I've had two problems recently and I was looking to buy (hopefully) one piece of software to solve them both...

Problem 1 : The mp4 files output by my Sanyo HD camcorder have the video and audio out of sync with one another when I play them in WMP (which I have to do as QuickTime crashes on every 64 bit machine I've tried it on). I wanted something to convert it to .wmv format that could be played by any windows machine with a default install of WMP.

Problem 2 : I needed to get some of my DVD films into a format (and size) that could be played by my Windows Mobile 6 phone. I thought/think I need something to convert .vob files to .wmv format.

I tried a couple of apps that claimed to do 'any to any' conversion and transcoding - no joy. I then came across Prism Video Convertor which also claimed to do the 'any to any' conversion and transcoding. I downloaded an evaluation copy and set to trying it out with the two cases / problems I needed solved.

Problem 1 - not problem, worked just fine !!
Problem 2 - no joy, blank screen when playing the output file :-(

Searched through the support forums and FAQs, again no joy. By this stage I'm thinking it's probably just me being stupid or choosing the wrong settings/codec/encoder or the like (I don't profess to know much about this technology). I'm excited about the application, it's solved my first problem, just show me the second one working and I'm sold (and I'll rave about it to everyone I know..)

Time for the last resort - open their support page and fill in the form for a support case - enter the details, hit submit, bam "No support contract found, please buy a support contract". The product is around $18, a 'Silver' support contract will cost me another $8, not much, but... I don't want to throw away $8 for them not to fix the problem (it's supposed to be a free trial - right), so I shimmy over to their 'Reasonable Service Terms' (their words not mine)..

Incredulous - the wording, the attitude, the sheer abrasiveness of it all. It made me think that they :-

• Are setting my expectation that I'm unlikely to get a resolution
• Are going to refuse point blank if there is even a chance of it not being their software
• Want me to prove (beyond reasonable doubt) that it's their software at fault before they would even consider helping me.
• Don't want to spend more than 10 minutes on a support case
• Don't really want me as a customer

I am all for setting expectations and outlining boundaries/limits but, in my opinion, this is completely the wrong way to do it.
Certainly as someone who is putting in the effort to trial their software, I do not want to have to pay for the privilege especially when I know it may not even do what I want meaning I may not even buy the application.

You can also bet that when they say...

• It also does not guarantee that they will be able to solve all problems. It means only that they will do their best.

...their definition of 'do their best' will be completely different from mine.

Programmatically sending an SMS message from your Windows Mobile is fairly simple these days.

You'll need the WM6 SDK. Start a new Visual Studio 'Smart Device Project', add a reference to Microsoft.Windows.PocketOutlook, then use the following code...

using Microsoft.WindowsMobile.PocketOutlook;

public void Send(string to, string msg)
{
    if ((to != string.Empty) && (msg != string.Empty))
    {
        SmsMessage message = new SmsMessage(to, msg);
        try
        {
            message.Send();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            MessageBox.Show(ex.ToString());
        }
    }
}

Job done...

Recently I have wanted to be able to send SMS messages to my contacts without having to pick up my phone and mess around with the mini keyboard (I wanted to do it directly from PC, but have the message still send by the phone...

There are solutions around that allow you to send a SMS from a form on a web page, but these are generally paid for services or limited to XX messages per day - I have a mobile contract with unlimited texting, so why would I want to pay for another service, and I didn't want to be limited in the volume of texts I can send per day. there are also solutions around that require the device to be docked / plugged into the PC, I didn't like this either as it's just too much hassle (and therefore I never do it)...

So I came up with a simple but effective solution that makes use of ActiveSync / push email technology that is built into Windows Mobile devices.

Basically I wrote an Outlook Addin that allows me to choose a contact from a drop down list, type in the message and "send" it - when I say "send" it, what I mean is the request is transferred to the WM6 device which then sends the actual SMS message.

So it goes like this :-

• User chooses the contact from a  drop down list of all contacts with mobile numbers.
• User enters the text of the message
• User clicks send
• Outlook Addin creates a new task with a secret keyword followed by the mobile number as the subject and the message in the body of the task.
• (after a few seconds) the new task is synchronized to the WM6 device via push email / ActiveSync
• WM6 device regularly checks the tasks list for a task with a subject that starts with the secret keyword 
• The subject line is parsed to get the mobile number the text is to be sent to
• The body is parsed to get the text of the message
• A SMS message is send from the WM6 device.
• The new task is deleted (or marked as complete)
• The change to the task (delete or marked as complete) is synchronized back to the PC via ActiveSync / push email.

I'll have more details, the installers and all the source code available next week...

A couple of problems I've come across at work with implementing MSCRM. These could be bugs, or may not be, who knows (I don't have the time for a detailed analysis...)

I have a MSCRM 4.0 multi tenant implementation - I 'disabled' the first (and default) tenant and suddenly all reports (for all tenants started working intermittently - often just hanging time after time). The workaround I found was to re-enable the first tenant.

This same action (disabling the first tenant) also seemed to screw around with the default tenant (the tenant it chooses when you just browse to http://crmserver/)  - just choosing one at random - this is not something I have resolved yet.

Hope this helps someone..

I buy a lot of stuff from online retailers and it never fails to amaze me how bad some aspect of the experience is always poor, seldom do I get a good experience end to end (purchase to delivery).

So, this is Kens 4 step plan for online retailers to raise themselves from 'one of the crowd' to 'the leader'.

Step 1 - Get Credibility
The term 'ID fraud' is on everyone's lips right now. You have to give people the confidence to buy from you and that you are not a fly by night outfit that is going to take their money and run.
How do you get credibility ? get some testimonials, use PayPal as an option for paying, use Google Checkout as an option, at least show me a valid SSL certificate and give some words around how safe it is to do business with you - most people don't care (really) about the technical aspects of payment security they just want to feel safe - Google feels safe, PayPal feels safe, a statement telling me I'm safe feels safe.

Step 2 - Have Stuff in Stock (or Tell Me If You Don't)
This is important, there are a thousand other people out there selling that very same item. if you don't have it in stock then they'll just move on to the next one. Hand in hand with this is, "be up-front about the fact if you don't have it in stock". If you imply you have it in stock, someone buys and then has to wait 235 days for delivery they will most likely cancel the order (in which case you just cost yourself admin time for nothing) and you can also be sure they will not be using your services again - better to be honest and hope they come back than try to force the sale and know they'll never come back

Step 3 - Don't Rip Me Off With Shipping / Delivery Charges
Ship at (or close to) cost. People do not appreciate being ripped off (and that is often all it can be called) with excessive shipping, handling and delivery charges. You want to charge me £8 for shipping and handling for a book that you send me in a small padded envelope, I'm going to get annoyed and look elsewhere. Everyone (and by that I mean everyone) has cottoned on to the retailers' great money spinner idea of making 'shipping' a profit centre. 

Step 4 - Ship It Fast
This is my personal bug bear - when I choose to buy something, I have persuaded myself I had a 'need' (or more likely a 'want') for it. I took the plunge and ordered it from you, I'm excited about my new purchase. I do not want to wait 5 - 8 business days for delivery. Actually I see no need for this every to happen (unless you are bound by the delivery service) - as a retailer / warehouse manager you are either keeping up with orders or you are getting behind, if it's the latter then you need more staff because things will just get worse (if you continue to sell stuff, which you probably hope you do); if it's the former then just get the 3 day continuous backlog cleared and you can then keep up with a continuous 0 day backlog and your customers are all happy.

Do these and you'll get my custom...

Last week I attended the 'Business of Software 2008' conference in Boston, MA.

I cannot rave enough about this conference - the quality of the speakers, the content, the organization - everything, was fantastic.
It was organized by Neil Davidson (CEO and Founder of Red-Gate Software) and Joel Spolsky (FogCreek and JoelOnSoftware). They did a fab job !!

Some of the speakers included :-

• Seth Godin (Business Week's 'Ultimate Entrepreneur for the information Age')
• Joel Spolsky (Joel on Software)
• Eric Sink (SourceGear and coiner of the phrase 'MicroISV')
• Steve Johnson (Pragmatic Marketing)
• Richard Stallman (GNU operating system, Emacs and founder of the Free Software Foundation)
• Jason Fried (37 Signals - think 'basecamp')
• Jessica Livingston (Founders at Work)
• Paul Kenny (Ocean Learning)

As well as many, many others. It covered all the key components of building and running a software business, even as far as raising Venture Capital - and eventually selling (via an excellent Pecha Kucha presentation from Alexis Ohanian, founder of reddit.com)

Seriously, if you are at all involved in the software business then come next year (no dates or location yet), if for nothing else but the networking opportunities...

There was a restaurant that I frequented with the family on a weekend for lunch. It is well established, having been in business, successfully for many years. We had always been fans of the place but had noticed recently that business seemed to be declining. This struck me as strange, as the food, atmosphere and service were generally excellent.

Unfortunately, this weekend I found out (I think) the reason behind the decline - they have started ignoring customer feedback...

We spent a couple of hours there this past weekend, having two or three courses and a few drinks. Most meals were excellent, however Sarah's was not quite up to scratch. I mentioned this to the waitress and she duly apologised. I then watched her for a few minutes to see what she did with the information  - and I found she did .. nothing - she didn't let anyone else know, she simply went about her normal business. I then watched a similar event (different waitress) happen at another table, again the feedback from the customer went nowhere.

Later when the bill arrived, it was as though there was nothing wrong, I had a genuine complaint / dissatisfaction of their service and they had hardly even acknowledged it. This just made strengthened resolve to make my point / complaint heard.
I made a point of telling the waitress whom I was paying that I was not happy about paying for the meal that was not up to scratch, she called over the manager who very grudgingly discounted the price of that particular meal.

It struck me that their new policy seemed to be for the waitresses to apologise to any customers who complained but to do nothing else, not to inform the kitchen staff, not to offer any discount or similar gesture - basically, blindly ignore it and make it difficult for the customer to get any sort of recompense.
The reason for this approach seemed to be that they would not have to discount the meals / service (and therefore supposedly make more profit .. ??). This got me thinking of some ISPs and utility companies that I know who make complaining such a complex and involved process in the hope that the customer simply gives up.

For the sake of £6.95 (on a £60 odd bill) that restaurant lost :-

• A tip (around the same value as the discounted meal)
• A lot of goodwill from a party of 5 who frequent the place 3 or 4 times a month.
• The custom of a party of 5 who frequent the place 3 or 4 times a month.
• The opportunity to improve their service
• The opportunity to prevent the same thing from happening to other customers.

Doesn't seem like good business sense to me.

For anyone providing businesses or consumers with any kind of product or service - your customers know best, ignore them at your peril.
These are the people buying your stuff, they know what they like about your stuff and what they don't like about it. Their opinion (good or bad !!) is incredibly valuable.
But hey, maybe you're right - maybe you do know better than your customers... 

I have just completed a project of migrating ACT! 6 (2000) to MSCRM 4.0

It has not been too difficult, I used the Northwoods Software ExporterPro utility to export all the ACT! 6 data to Microsoft Access, upsized this to SQL and then used a lot of SQL statements and the Data Migration Wizard to get all the data into MSCRM in the correct format.

Anyway, on looking at importing ad hoc data  (Marketing campaign responses, new contacts for existing accounts etc) it seems there is a whole area of functionality designed to allow users to do just that :

• Get the data in CSV format
• Create a new 'data import job'
• Map the fields across to the chosen entity
• Let it do it's stuff

This all works fine as long as you are not referencing the data to be imported to an existing MSCRM entity (for example loading in campaign responses that are related to an existing campaign) - for some reason this failed every time with the error :

The source data was not in the correct format

After considerable investigation it seems that you can link data to an existing entity but MSCRM has to 'automatically' map the fields. for MSCRM to automatically map the fields all the headings in my source file must have exactly the same name as the corresponding field in MSCRM (you are not given the choice of creating a data map it just jumps to the next step and indicates the data map as 'automatic'.

So I can now successfully import my campaign response data with the Parent Campaign field set to the name of the parent campaign (not the GUID) and it will intelligently link the imported record to the correct campaign. Seems crazy that it does not allow you to do the same with a manual import, but hey ho..

I've just started on a renewed reading campaign. Here's the books I just ordered :

• How to Talk to Anyone
• How to Win Friends and Influence People
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
• Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery
• On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
• All Marketers are Liars: The power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World

To keep things up on the technical side, I recently received Professional ASP.NET 3.5, so I have that to plough through also.

I am also attending the Business of Software 2008 conference in Boston next month, where some of the sessions sound really interesting. I particularly liked the title of this Pecha Kucha session by Bob Pritchett, entrepreneur and author : Fire someone today and other surprising tactics for making your business a success

This is the second in a series of tips about Workplace Productivity. If you want to get noticed, promoted, a pay rise or simple get out of the door quicker at the end of the day then these may be helpful.

Understand the definition of your success.

Mike is told by his boss to get rid of all the garbage in the back office. His boss leaves for the day, Mike rolls his sleeves up and cracks on with the task of moving all the garbage in the backroom to the skip/dumpster out back. It's back breaking work, but he gets it done just as his boss is returning to the office at the end of the day. His boss hits the roof !

Boss:	What the hell have you been doing all day ?
Mike:	Well I got rid of all the garbage like you said.
Boss:	I didn't mean do it yourself, I meant call in the cleaning contractors to do it, now you've wasted a whole day and we needed to get the new packaging for widgets finished - you'll have to stay late and finish that.  Jeez, you binned the old Monitors as well, they were supposed to go to charity.
Mike (under his breath):	Tosser...
Boss (under his breath):	Bloody idiot...

This is a classic miscommunication problem - who is at fault ? The boss for not clearly defining the task ? Mike for not questioning to get a full understanding of what was expected of him ? - Both in my opinion.

Regardless of who you think is to blame, you need to ensure it doesn't happen to you, and you cannot force your boss / colleagues to explain every task in detail, so the onus is on you to get a full understanding of the task.

Ask Questions
You said get rid of the garbage, do you want me to actually move it ?
When do I need to have it done it by ? (if the response is 'as soon as possible' then clarify with another question - 'is the end of the day acceptable'

Set Expectations
Okay, I can do that, there's a lot of garbage there though, it's likely to take me all day.
That new packaging for widgets stuff I was working on will have to wait.

Restate the Task
Okay, just to be clear, I'm going to take all the garbage from the back room and move it to the skip/dumpster out back. There's a lot of garbage so it'll take me all day and the new packaging for widgets will have to wait till tomorrow.

Understanding the definition of your success is key. If you do not understand what your success looks like, how can you get there.

There is a lot more to cover here that helps with getting a better (and bigger picture) understanding of your success - interviewing your boss, agreeing priorities, understand others priorities in relation to yours, but we'll save those for another post.

GEO: 51.4043059062107 : -1.28754615783691

This is the first in a series of tips about Workplace Productivity. If you want to get noticed, promoted, a pay rise or simple get out of the door quicker at the end of the day then these may be helpful.

Get a system in place for recording your task list / projects / todo. It must be :-

Robust
There should be no opportunity for items to be forgotten, skipped or missed. If it's on your list then it gets actioned (even if that action is to discard it). There is nothing worse than hearing someone saying 'oh yeah, I forgot about that' - it makes me think you didn't my request seriously. Even worse is hearing someone saying 'oh yeah, I wrote that down somewhere but lost it' - that makes me think you're an absent minded fool that I shouldn't even trust to make a list correctly.

Easy To Use
You don't want to create extra work for yourself, it's about productivity. If it takes longer than a few seconds to jot down a new task or action a task then it's not efficient. Likewise the organization / management of that list should not require more than a couple of minutes a day.

To Hand
If it's not to hand then it wont get used. Keep it close, take it with you to meetings, keep it open on your desk. For electronic systems if it requires hunting through 3 levels of start menu, opening the app, putting it in the right mode, waiting for the most recent list to load etc then it's not something you'll use to take 'quick' notes.

In My Opinion
A paper based system is based (notepad, Moleskine, notebook whatever). I prefer this, and think it is considerably better than a PC based solution for a number of reasons :

• People get annoyed at others in a meeting typing away on a laptop. There is always a suspicion that your updating Facebook, checking mail or whatever (especially if you laugh/snigger at something).
• A paper notebook is considerably easier to carry around (less cables). If you don't always carry your laptop around (and in a state that can be working within a few seconds) then you have to rely on memory to record tasks - this doesn't work.
• I never annoy everyone in a meeting by having to get up, fiddle about in my bag for a power block, move chairs around to find a socket and get some juice into my laptop before the final 4% of battery life fade.
• There is a certain satisfaction to seeing a number of items crossed off a list (as opposed to just a shorter list). It gives much more of an impression of getting through your workload, than a view of just a smaller workload ahead of you.

This is a quick sample of my (high level) system. Page is dated and has a number of tasks listed, one per line.

A task is done if it is checked, has been discarded if it is crossed and if it has a right pointing arrow against it then it has been 'carried forward' to another page / task list. this way I know that looking back to any older page, every line should have a sign against it (it is easily visible if any do not, so nothing slips through a gap).

A couple of other indicators I use are peoples initials if I have delegated to them or am awaiting a response and to the right of the task 9where I often make additional task notes, I put a date in square brackets if it has a deadline.

Simple, but effective. What system do you use ??

I just found this Microsoft KB article which is a very comprehensive list of what services use what ports. Anyone working with enterprise software solutions or Microsoft back end infrastructure should find it useful.