One of our proudest accomplishments here at WebOnyx is the creation of SIX. What we bill as a social knowledge management system that helps organize people and content by interest and need. This is a quick video of what SIX does and what the philosophical underpinnings are in it’s development.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Social Knowledge Management
Friday, January 15th, 2010Conflict and Stress
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009There comes a point in all startups, or any company for that matter, where stress, lack of communication and\or time crunches will boil over during a conversation, or a meeting, and cause a conflict between members of the team. It does not matter if they are best friends, mutual acquaintances, boss and employee, or family conflict can and will happen. When it does happen, and it is correctly handled, this perceived negative event can be turned into a great learning opportunity.
What exactly is a conflict? In my opinion conflict is different then a disagreement as a disagreement is the difference of opinion that happens every day in a company. I would define conflict as “a conversation that is not civil and mutually respectful”, but of course does not escalate into violence as that would be a fight (something no one wants). Sometimes conflict happens quickly and only needs one single point in a conversation to take it from a disagreement to a conflict, but more often then not conflict comes from days, weeks or months of underlaying tensions before it explodes.
In a startup there are always lots of decisions to make and tasks to do, with never enough time to do them perfectly. Combine this with the uncertainty that comes with developing a new product and you have an effective environment for growing conflict. It is unavoidable, and it is okay. Most of the time conflict should be avoided by keeping lines of communication open and making sure that everyone is on the same page with the vision and way forward. But when conflict happens what do you do? What do you do when two people in your company who you know are on the same page, who both want the same thing, who are good with each other 99% of time have a conflict?
Simply find out where the tension occurs. There is a reason that conversations becomes uncivil and outside the purview of normal disagreements thus turning into conflict. To solve the conflict find out what the underlining tension is and address that issue, not what exploded into a conflict, as that was only the trigger and not the catalyst.
If you are in a position of power to solve the conflict talk it out with the two parties, sit them down give them a beer if they drink and find the common ground. Where did this anger come from and what can be done to fix it so that everyone can focus on making the company great.
If you are one of the conflicties and no one in a position of power seems willing to help you resolve the conflict, then it is up to you confront the issue. Invite the person out to lunch, after work drinks, or whatever you can to get out of the office for a little bit. And understand that you both have at least one thing in common, the desire for the company you work in to be successful (of course if this is not true then you have a whole other set of problems to worry about)
A true conflict is easy to spot when it happens. And if you are in a small company\startup it is going to happen, the only thing you can do is make the best out of the situation by learning a lesson because sometimes conflict can lead to a better understanding of all parties involved.
Seattle Software Company
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009WebOnyx is proud to be a Seattle software company. Seattle has some of the best entrepreneurs and idea people in all the world living under our cloudy skies. According to a 2007 report from the Milken Institute Seattle is the second best place to be a high-tech company. Having been in business for a while WebOnyx can second that opinion as we have had the pleasure to work with some of Seattle’s best and brightest individual and corporate entrepreneurs on their high tech web-based software ventures. Companies like knowberry and produxs who are always on the cutting edge of great ideas. Corporate clients like AT&T who are leveraging social knowledge management tools to create a better way of communicating and storing information. These are just a taste of what Seattle has to offer, and being a proud Seattle software company we cannot wait to find more people with great ideas.
The great thing about WebOnyx, if I may toot our own horn for a moment, is in the way we help these visionary customers. To be a successful software company in Seattle you not only need to understand your client and be able to translate their dreams and vision into code, but you need to partner with them, really understand what their end goal is for the custom web application so that you can suggest different, or better ways to accomplish their goals. Being a partner means that you are not just writing code and kicking it back to the client, but you are looking at the desired goal and asking the appropriate questions to make sure that the client is going to receive maximum value in their investment. Because there are so many great high tech thinkers in Seattle a software company like WebOnyx needs to offer more then just being a code junkie, they need experience in how users interact with a program, what has worked in the past, and even how to market their software if needed- all things that we do, and do well.
Maybe it is all the rain that keeps us in doors more then we should be, maybe it is the inspiration from our beautiful surroundings, maybe it is just in our northwest DNA, but with out a doubt Seattle is one of the hot beds for great technological ideas in the United States, and that is why WebOnyx is proud to Seattle Software Company
The New Guy
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009Hi my name is Damian Gibbs. I am the new ‘Intern’ here at WebOnyx and have been tasked with, well, doing things that others do not have time to do. One of those things is to use this blog to share what we do here at WebOnyx. To give updates on what kind of new products and services we are providing; as well as the occasional insight on how it is to work for a custom web application company in Seattle Wa.
I am still getting up to speed on all of the things that are going on in the office, but I do know that welcoming a new member into a team of people is not always the easiest thing to do. So I must say that as the newest member in the office that the crew here at W/O has done a fantastic job of bringing me on board, and showing me their ropes. I will admit that it was a little easier to be brought on board and up to speed because I have known two of the other team members for quite a few years, but even if I had not known them there are a few things that all companies can do to increase the comfort of bringing new people on board any team or company.
- Set up a workstation and an area for them to work in before they get there. ie: Pens, paper, printer connections, logins etc…
- Even if you don’t know exactly what the new employee is going to do make sure that you have a couple days worth of ‘easier’ tasks for them so that they have a reason to explore the systems that you have set up.
- Walk them around and introduce them to everyone.
- Illicit feedback after the first week. Encourage their thoughts on the way that you do things, they may have questions on process, or even come up with a way of doing something better.
- Make sure that they know who to contact when they have problems
- Take them out for a beer at the end of the week (ya hear that boss! ha!)
Anyways I am excited to be part of WebOnyx and spreading the word on what we do and how we do it.
An Introduction
Thursday, February 19th, 2009Hello and welcome to WebOnyx’s blog. My name is Damian Gibbs and I am the business and marketing guy for our company. I would like to start off this blog with a couple of comments about the actions and interests of bloggers who have come before me. Every company, in fact every person, who writes a blog I believe should have something to say, a topic that they enjoy, and with any luck will have a unique take on the industry or topic that they choose to write about; although many do not. Bloggers often have many different reasons for why they write. Some because it is a way for them to organize their thoughts, others in the hope of gaining fame and notoriety, because they like the sound of their own voice. While others especially most corporate blogs write about their businesses, and they quickly morph their blog into more of a press release format. Bloggers are a varied bunch and in my journey along this blogging adventure I must choose what kind of blogger I will be.
The Internet world has over 112 million of blogs according to technorati. With my initial thoughts on blogging above I personally have a hard time jumping into the middle of that very large pond because I love original thoughts, and yet I have never been one that is so high and mighty on myself to think that I could possibly come up with something new and original that could make a meaningful difference in the vast macro chasm of thoughts and ideas. So when the others in my company asked me to start a blog about our adventure with creating and marketing our product Apella which we bill as a Social Information Exchange (what exactly that is I will get into with later posts) I was hesitant. I have read that most corporate blogs are not believed and that many founders of companies only blog every once in a while, or even just parrot or regurgitate thoughts and ideas from more prominent people. I must ask myself can I make a meaningful contribution to the company, the product, and our customers through this blog? With out taking away from our core principle of getting more customers?
I believe that I can do it, just as other members of our team believed that could start a consulting business, or could build Apella from the ground up, or believed in the product and people so much that they moved from California to join us. Because products and blogs are more then just the bits and bytes that we move around on our computer screen. They are the passions, thoughts and countless arguments between driven people to succeed where others have failed. Having said that I would like to announce two rules to myself about this blog. This blog will be used first to organize my own thoughts on the product we have created and process that we are using to make it better and introduce it to the world. Secondly, and more importantly we will be using it as a platform to not just tell you the interested reader what we are doing, but more importantly to get your feedback, to hear your thoughts on the features and direction that we should take the product.
I hope that you will place us in your RSS feed so that you can keep an eye on us. If our posts become too stiff or you have ideas on topics that you would like to hear our opinions on, please let us know. You are the reader, you are here for a reason and as customers and potential customers we hold you in the higest regard, because with out you there can be no us.
Unified Communications & the Enterprise
Monday, February 16th, 2009Unified communications is coming to town… again - are you ready? For years companies have been offering unified communication systems as a way to get the right information to the right people at the right time, in the right form. Yet previous technologies struggled with helping the communicator find 
their intended targets, selecting the right form of media and then making sure that the target was reached. This is rapidly changing.
The two driving factors are GPS enabled mobile phones, and the untethering of these phones from the top down command & control structure where cell phone providers dictate what can be put on their phones, along with what kind of applications could be used over their networks. Apple and AT&T have shown us what is possible when individuals are allowed to harness the power of their phones.
Why are these two simple changes in the mobile landscape a game changer for unified collaboration?
First it brings all the promises of unified communication to fruition: it gives one enhanced, anywhere, anytime access to the corporate network, along with the data and resources that it holds, be it documents or human knowledge. Secondly, when designed correctly, this technology gives employees the ability to break out of the limited confines of email and allows greater flexibility in message type and delivery. The newest generation of phones have incredible integration of voice, video, pictures and text that never really took hold in the desktop world because it required too many peripherals. Now when you have an employee at a trade show, it is easy to send live video updates, or take pictures of the competition’s newest product line and all those subscribed to his ‘feed’ are instantly updated.
The productivity gains and efficiency of GPS systems have only begun to scratch the surface of their potential. Imagine a platform with 24/7 access to a query system based on the employees location and particular set of parameters that provides employees with up to the minute documents, tools, presentations and other tools when logging into the corporate network. The system filters the question and directs it to a target subset of experts in the enterprise who have expertise with the client the employee is at. The implications of GPS are endless, limited only by our imagination.
There are still a few challenges with GPS and the link to unified communications applications. The mobile application development field is still in its infancy, and many early adopters have flocked to the iPhone. Since many corporate users are just happy that they can get email on their blackberry, many corporations see this device more as a hip toy, than an enterprise friendly tool. The ability to access & view documents, run questions to experts in the field, post multimedia and have information follow you is something that will require a paradigm shift for corporations to realize that phones are capable of handling more than just their voice and text needs.
Even if it makes their life easier and more efficient, the vast majority of users are resistant to learning new programs. Which is why any unified communication software for mobile phones must be integrated with email, but not limited to email’s failings. This creates a tool that is familiar to the vast majority of workers, lowers user resistance and reduces the over all training cost.
The other major challenge to mobile phones becoming the center of the unified communication world is the vastly fractured OS and platform system that currently exists. This will whittle down over the next few years, but until then, unified communication providers either face high costs to develop applications for each major provider; or they hedge their bets and only provide support for one or two of the major players, limiting their market and their reach. This helps to make the adoption and creation of these systems a slow and unpredictable venture.
Although there is hope on this end also, security is the last major issue that will slow the adoption of this idea down. Many companies have been popping up in the last year that allow you to remotely wipe data off of a lost mobile phone. If the unified communication software limits the amount of data that can be downloaded to a device, along with providing the ability to shut off the information tap to a specific phone, one could guarantee that any data breach that did happen would have limited effects. As with the other factors, security again will get better and with time, the more forward thinking companies will realize that the productivity gains and convenience that these tools offer will out weigh the limited security risks.
In an ideal world, these unified communication devices will be applications that can be installed and updated remotely because of their constant connection to the Internet. Thus programs could be installed by sending an installation link through a text message, and when updates were needed they would notify the user of updates being installed at the end of their next session. This will be a major step toward mass adoption of software on mobile phones and we are starting to see of this with some of the newer phones and applications being created for them.
Overall, the mobile phone industry is heading in the right direction and it is only a matter of time before we see if the established companies in the unified communication field understand the significance of mobile phones in their overall game plan, or if a young upstart company can come in and fulfill the promises that the legacy players have never been able to. The benefits of making your phone the central repository for unified communication and collaboration has almost unlimited potential in reshaping the way that corporations gather and distribute data. The future will be interestingly mobile indeed.
