The need for and importance of customized software and web solutions is growing.  Due to this importance, the software development process needs to be carefully managed.  The tools and technology used in development are constantly changing, which makes this an even bigger challenge.  Also, the web development process requires sound strategy and consultation since there are frequently many ways to achieve the same goal.  This makes many things hard to predict and thus leads to failure, or at least to a tough road ahead.

The project manager is the individual responsible for planning, organizing, tracking, and directing the project.  He or she has to keep in touch with recent trends to know what is going on to help decide the best technology solution for your organization.

After working with extensively with you to define your needs, the project manager creates a master project plan.  The project manager will take what has been learned about the project requirements and break it out into tasks to be completed.  The timing and resource types for each task will be determined and a project plan created. 

The project manager is also responsible for getting the project on our internal production schedule.  He or she must work with the production manager to find the best time to schedule the work as well as the appropriate people for the team.  Depending on the skills required for your project, this is can be a lot like choreographing a play. 

Next, the project manager communicates critical milestones, costs and timelines to the client. Communication throughout the project is critical.  This is huge to make sure everyone knows and understands the time and effort involved in software development.  Oftentimes questions like “can it get it done in half the time if you put another developer on it” are asked.  Unfortunately you cannot.  A great example is “can you bake a cake in half the time if you double the temperature of the oven?” 

With the project scheduled and resources assigned the project manager acts as the liaison with the client to have questions answered as well as provide frequent status updates.     The project manager also has to make sure the developers have everything they need in order to get the job done.  Checking progress is important to make sure the client’s expectations are being met.  Oftentimes, the project manager acts as one of the first lines of quality control, testing things as they are pushed out to a staging environment.

The staging environment is the final testing grounds for custom software and applications.  If the client already has a site or mobile application, then a copy of the production site or program is duplicated at Phase 2so we can test our changes against an up-to-date version.  As the different solutions are moved to the staging area, the project manager ensures everything works as intended.  He or she also works with the client to run through real life test scenarios to make sure everything is working as the client envisioned.   

Throughout the project, it’s the PM’s responsibility to communicate with the client.  Using the project plan that was created, the project manager should be able to see how deadlines are looking based on the progress of the production team.  This in turn will show how much of the budget has been used, how much is left, and if everything is on track.  When signs of trouble start to show, the project manager determines what can be done to bring the project back on track.

In a nutshell, that is why project management is used and is critical when developing custom web applications as well as mobile programs.  The project manager should have a good feel for the status of the project at all times and, more importantly, be communicating regularly with the client so there are no surprises.  All in all, the project manager is there to facilitate the process of getting the work done by planning, organizing, tracking, directing, and keeping everyone on the same page throughout the process. 

In Phase 2’s 13 years of custom software development we have learned many things.  One of the biggest parts in the success of a project is effective project management.

In the last few years, one big thing has been popping up in homes and pockets across the world. What is it? A “Smart phone”. If you don’t have an iPhone, then you probably have another “smart device” like any of a number of Android phones, or one of the newer Blackberry’s or maybe a Palm Pre.

The main driving factor for these smart devices in all of our pockets is the need to stay connected. You may think that it is the iPhone that caused it, but even if Apple didn’t release a phone, we would all still have some sort of device. The thing is, most of us do have an iPhone in our pockets, and a percentage of us also have an iPad, but it can’t quite fit into my pocket anyway.

One great thing that we all are benefiting from is the “apps”. We love our phones because of what it CAN do, not what it does. No matter if you have an Android phone, or an iPhone or something else, chances are that you have been to that phones’ “App Store” and either loaded up on free games or apps, or purchased them. This is what makes our experience with the device meaningful.

The Apple Side

Let’s look first at the Apple App Store. This thing is a monster, and really started it all in my opinion. As this blog posts, the Apple App Store has over 208,802 (numbers from appshopper.com) apps with over 3 billion downloads! That’s insane! Think of the app store if it was a brick and mortar store down the street. That would be a VERY successful business no matter what it sold! The cool thing is, it basically sells other peoples wares. Anybody can have an app in the App Store and that’s what has made it (and the developers) so successful.

Of those hundreds of thousands of apps, about 8,000 of them are made for the iPad. That’s still a pretty good number considering that the iPad has only been out for about two months! And the numbers are only going to rise. As of this weekend, Apple is claiming that 2 million (that’s 6 zeros!) iPads have sold in the US and internationally. Here is a small timeline from ipadinsider.com

• April 3rd – 300,000 WiFi iPads sold on launch day
• April 8th – 450,000 iPads Sold total 5 days after launch, 3.5 Million iPad Apps and 600,000 iBooks downloaded
• April 10th – 500,000 iPad Units sold in its first week
• May 3rd – 1,000,000 iPad Users in 28 days since launch
• May 31st– 2,000,000 iPad Owners after its International Launch

This mobile device seems to really be hitting home. I personally have one, as well as a few co-workers and our office has one, and the question I get asked the most is “do you like it and use it?” I can always answer with “yes!” It’s a pretty great device and if I wasn’t a “power user” then I think I could get away with JUST having an iPad. But what really makes it great? Again, it’s the content that it provides, aka, the apps!

Sure I use it for browsing the web (using the built in safari app) but I also use it to stay connected to social networks, and games are awesome on it with the large screen and multi-touch. Productivity apps certainly have their place too because it’s literally all at your fingertips.

The Android Side

Enough about the Apple side of things, let’s take a look at the second biggest heavy hitter (soon to be the first???), the Android Market. The Android Market has more recently started to grow by leaps and bounds. It is not quite as mature as the Apple market but with the amount of devices being offered with Android, (vs. Apple only putting iPhone OS on iPhones and iPads) Android is slowly becoming the next big thing.

Currently Google’s official numbers for the Android Market are over 38,000 but they don’t publish numbers often. A third party app tracker for android (androlib.com) has put the total app count closer to 60,000 apps but again, it’s not official until Google says it is. That is still a lot considering the popularity of Android devices has been slowly increasing over time. It didn’t hit as big as the iPhone but with ever evolving device capabilities, the competition is getting fierce. It is pretty much a one-to-one on the newest android phones to the iPhone in terms of capabilities and features. And in terms of tablets, the iPad isn’t the first tablet to the market, and will certainly not be the last. Android OS tablets are currently in the making and soon to be sold. When that happens, the same great experience from the Apple side will be on the Android side and another boom will happen within the market.

Android devices differ from iPhone in that, they come in all shapes and sizes. Most cellular companies offer multiple phones that have Android OS and each of those phones have different feature sets. They have more introductory types of phones that ring in at $100 or less yet is still considered a “smart phone” and they have the heavy hitters like the Google Nexus One or the Droid Incredible or HTC EVO. The heavy hitter phones are the devices that are striking directly at the heart of Apple by being “iPhone killers”. They are introduced to offer a replacement for the iPhone and I know several iPhone owners who are going to make the switch to android specifically because of the HTC EVO.

The End Result

Devices and OS’s aside, more and more if you see an app on the iPhone you can get the same one, or similar, on an Android device. This is a benefit for everyone! Developers, or Businesses who hire them, can get their app out there into an ever growing market. I still know a few people with a Motorola Razr or some other “dumb phone” but as technology increases, the smart phones of today will be the free phones of tomorrow and they will be in the hands of everyone. What is more beneficial, relying on a typical ad campaign for your services, or offering the customer a rich mobile experience to help drive them to your site, or business? In the future, I think that having an app will be the only way to survive in this market.

Still just using your voice to communicate? Or is SEND and END the way you are used to communicating while on the go? Let me explain how iPhone apps are changing the way iPhone users communicate and seek information.

Social Media – Heard of it yet? Some are using Facebook, and others are tweeting on Twitter. Many are using social media applications as a great marketing tool and creating a large group of business networks. You can Facebook or Tweet 24/7 while on the go and stay in touch with people you haven’t heard from in 20 years or in some cases, have never actually met in person.

Organization – Having trouble keeping track of meetings, what time to pick the kids up from soccer practice or even what you need from the grocery store? In 2008, Omnifocus won the Apple Design Award for Best iPhone Productivity Application. If you are one of those who like lists – then this is your application. You can organize your schedule, make your to-do list and even manage your shopping list. Better yet, locate your closest grocery store and create instant shopping lists. This app also has the ability to sync with your Mac computer.

Entertainment – Do you Fandango? If you’re a movie lover, you have to try it. Search by movie, theatre or let it “locate you” and tell you the nearest movie locations with times and even watch coming attractions. Fandango makes it easy to find out movie and time information wherever you are.

Big Business - Companies are also creating apps to communicate directly with and to their customers. State Farm Insurance, for example, has an app for its customers that gives access to personal insurance information and even lets you initiate a claim with just a few taps from the screen of the iPhone.
The list goes on and on, but iPhone apps have become big business. Many apps are free, but consumers are also spending big bucks for apps important to them. IPhone application developers are creating new apps every day, so be sure to check back often. You may find one you won’t want to live without.

Heath Clinton is president of Phase 2 Interactive. Phase 2 has been developing Web sites and online applications and now iPhone applications for some of the state’s largest and most recognized businesses. For more information on Phase 2’s product and services, visit www.phase2online.com.

by April Wilkerson
The Journal Record November 9, 2009

OKLAHOMA CITY – When business doesn’t operate as logically as it should, a local Web and software development company is writing code for a smoother venture.

Oklahoma City-based Phase 2 Interactive has enhanced the daily functions at DrillRight Technology Inc. and S&S Promotions Inc. with software that has a similar effect on two disparate companies.

But it’s far from adding a bit of programming to a snazzy Web design.

“We don’t just sit down and start writing code. The up-front planning is just as important,” said Heath Clinton, president and chief operating officer of Phase 2. “If we do a good job of planning and communicating, the programming comes very easily.”

For DrillRight Technology, Phase 2 created software called Glaive, based on a plan to help the drilling company keep better track of its well sites, equipment and personnel. Before Glaive, there was no central place for tracking business functions. A variety of spreadsheets were produced on a well’s progress, but often days later, Clinton said. Glaive gives the company – and its customers – a real-time look at a well and the people and tools doing the work.

When a drill bit is boring into the hole, Glaive captures all relevant information and provides it in real time to the company, which can more quickly make decisions on whether to drill a different direction or continue its path, Clinton said. The software also tracks equipment on site because drilling companies have sometimes misplaced equipment worth thousands of dollars, he said.

Leroy Freeman, information technology manager at DrillRight, said Glaive is making the business more productive, especially because it does directional drilling.

“Before, we had a hodgepodge of programs to get the job done; now our drillers are using the same program,” he said. “It allows us to collect tons of data on our position underground, and it does all the calculations for us. We see a graphical representation of where we are in relation to lease lines or other landmarks that the customer can’t cross, or different formations of rock. So we can project where we’re going to be in an hour or in 500 feet.”

But perhaps more important is the competitive advantage that Glaive provides. The drilling company’s customers also can log into the program to see the same information, Freeman said. If it’s not going in the direction the customer thought, adjustments can be made.

The only time Glaive doesn’t offer real-time information is if Internet access isn’t available at the well site, Clinton said. But the data can be downloaded onto a laptop for transport to the nearest point of access, she said.

A team of about five people at Phase 2 worked on the Glaive project for about a year, Clinton said, before testing it and putting it into production last year.

Similar software is making business life easier at S&S Promotions, which prints menus and other materials for customers around the nation. The software “cleans up all the business logic” of receiving orders, printing, bundling, bar coding and shipping, Clinton said. With its old system, S&S Promotions staff spent more time on manual operations and calling its clients to make sure orders were correct, he said. The new software not only tracks an order throughout the process, but allows a customer to only order items that are relevant to its location.

It also remedies the unfortunate snag concerning one menu’s cheeseburger combo. When people ordered the combo, the cost ended up being more than if they had ordered burger, fries and drink separately.

“People were angry because they felt like they were being taken advantage of,” said Brett Taylor, project manager and senior programmer for Phase 2. “The software puts price points in place and gives an alert if something is wrong.”

But Taylor said the biggest reward from the project was hearing about its influence on an employee who was having to take home a big box of work every night just to stay afloat the next day. After the software was installed, she didn’t have to take a box home at all.

A few people had already arrived and were checking out the grounds and enjoying the day.  Tammy arrived soon after with the food and the beverages.  Like a moth to a flame, the programmers went straight to the beer cooler in an attempt to get the party started.  I was able to remind most of them that there is no liquor until the Harn Homestead is officially closed for the day.  I even had to put one of the guys in an anaconda choke hold until he submitted.

The festivities started harmlessly.  We checked out some of the “old timey” games provided like hoop-n-stick and stilts.  My understanding was that the goal was to smack the hoop with a stick and keep it rolling.  I guess this was like playing Nintendo back in the day.

Some of the guys made their way over to the stilts to practice their carnival walking.  It started harmlessly enough with the small falls that come from learning to walk on stilts.  However things got interesting when some people decided to have a race and walk up stairs.  One of the guys stumbled and started a head first dive onto what appeared to be someone’s collection of broken glass that they brought to show off.  Since the falling party was working on one of my projects, I decided that I had to quickly use my wizard powers to redirect his fall so that he landed on a mountain of pillows that I just conjured.  Crisis averted.

As I rested to recover the energy I spent saving a life, the group started tossing around the football.  I kept a careful eye just in case another emergency was to call for me.  Whilst doing so, hunger started to call.  I was far too tired and clearly I could not abandon my post to go man the grill.  Thus I broke into one of the weaker minds at the party and planted the suggestion to go and start grilling.  Lo and behold, he got up and headed straight for the grill….burger time was on the way!

As I watched the football match and anxiously awaited the seared vittles, I noticed the women were starting to drift over towards a trailer.  I stood up and noticed there was a horse tied to the trailer and as we all know, women love horses.  Maybe I was being mean or just a bit cheeky, but I decided to send a suggestion to the horse.  I gave the vision to the horse that a guy with a brand was standing behind it.  The horse immediately started kicking the trailer and screams of panic filled the air as women scattered everywhere.

Luckily the food was coming off the grill at this time, so the women were easily calmed and the guys took a break from the football game.  With full bellies and a nice evening under the stars, some of the party goers curled up and started to sleep.  Perhaps it was the peacefulness of the Harn Homestead or perhaps they were lightweights when it comes to beer, either way it was a good evening to rest outside.

Since it was almost time to go, I summoned a small shower to wake the sleepy heads up so we had a few more people for the cleanup crew.  We packed up our leftovers and cleaned up our trash before heading over to thank the Harn Homestead staff for having us.  They thanked us for coming and said we were quite possibly the best guests they have ever had.

All in all it was a good outing.  The Harn Homestead had plenty of room for us to gallivant around and goof off.  Nobody got hurt, everyone got fed, and even the kiddos had a good time.  It was definitely a place we could return to and enjoy another company outing.

Colbey Chittenden led the development on the project with game play ideas from Chad Scott and graphic design by Jacob Eck.   The team cranked through the app in about a month, learning the iPhone SDK (Software Development Kit) quickly then building the game in just a few weeks.

For more information about Quadrangle and how to get it on your iPhone or iPod touch click here.

1.  Clients have the right to working software, at regular intervals, throughout the implementation life cycle.

2.  Clients have the right to usable software.

3.  Clients have the right to clear, non-technical communication about the software being developed and the development process.

4.  Clients have the right to the best solution available.

5.  Clients have the right to be regularly involved in the software development process.

Good software should work well, but you’ll notice it doesn’t say clients have the right to working software.  “Working” software means different things depending on who you’re talking to at the moment.  To some “working” can mean the software works if you do things just right, if you enter all the correct information, you remember the correct order of operation or you’ve read the instruction manual ten times through.  To others “working” means a piece of software should do everything they can think a user will ever want, everything they can dream up or everything a competitor is doing.

“Usable” means something different and gives us the right foundation.  It implies a balance between over-engineering vs. under-engineering and feature creep vs. under-development.  Usable means the software does everything that it needs to do, nothing more and does so elegantly.

The key to “Usable” is that it puts the focus where it should be, the end user.  While most of the time the client and the developer have great ideas and intentions, neither can be the objective third party necessary to create great software.  By focusing on exactly what end users need inorder to accomplish their tasks we get an unbiased judgement about that button placement, this workflow order or the proper number of navigation elements.

Without fighting for this Right, a project will only be a success for the end user through pure luck.  Watch this video for a hilarious but oh so true example of what happens when you don’t value “Usable”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVb8EC1Y2xM

]]> http://www.phase2blog.com/p2culture/software-bill-of-rights-part-two-development-philosophy-part-3/feed/ http://www.phase2blog.com/p2culture/fungineering/field-of-battle/ http://www.phase2blog.com/p2culture/fungineering/field-of-battle/#comments Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:39:47 +0000 Chad Scott http://www.phase2blog.com/?p=160 Every now and then the guys calling the shots at Phase 2 will decide to take all the employees out of the office and do something fun.  Last week it was determined that the fun experience we were all about to partake of was to be paint ball.  There was some apprehension from some of the participants especially after the war cries of some of the more blood thirsty employees filled the air.

The day of the event came and we split into two different teams while we were still at the office so we could plan on whom we were going to go after once we hit the field of battle.  However, before we left, some of the more pristine individuals realized they had to wear a helmet and that using a helmet that someone else wore and sweated in was not tolerable.  The princesses of Phase 2 raced to the store to get their own helmets so as not to be sullied by the equipment of previous fallen warriors.  One such employee, Steve, who claims to play on a regular basis, came equipped with his own mask, gun, and NASCAR suit.  Obviously he was taking this outing seriously.

We got to the paint ball field later in the day and were greeted by the humble field referee.  Those of us that were not ready for Daytona filed into the equipment shed and gathered our necessary tools.  However, the guy driving the Tide car apparently forgot that his gun doesn’t run on wishes and sunshine but rather on 9 volt batteries.  Being without his trusty power source, he was quickly laughed at and sent to the equipment shed to pick up the standard issue rifle.  Now other than his fancy mask and suit, he was one of us.  The referee then escorted us off to the first field, humbly named “The Graveyard”.

The teams were sent off in opposite directions.  There we stood and waited for the signal for the paint filled carnage to begin.  The signal went off and I froze.  Some of my team went left, some went right.  I guess that means I am going up the middle.  I trotted forward straight down the middle.  I hide behind one of the “tombstones” to try and take some cover as the paint filled ammunition starts screaming in around me.

I know it probably wasn’t the best moment, but I decided to sit back and reflect upon life.  I watched the others around me scrambling from one cover position to the next.  I thought to myself, “What’s the rush?  What is this all about?  If I do fire upon my fellow coworkers, what does that say about me?  Will they treat me differently?”  I determined that I am a lover, not a fighter, so thinking back to what I learned from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, I shouted out the term “parley”.  Thinking I was safe and that the other team was sending a representative over to discuss the current state of affairs with me, I stood up to have a chat.  For now I am going to assume that the other team did not hear me and not that they care not for the safety and peaceful acts of a diplomat from the other team.  As you may have guessed, I was quickly riddled with paint and asked to go wait in the time out area.  As a side note, the masks have ventilation holes so you can breath, but the paint can still splatter in there.  The paint we were using must have soured as it was not pleasant to my palate.

As I sat alone in the time out area I realized my hand was stinging.  I looked down and noticed blood starting to trickle out from around my knuckle where I had apparently been shot.  I surveyed the field in front of me and watched as my coworkers bobbed and weaved their way around the course.  Occasionally one would get hit and come and join me in the time out box.  They would usually curse the person that shot them, funny enough nobody was ever appreciative that they got shot.  This was usually followed by a brief description of what happened and what they did wrong.  The typical excuses are the age old “lucky shot” or “I didn’t see him there”.

The first fight ended and we were taken to the second field to what I thought was going to be a Civil War reenactment due to the field looking like an old battlefield.  Knowing a little about history, I called dibs on being the North.  I also emptied out my paintball hopper, save for one bullet as the muskets from the civil war could only fire one shot until they had to be reloaded.  The ref called for the fight to begin, so like a good little civil war soldier I slowly marched forward to form a firing line.  However I noticed my teammates were not on the same page with me as they ran every which direction to grab cover.  I also quickly realized that the South were not using muskets as I was, they had semi-automatic weapons…alas the North was behind in technology.  I dropped down behind a little box and watched the field for a little while again.  It was more of the same with people scurrying around from cover to cover.  At least I wasn’t the first one shot this time.  Anyways as I continued to watch a soldier for the South started picking up and tossing his cover forward on the field (it was a large spool).  Realizing I was grossly outmatched as I had already seen several of my North brethren fall to the tyranny of the South, I decided to take my musket to my own leg and take a graceful exit from this battle.

We move to the next area which is a “speed” course, smaller course with no tree/weed cover.  Things have finally clicked and to help prevent my teammates from shooting me at the offset of the battle I run out and start laying down fire like I should.  I even managed to hit someone.  I was hiding behind a bunker and my teammate, Daniel, came rushing forward to the same area.  All of a sudden a massive scattering of paintballs came spraying into the area, I’m talking 75 to 100 paintballs.  Thinking it was some sort of grenade, I did the noble thing and dove on top of them, causing them to explode on me.  Obviously I am out, and again proven to be an idiot raising the ire of my teammates further.  As it turns out, apparently Daniel’s hopper fell off as he rushed forward and that was his ammunition spilling out into the bunker….my bad.

Anyways, I took a peek at my watch…we are halfway done; I can’t screw up too much more can I?  On to the next course.  I could tell I wasn’t in good with the team anymore as they shoved me right out in the middle once the round started.  I figure one more good round and they will be shooting me at the start.  I stumble forward and hide behind a barrier of some sort.  I sat there for a moment, and at first I was sad that I was such a poor performer.  A few tears escaped my eyes, but then I soon became angry, and like the Hulk I was fueled by my anger and my skin actually started to turn a pale shade of green.  I stood up with my head and gun appearing above the barrier, not really caring what happened.  Apparently nobody had heard me crying or seen where I had gone as nobody was paying me any attention.  I quickly got a line on a few people and was able to take out three of them.  Amazed at the turn of events my teammates pressed forward to where I was and we started pressing our advantage.  This was all well and good until the other team sent in two kamikazi gunmen.  Somehow with Matrix like reflexes they were able to dodge much of our fire and get in behind us using a bull rush tactic in the process taking out a few of our guys.  I was fortunate enough that Josh ran out of ammo before he got behind me and Jeremy got shot before he got to me as well.  Still in the game I looked around and luckily I was not alone.  I still had a couple of teammates in the game.  I laid down some cover fire and they made their way in and my team finally won a match.  More impressively, I finally survived a match.

Needless to say, for the remaining matches, I was less of a doofus and my teammates disdain for me grew less and less as we continued to win matches and pull the score back to where it was close to being even.  In the end the other side had a victory or two more, but it was pretty close.

After the last battle we all decided to compare battle wounds as that and drinking a beer is apparently the manly thing to do after paintball.  I had a couple of doozies that I knew were going to bruise up nicely on my arm, and of course the one on my leg that I wasn’t going to bring up.  As it turns out the winner for best wound was a bit of a surprise.  Apparently super suits don’t absorb or prevent you from getting shot.  Steve in his NASCAR outfit got hit in the back, right below his Budweiser logo and it left a nice red mark that was already swelling up nicely.

As it turned out, it was a good experience with some good team building.  We all gave each other a high five and then headed off to the pool hall to tell our stories of who shot who and to suck down a couple more beers.  So if you are looking for a good work outing, consider paintball as it might sting a little, but there are some good experiences to be had.  Also, if you ever see Steve you might bring him a 9 volt battery as apparently he is using them up quickly.

Arduino has an Integrated Development Environment based on the same environment used in Processing. Arduino can be programmed in the IDE using a language like AVR C that is based on the same language used for Wiring. Today I will show you how to get started on the basic “hello world” of microcontrollers. A page provided by the people who make Arduino’s explains more about what it is and can be found here.

To get started you will need a few things:

• An Arduino board (or most any one of the many clones out there which I will discuss later)
• A compatible computer and OS (OSX Linux and Windows are supported)
• The IDE (downloaded from Arduino.cc)
• An LED (not all clones have a built in LED on pin 13)
• An appropriate resistor for your LED (resistor values can be calculated here more info below)
• A breadboard and some patch cables

Arduino is an open source hardware device which means that it is freely available for people to get the schematics of it and create their own flavor. For this blog, I am using a seeeduino which is an arduino made by SeeedStudio and has a few advantages over the traditional arduino, like extra analog I/O and more surface mount parts which makes for a lower profile. Arduino clones are usually designed for a specific purpose, like the Roboduino which has everything setup so you can plug in PWM cables for motor controls, or the Stickduino which is about the size of a pack of gum but has all the same power as a traditional arduino. Usually, all of these clones can use the IDE for development but sometimes the method of connecting the arduino may be different.

It is the special purpose clones that might not have an LED built in on pin 13 and for this you would need an external LED and resistor to follow along, but if you have one of the many clones that are the same form-factor as the original arduino, you should have an integrated LED somewhere on the board.

If you do not want to use another LED and you have one built into the arduino then you do not need to have a separate LED and resistor or breadboard and patch cables. If you have an LED built in and have a separate LED, resistor, breadboard and patch cables, then you can blink each one individually or at the same time using the same way that I will cover below. Having a breadboard and patches handy is also great for prototyping or just playing and is good to have around anyway. Most places that sell arduino’s will have breadboards, and some will have the male to male patch cables that make it easy to plug and play into the arduino and breadboard. A breadboard is basically like a Printed Circuit Board that you don’t have to solder anything with. It has a bunch of 0.1″ holes that are wired like a typical prototype PCB.

Once you have everything you need, it’s easy to get started. First let’s make sure you have the correct resistor for your LED. Visit led.linear1.org and let’s put in some numbers.

What I have is an LED that has a forward voltage of 1.7v and an output of 20ma so I plug these values into the calculator and it get back a 180ohm resistor. If you happen to have 180ohm resistors laying around, you can use those. The rule is a plus or minus 10% is still ok, And if you go with higher ohms it will just mean less power gets to the LED. So in my case, I have a 220 ohm resistor sitting here so I will use that since it is higher than what is recommended and will not burn out the LED but still allow enough power to get to the LED to light it up.

Now we need to setup everything. If you are using the integrated LED then you are ready to go and can skip to the code section. For the external LED you will need to plug some things into your breadboard. First, let’s plug in the LED. I have mine put against the middle rail so I have plenty of access to the power and ground rails if i need to use them. And so I can put things in front of it, namely things that will come off the breadboard and connect to the arduino itself.

Next I will plug in my resistor to two spots on the breadboard, but one of those spots will be one of the lanes that a leg of the LED is plugged into. This is so we can make sure the power goes through the resistor at some point on its way through the LED. You can select either leg of the LED to connect the resistor, just so it is on one and only one of the legs. Otherwise we will not actually be limiting power.

Now we will plug in our power and ground into our breadboard. We will need to know which leg of the LED is the anode (+ or power) and which is the cathode (- or ground). The anode is usually the longer leg of the LED, also on some round LED’s the cathode side is flat on the body. For my setup, I will be putting the resistor on the cathode, for no specific reason. Now I will plug the supply wire into the lane the anode is on and I will plug in the ground wire to the lane the resistor is plugged into and the LED is NOT plugged into.

Now we can plug in the wires to the arduino. I will use the GND pin just past pin 13 on the right side of the Arduino and plug in the supply line to the digital pin 3 marked with a PWM on it. The integrated LED is usually connected to pin 13 and we will utilize that when we get to coding.

Next go to your computer and open the arduino IDE. I am using version 0015 which is current as of this writing. In the IDE, navigate to File > Sketchbook > Examples > Digital and select Blink. This will open up the blink “sketch” so we can upload it to our arduino. In the arduino IDE, a “sketch” is what we call the program that will be uploaded to the arduino. Next plug your USB cable into the arduino and then the computer so it can be found by the IDE. Once we have it found, we will need to setup the IDE to connect to it. Click Tools > Board and select the arduino you are using. Diecimila should be good if you do not know or have a standard arduino. Next click again on Tools > Serial Port and select the serial port that is created by the software on the arduino. If you do not know then you can unplug the arduino and click on Tools > Serial Port and see what is there, then plug it back in and click on Tools > Arduino and select the new one that shows up. Once everything is setup, your IDE should look something like this:

With the arduino plugged in and the IDE ready to go, we can upload the sketch. This is done by clicking the “Upload to I/O board” button or going to File > Upload to I/O Board or you can use the keyboard shortcut, which differs based on your operating system. What this will do is compile the sketch and then upload the compiled version to the arduino. Once there, you should see the LED on your arduino blink. But, if you do not have an LED integrated, your board might just look like it does when it is not plugged in. To solve this, we will change a little bit of the code.

First lets talk a little bit about what the code does:

int ledPin = 13;

this just sets up a variable to make it easier for us to know later in the code, which pin is the LED pin.

pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);

This is how we tell the arduino that we are going to be writing to “ledPin” rather than reading from it.

digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);

This is how we actually write to the “ledPin” and control the LED. Note that this line is used twice, once it sets HIGH and once LOW. Basically it is saying HIGH sends power (5v) to the pin or you can think of it as turns it on. Sending LOW sets the power to 0v, or turns it off. HIGH and LOW are reserved words for the IDE and do not have to be defined.

delay(1000);

this tells the arduino that it needs to wait 1000 milliseconds, or 1 second, before going on.

Now we need to add code to make our external LED turn on. Lets first define a pin so we don’t have to use just the number later in the code. Under the “int ledPin = 13;” line lets add a new int and call it something useful like redLedPin and set it to our pin number, which should be 3. It will be the pin number you plugged the supply wire into. Next, we need to set our pin to output, so under the current pinMode call, lets add one that sets our new redLedPin to output. Now we are ready to make the LED turn on and off however we want. I am going to make my redLedPin turn on when the other LED is off. So now my code looks like this:

We can upload our code to the arduino and test it out. On my setup, I have pin 13 turning off when pin 3 turns on, and pin 13 turns on when pin 3 turns off. That is just the beginning. Now you can add all sorts of stuff to your code, or to your breadboard and have all sorts of fun. Some examples may be adding a button to make the LED’s turn on, or adding a potentiometer to adjust the fading of the LED. But the possibilities go on and on and on. Comment or email if you have questions.

In my previous posts I discussed the way Phase 2 develops a deep understanding of our clients’ needs. Once we discover the needs and can fluently speak in the language of measures of success, we create a technology implementation plan. In the next series of posts I’ll cover my philosophies around the process of implementing a custom software project, we call it a Software Bill of Rights, credit to Jeff Palermo for articulating it as such. It’s what every client should expect from us, or any software partner.

There are 5 Rights our clients can expect during the implementation cycle of a project with P2.  While the details of an implementation will change depending on the project and the team, these are the guiding principals.

1.  Clients have the right to working software, at regular intervals, throughout the implementation life cycle.

2.  Clients have the right to usable software.

3.  Clients have the right to clear, non-technical communication about the software being developed and the development process.

4.  Clients have the right to the best solution available.

5.  Clients have the right to be regularly involved in the software development process.

Let’s talk about Right #1: “Clients have the right to working software, at regular intervals, throughout the implementation life cycle.”  I’ll make this bold statement, it is impossible to create an effective, well designed piece of software on the first pass.  Iterations are necessary and great software can only be created through iterations of actually working code and interfaces.  To meet the ultimate vision, a development project requires that the end user get their hands on the software as early and as often as possible.

There are no practical amounts of upfront specifications that will allow a development team to get a software compenent correct the first time.  Clients will forget things they needed, developers will botch routings they shouldn’t have, etc.  This first Right in the Software Bill of Rights defines the essential need for the end user to have access to working components of a piece of software throughout the develoment process.  This creates a fundamental feedback loop between the client and the developer.  Feedback is absolutely necessary for both the client, as they will gain confidence in code they cannot see, and the developers, as they will be able to craft the solution based on user interaction.  It is always a bad idea to take a software spec, have developers go build from it for a month or two, then show the results to the client.

Feedback should happen at least once a week with real working components that the client can touch.  This means developers must be mindful of error handling, bugs and UI issues at all stages of development.  Usable software early in the cycle helps keep the software on the right track, meeting the client’s needs and expectations, as well as allowing a developer to implement creative concepts which are difficult to justify without the client seeing them actually work.

As with all rights, these involve a high level of responsibility; great software implementations require a commitment to this feedback loop from both the client and the developers.  Clients must be committed to the, often substantial, time to use and test the ever changing prototype, giving valuable feedback to the development team.  Developers must be committed to the process of creating incremental, usable pieces of software, which requires a constant committment to working components at all stages, consistent focus and a willingness make user feedback a primary value.

In the end this Right facilitates great, usable software and happy clients.