Tech-Angels

Lately, BinaryLogic has posted a note (a great post!) explaining why he’s discontinuing his plugin Resourcelogic. One of the most interesting reason is :

“Deviating from standards makes it harder to work with other programmers”

We can’t agree more with this.

While it’s often tempting to use bleeding edge libraries or create your own library, remember that your code must be kept readable and maintainable.

All software providers must understand this : the more your software is standard, the more developers will adopt it. Developers also have to build their professional project, and including a very specific technology on their resume costs a lot of time / money. If this very specific technology is discontinued, their skills will worth nothing.

TIP-1 : Make sure the developers (your customers ?) will want to use your products, and not only for fun.

Don’t build “Concorde” products, build useful and perennial products instead. While your project might be awesome on a technical point of view, if nobody wants it, it’s worth nothing.

Another good example is this note about spreading your apps :

“If they are familiar with your software and it will solve a problem for their clients, you might get a recommendation — maybe even a big one.”

TIP-2 : Make sure early adopters get the product for free.

They are likely to blog about it, or spread the word in their company.