Currently I am considering a partnership
for a virtual consulting
> firm. One aspect is that the firm would cross
national boundaries,
> since the organizer is in Canada.
> Has anyone had any experience with this
situation? I am trying to
> determine what sort of questions ought to
be asked. Any suggestions?
That's an excellent question Randy! :)
And Welcome to The Virtual Consulting Discussion
List, Randy! :)
And Thank you for your participation! :)
Randy, unfortunately, we do not have any experience
with
trans-/inter-national ownership or operation of
a virtual consulting
firm, as all of our Principals / Partners reside
in the US, so …
Are these the nature of your questions above?
Are your questions / issues related to having
the Owners / Partners of
your virtual consulting firm in different countries?
If so, then …
We will have to invite and encourage other Virtual
Consulting Discussion
List Members to respond to you in the areas and/or
issues regarding
trans-/inter-national ownership or operation of
a virtual consulting
firm … Anyone? Please! ;)
However, we are very familiar with conducting
trans-/inter-national
virtual consulting business with both clients
and Virtual Consultants
located all over the world! …
And we are doing so quite successfully! ;)
So …
What if any questions might you, and/or any of
our other VCDL Members,
have regarding conducting trans-/inter-national
virtual consulting
business with both clients and Virtual Consultants
located all over the
world?
We would be more than happy to, and will (if
asked ;)) share our
knowledge and experiences with you all in all
of these areas! :)
We look forward to hearing more about your ventures
into Virtual
Consulting and how we may further assist you,
Randy! :)
Thank you again, Randy, for your participation!
:)
Your "Virtual" Moderator,
- Michael S. DeVries
-----------------------------------------------------------
#5 Sick of Spam?! :[
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Michael S. DeVries <DeVries@cris.com>
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
Date sent: Tuesday November 4, 2003
Dear Fellow Virtual Consultants,
Sick of Spam?! :[
Well … Who Isn’t?! :[
How much time do you waste every day scanning
through the hundreds of
spam email messages you receive to find the one
(1) or two (2) that you
actually wanted to receive? :(
Why not quit wasting your time with this spam
every day and use this
time for more productive and revenue producing
activities?! :)
Well we have, and continue to find, compile,
and provide access to sets
of Spam Blocking and Filtering Tools for your
benefit and use! :)
You may find links to the sites for FREE Trials
of each of these Spam
Blocking and Filtering Tools at:
http://www.thevcf.com/vccenter.phtml#SPAM
What other Spam Blocking and Filtering Tools
/software / systems have
you had experience with?
Which ones would you recommend to use or to stay
away from?
Why? or Why Not?
We look forward to hearing from you for our mutual
benefit.
We Hope this all helps!
Your "Virtual" Moderator,
- Michael S. DeVries
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-----------------------------------------------------------
#6 Benefits for Virtual Consultants?
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Michael S. DeVries <DeVries@cris.com>
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
Date sent: Tuesday November 4, 2003
Dear Fellow Virtual Consultants,
In the VCDL Digest #8, June 4th, 2003
Michael S. DeVries wrote:
>“… Which are the best health, dental and/or
vision care providers for
> Virtual Consultants who operate as self-employed
and/or independent
> contractors? …”
Well, we have done some research in these areas
of benefits for Virtual
Consultants are have begun to compile and will
be adding more of the
best of these providers and plans we find and
evaluate for you at:
http://www.thevcf.com/vccenter.phtml#HEALTH
Under which “top level” category you may also
find Dental Plans /
Providers at:
http://www.thevcf.com/vccenter.phtml#DENTAL
(wherein actually the site shown also provides
Health, Optical, etc. in
additional to Dental Plans from various providers)
We would be more than happy to also include,
therein, any health, dental
and/or vision care providers and/or other Benefits
Types and/or
Providers you would like to Post herein, for the
benefit our the VCDL
Members and other Virtual Consultants.
Please let us know how you address your Benefits
needs and those of your
Virtual Consultants?
We hope this all helps! :)
Your "Virtual" Moderator,
- Michael S. DeVries
-----------------------------------------------------------
#7 What are your favorite / the best Virtual Consulting
Tools?
Email Personalization Tools
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Michael S. DeVries <DeVries@cris.com>
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
Date sent: Tuesday November 4, 2003
Dear Fellow Virtual Consultants,
Do you send email messages to distribution lists
of your clients,
vendors, business partners and/or fellow consultants?
Don’t you find that you are more likely to pay
attention to an email
message personalized with your name in it, rather
than “Fellow
Consultant” or something “general” like that?
Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to personalize
your email messages to
select lists of your clients, vendors, business
partners and/or fellow
consultants? …
Without having to “copy, paste, find/replace,
etc.” each one?!
Well … Now you can! :) …
Well we have, and continue to find, compile,
and provide access to sets
of Email Personalization Tools for your benefit
and use! :)
You may find links to the sites to free downloads
for each of
these Automation Tools at:
http://www.thevcf.com/vccenter.phtml#PEMAIL
The Virtual Notifier Application provides You
will All of the following
capabilities and More!:
· Extracting list of contacts for each mailing
from:
· Your Microsoft Outlook Address Book, from which
you may select your
Contacts for emailing to with your Virtual Notifier
by:
o Selecting all the Contacts within a Folder or
Sub-Folder within your
Contact List
o Selecting any number of individual Contacts
· Your Windows Address Book
· A delimited Text File
· Allowing the user (you) to select some contacts
from that list
· Sending (any text file) emails to the list of
contacts that you
create
· The Email message to be sent is taken from the
selected text file
· You can specify each message Subject / title
· It will personalize each email message by replacing
the < NAME >
field in your message with the First Name (or
Last Name iff no First
Name is present) of the recipient as listed in
your MS Outlook Address
Book / Contact List.
2. You may even use and quickly test the effectiveness
of different
Subject lines and/or Message texts by sending
messages to different
lists of contacts with your different Subject
lines and/or text messages
and determine which combinations are the most
effective for you! :)
What other Email Personalization and/or productivity
enhancing software
have you had experience with?
Which ones would you recommend to use or to stay
away from?
Why? or Why Not?
We look forward to hearing from you for our mutual
benefit.
Hope this helps!
Your "Virtual" Moderator,
- Michael S. DeVries
-----------------------------------------------------------
#8 How do you Get Paid? And/or Pay? -
Merchant Accounts
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Michael S. DeVries <DeVries@cris.com>
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
Date sent: Tuesday November 4, 2003
Dear Fellow Virtual Consultants,
Given that conducting any kinds of business globally
and/or Virtually
certainly requires the need to be able to most
easily, efficiently and
effectively receive and/or send payments (money
($’s)) from others
around the world ….
As well as being able to sell products online,
etc. with minimal human
interaction / manual effort possible! :), right?
So …
We have, and continue to find, compile, and provide
access to sets of
Payment Processors / Systems and Merchant Account
providers, etc. for
your benefit and use! :)
We have recently found and begun using a new online
payment processing /
merchant account system, called iKobo, which “claims”
to be able to
process payments back and forth to many countries
not covered by, and/or
without the stringent requirements of, some other
similar systems, so …
You may find links to the sites to free downloads
for each of
these Payment Processors / Systems and Merchant
Account providers,
including now iKobo, at:
http://www.thevcf.com/vccenter.phtml#ACCT
What other Payment Processors / Systems and Merchant
Account providers,
etc. have you had experience with?
Which ones would you recommend to use or to stay
away from?
Why? or Why Not?
We look forward to hearing from you for our mutual
benefit.
Hope this helps!
Your "Virtual" Moderator,
- Michael S. DeVries
************** [HELP WANTED] ****************
#9 More Virtual Consultants Wanted for a variety
of Real Paying Immediate Opportunities?
- The Virtual Consulting Firm
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Join@TheVCF,com
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
Date sent: Tuesday November 4, 2003
If you are interested in getting paid as a Virtual
Consultant for
providing any of the following services:
1) Software Development
2) Technical Documentation
3) Customer and/or Technical Support
4) Account Executive (Sales)
5) Engagement / Project Management
6) Copywriting
7) Business / Management / Marketing Consulting
8) Professional Services
9) Joint Venture (JV) Account Executive / Management
10) Affiliate Account Executive / Management
And Many More Opportunities Coming Soon! :)
and you would like Work From Home (and/or wherever
and whenever you
want) starting today! ...
Go to:
http://www.TheVCF.com/jointhevcf.phtml
For more information, including how to submit
yourself for
consideration, for paying work as a Virtual Consultant
with
The Virtual Consulting Firm.
We look forward to hearing from you and engaging
you in paying work,
as a Virtual Consultant of The Virtual Consulting
Firm in the near
future! :)
- The Virtual Consulting Firm
http://www.TheVCF.com
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Firm's
Affiliate Program Today! at:
http://www.thevcf.com/affiliates.phtml
And Make Money with any / all of The VCF's Products
and Services! :)
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