CLIF: A guide to Product Development

I recently had a phone interview with one of the giant internet companies and was asked how I'ld design & implement a web product that provides users some kind of info. I didn't answer as well as I felt I could with my experience creating and implementing software applications to date hence my decision to write this.

The points listed below prove useful for both software developers, product designers and those who do both. They serve well for all kinds of technology products from web sites to mobile apps & more. I'll use one of the hottest products of the last decade to elaborate: Facebook.

CLIF stands for Content, Look & Feel, Implementation & Features.

• Content - It's the blood of your product - probably the most defining factor of your product's success. It is what the user consumes by making use of your product, what they keep coming back for. It could be manually uploaded (news site), user generated (facebook), tapped (rss) or autogenerated (Google search) etc. But you've got to figure out how to generate that useful, relevant and probably structured content. One big reason why Facebook is so successful is because the content is ever fresh and mostly authentic.

• Look & Feel - Its the skin of your product - content is very important but it must be well presented. Your product look & feel describes concepts such as the user experience, graphic & theme design etc. It determines the frequency of visits, interaction & recommendations you'll get from your users. It's very important to keep it simple, easy to understand or use and as fast as possible to access and navigate to the most used areas. Facebook has a cool user experience (thats why it overtook MySpace and co) with a consistent blue theme.

• Implementation - this covers the tools and technology you'll require to develop the product. It also involves the process and timeline to implement the features outlined in the point below and in what comes first and what next. Things to consider include scalability, maintainability and cost of the technology to be used. Its the brain behind your product. Technologies used at Facebook include C/C++,Java, Python,, Linux, MySQL, PHP and more.

• Features: well this is the spine of your product. These are the functions your provide the user with in order to interact with your content. The features you provide depend heavily in the kind of content you serve and how the user consumes that content. Different apps allow users to save, share, comment, review, recommend, search, vote, filter through the content provided. Facebook is ever engaging because of the features that allow people to connect, share and interact with friends such as likes, comments, suggestions, recommendations, tag etc.

There you have it! Keep CLIFfing. :-)

The MoSoLO age is here!

May I now call myself an inventor after adding a new word to the tech vocabulary :). Well, maybe not because nothing I say here is really new. Moving on....

MoSoLo is coined out of the words Mobile, Social and Local.

Now these 3 words currently shape the development and use of connected, content based applications. Its usually difficult to predict the future of tech these days but I know 10 years ago these stuff didnt matter, over the next 10 years they will!

With Mobile - its all about accessibility, availability. Information at my finger tips anywhere & anytime.

Now, mobile phones & devices have always been around, but never has so much focus been on the content of these devices & not the hardware.

This is what has changed - people are being empowered more & more using mobile solutions and platforms.

With Social - its all about people, friends, recommendations, community, feedback, relationships & interaction.We also know never in history has there been such a craving to communicate -

right from teenagers to grandparents - like we have now.

Everyone wants to know - "what's happening now". Power has been given to people to choose what they "like" and that determines what's important or not.

Facebook & similar networks have made possible a sort of democracy in technology as against the former dictatorship by machines and artificial intelligence.

There's currently a strong desire for reliable and organized information instantly & that's why Twitter has succeeded. There's also the push for crowdsourcing of ideas, content and opinions in form of competitions, reviews, networking platforms etc.

With Local - its obviously about location! Whats around you? What can I do for you based on where you are right now? Information is ranked as more relevant when its closer to you.

What rules in this area is data about the location of people...where they live, work, hang out & where they are at any point in time. Technology is growing fast to collect and process this kind of data creating much more opportunities and possibilities.

It becomes paramount for businesses to change with the times and develop solutions which incorporate these new trends else they'll be left behind with time.

I'll be writing on how businesses can take advantage and create solutions using these ideas & trends soon!

Until then...Welcome to the MoSoLo Age!

Jump Starting the Nigerian Mobile Revolution!

It was a privilege sharing my thoughts at MobiFest held August 17 at the University of Lagos. Impressive ideas were discussed, challenging issues were raised and there was meaningful networking by industry players.

The web & mobile space is getting pretty much heated in recent times in Nigeria. There’s no doubt things are changing in the Nigerian technology space especially in the area of software like we’ve seen in the telecoms and banking sectors.

I believe that someday we’ll have internet billionaires in Nigeria but I doubt if it’ll be as soon as 5 years as predicted by Chika Nwobi at MobiFest due to some peculiar Nigerian issues.

However, I decided to share my thoughts on what we must do as mobile industry players to accelerate the growth of mobile technology in Nigeria:

1) Innovation – I believe we can do a lot more in the area of creating solutions that are useful and relevant to users here. We’ve not seen enough creative ideas that can jump start a revolution. I usually tell developers: “the easiest way to get ideas is to ask the users. Your family, friends are those who’ll use these solutions so you can start by finding out exactly what they would love to do with their phones”. You’ll be amazed by what you’d find.

2) Global in Thought - Local in Deed - Culture is one of the biggest hindrances to the growth of technology in general in Nigeria. Why should I use Google Maps when I can easily ask someone for directions? , the average user thinks. We need to make our technology and products world class yet our implementations suited to local needs and relevance. You can’t copy & paste technology here. You’ll get massive “ERRORS”!

3) Collaboration - Conferences like MobiFest should be held regularly, dedicated to mobile ideas, challenges and solutions and I suggest at a quarterly rate. More people should get involved and the larger companies with interest in the mobile space need to lead the way in terms of support and sponsorship.

4) Web first – Mobile can’t grow without the web growing first. Before mobile technology will experience real growth there must have been giant solutions in the web space. What I suggest to independent product developers is to go ahead succeed on the web probably create a platform that creates useful content that you can wrap mobile technologies around.

5) Open Sesame – We need to create an open system like we see with the recent app store revolution. Someone asked if there was a regulatory body for developers at the conference & I kicked against the idea. I mean you can regulate firms but developers? You’ll kill the little existent innovation in the market. I want to be able to use apps developed by Nigerian 10 year olds soon.

6) Users! Users! Users! - people must be motivated in some way to use mobile technologies and apps either using the “bandwagon effect” like we see with the current Blackberry trend. Whatever works! The issue is if that no matter how good your app or solution is you need to get users on board to be profitable.

I take time out to appreciate the efforts of Emmanuel Okoegwale and his team in putting MobiFest 2010 together as well as all the participants ... and to all those who are doing something today to add value to Nigerians using the mobile platform, I say well done. See you at the top!

Feel free to drop me a mail at oduntanodubanjo@gmail.com on anything "mobile + Nigeria" related.

Follow me on Twitter: @odustriangle

Cheers!

World Cup FeeVa Mobile App

The Fifa World cup 2010 is finally here!!!...after 4 long years of waiting ...:-)

I caught the "feeva" over the weekend really and decided to go all the way to share it with the world especially my Nigerian people.

The result is World Cup 2010 FeeVa! A free mobile app that giving users world cup info at their finger tips.

Its packed with the World Cup 2010 Fixtures, Venues, Groups & Teams + 50 World Cup facts you must learn about!

It’s a good companion for the world cup holding is South Africa. I sure have it on my phone & it'll keep the excitement alive.

It works on all Java enabled phones and also has a version for Blackberry users with a size of only 35kb.

Go ahead and download yours here. World Cup 2010 FeeVa

Behold OAU's Newest Ambassadors

Culled from The Punch on the Web - Tuesday, 1 Jun 2010

Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife will be representing Nigeria at this year‘s Microsoft Imagine Cup competition, a world software contest to be held in Poland.

Tagged ‘Team Indwell’, The trio of Abiola Olaniran, Adeboye Oshinaga and Akinbiyi Omole, 400 levels students of the Faculty of Technology, OAU will compete with contestants from other countries later this year.

The Development Platform Manager, Microsoft Nigeria, Mr. Ken Span said, ”This is the third year Nigeria has sent a team to the Imagine Cup finals. This year saw an increase in the number of schools and students participating in the annual Microsoft sponsored software competition. It is the ”World Cup” of student software competition. All of Nigeria is wishing for Team Indwel‘s success at the finals in Poland.

This is the team‘s second attempt at representing Nigeria at the World Finals, and they beat five other teams at the keenly contested event to come out tops.

Team Indwell‘s winning title was ‘Brain Media‘. According to the team, the software creates access to quality education throughout the world. This is done by coming up with a platform that builds relationships, which combines people (teachers, children, students and other professionals) in the developed nations with those in the under-developed and developing nations. Through this, quality resources are made available for every-body irrespective of their geographical location, political climate and gender inequality.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm very proud of this and it only goes to show that we can actually develop applications that solve real-world problems in Nigeria and bring innovation to our society.

Congrats guys!!! :-)

Tech Titans Nigeria is Launched!

Tech Titans Nigeria is a platform where those who shape and influence the business of information technology in Nigeria share their thoughts on challenges, ideas, opportunities and their experiences so far in this area with the world.

This blog will be updated regularly and will feature answers to questions from technology professionals from various backgrounds in Nigeria.

We will also have regular guest appearances from top technology people from global technology companies with interests in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.

The objectives of this idea include achieving increased collaboration amongst technology professionals in Nigeria, inspiring younger technology professionals and entrepreneurs and most importantly creating an atmosphere for greater innovation and huge technology advancement in Nigeria.

Read the very first episode here >>> Tech Titans Nigeria

Tech Titans Nigeria is powered by Extracens Limited. www.extracens.com

G-Ife day 2010 in pictures

G-Ife day 2010 was held at the Computer Auditorium of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) on May 6^th, 2010. The event lasted a little over 2 hours and despite the public holiday; the turnout exceeded expectations with over 150 people in attendance. The initial idea was to launch programs I'm implementing as Google Campus Ambassador at OAU but evolved into something bigger.

The event kicked off with a presentation titled “Google Products for the University Community”. The presenter was Segun Adetimehin, a third year student of Computer Science who discussed the use and relevance of Gmail, Google Alerts, Sites, Adsense & Adwords, Blogger for the academic community.

Next was Dipo Fasoro, an experienced software developer and presenter at Google Bar Camp Nigeria and Google Nigeria Day whose presentation was on “The need for an ICT-based Cultural Shift”.

After this was my presentation titled “Life of a Google Intern” which covered my experience at Google.

Next was a presentation on the programs being launched on the day; “The Developer Tech Talks”, “Go! Mentorship Programme” and the OAU Computer Students website powered by Google sites. The presenter was another third year CS student, Tayo Fagbowore.

Up next was the special address by the Head of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Prof. E. R. Adagunodo who spoke about the need for greater collaboration amongst academic and technology institutions.

Google branded T-shirts were given as prizes during the “How Googley are you quiz” that rounded up the event.

The event due turned out very engaging and informative as indicated by the feedback obtained from participants.

Special guests for the day (L-R) H. O. D of Computer Science, Prof. Adagunodo, Dr. Saibu (lecturer, Department of Economics, OAU), Mr Aladesanmi (Coordinator, Cisco Networking Academy, OAU) and Dr. Oluwatope (lecturer, Department of Computer Science & Engineering).

Some participants at the event

I also acknowledge the support obtained from the team I put together to implement these Ambassador programs. They served as master of ceremonies, presenters and where also in charge of logistics on the day.

A product of the programs launched on G-Ife day was the first in the series of the OAU Developer Tech Talks held the next day, Friday, May 7^th at another location on Campus. It had over 35 people attending and the topic was “History of UNIX and Introduction to Linux” and the instructor is a classmate who specializes in Unix/Linux System Administration, Korede Aguda. Feedback was awesome and we are planning to have an advanced session.