Choosing Your Family

“You can choose your friends but you sho' can't choose your family, an' they're still kin to you no matter whether you acknowledge 'em or not, and it makes you look right silly when you don't.”
- Harper Lee, Author of To Kill a Mockingbird Author

In most circumstances, I am not one to challenge the renown quote of an American Literature Icon, especially when at risk of looking 'right silly'. However, Harper Lee failed to consider the state of family-owned businesses when speaking to the inability to choose family members (particularly ones in software). I may have no choice but to tolerate my Dad's stressful antics, criticisms from my brother, and attempts of sheltering from our primary investor (and my mom). But occasionally, I get to be a part of the process in bringing on a new team member and growing the family. 

Harper Lee provoked into deep thought in considering the exception of family owned businesses in choosing family (imagined by me).

Recently, Ablesoft has brought on two developers to aid in our goals of supporting customers with creative solutions delivered on a personal level. One as a full-time developer, the other as a part of our intern program.

Andrew

Edgar

Andrew has been a long-time developer, building and supporting applications from banks to manufacturers across his career.

Entering his Freshman year at Rock Valley College in pursuit of a Computer Science degree, Edgar has been building applications for the past two years and has joined on as our intern. 

To read more about the team, click (here).

Ben + Hanna

Though not a developer, or particularly comfortable with computers overall, Hanna recently accepted my proposal to become a member of the immediate Bruns family, and ultimately an extension of the Ablesoft family as well. 

As the new members are settling in, we are excited by Ablesoft’s path forward in continuing to grow the family. Something I think Harper Lee would even appreciate.

—Ben

Ablesoft’s Home Invasion Pt.2

As the world remains cautious and the Summer season is coming to pass, the Ablesoft team is continuing to invade each other's homes with our daily Microsoft Teams check-ins. Fortunately, the call hiccups including setup woes, spotty internet connections, and abrupt pauses to avoid talking over each other have subsided with time, but the surprises have not. Below is a glimpse of some of those surprises, and observations, over the past few months.

New Avatars

Facing the turmoil of a working mom with two children at home, Lisa, our head of design, is continually in a balancing act. Team meetings may feature her kids’ eager requests to say hello, wrestling matches, or simply using her as a chair to gaze into the camera. Recently, it was discovered that these meetings were having another impact on them as well. Below, Lisa is introducing a new companion of their household who is also named "Noel" (the President of Ablesoft), courtesy of her two sons. The team all agreed that the Noels shared many similar characteristics.

Noel, visibly excited to be recognized by Lisa's children in gnome form. Eric disappointed with the lack of a yard decor avatar.

Workspace Envy

Remote meetings have enabled a variety of 'office setups'. Attended from bedrooms, kitchens, garages, and even outdoors, the key to the home office is being comfortable, mildly isolated, and if possible, having a decent view. Michelle, our head of Marketing, created the optimal work environment which includes all the major elements. Nestled in her basement, Michelle's home office features a beautiful view of Oregon forestry featuring visits by her occasional wildlife friends.

Deer, wild turkeys, and friendly squirrels are known to stop by to say ‘hello’ in Michelle's working environment.

New Skill Development

What started as an excuse to cook outside, blossomed into the realization of a new calling when Alan took up the art of smoking. From coals, to wood chips, to a full smoker upgrade, the team of Ablesoft has witnessed Alan's ascension to that of a grill master. Ribs, pork hunks, and even bacon wrapped pineapple have all found a role in Alan's play of smoked foods. Unbeknownst to him, he has earned himself a new role as Ablesoft's 'head of catering’ for our future office cookouts. 

The art of smoking is embraced by all in the Arian’s family. The reasons as to why are depicted above.

Recent office space adjustments have brought the ASI team back together once again. Which means for now, the daily check-in theater will have to be postponed. Despite the entertainment value they may bring, the team remains quite alright with the new setup.

ASI: Your Own Personal Microsoft Decoder

Ablesoft team sifting through the Microsoft announcements on technology.

Though obscure in the eyes of the Microsoft behemoth, as a company that develops software using their technologies, Ablesoft is best served by paying attention to what technological vision they are touting. Like Ralphie and his use of the Ovaltine decoder in the Christmas Story, the Ablesoft team needs to decipher the cryptic technological messages sent out by Microsoft to decide what direction we are headed in developing programs for our customers.

Sometimes the message at the end can be underwhelming…

My apologies for the Christmas-themed reference, but the metaphor could not leave me.

Once armed with the 'decoded' message, it is necessary to simplify and depict it from our perspective. Why? For one, it brings more clarity to our own business for programmers and non-programmers alike to align towards. The second, it gives customers a better idea of what goes into making the products we deliver. Although they may not understand how to make the dish, they at least will have a better understanding of the ingredients to better appreciate it.

Below is our first crack at laying out our decoded results and adopting them into our development process. Here are some of the high-level ideas behind it:

Customer
This portion represents the magic which happens between Ablesoft and our customers. It is here where we work together to define the unique business requirements that dictate what the application is supposed to do. Also, it is where the interface of the application is developed whether web based, desktop, or cross platform for the customer.

ASI Core
The core exists to get programming projects up and running quickly. So Instead of each project starting from scratch, it is here where pre-built components by Ablesoft are incorporated into a variety of projects to avoid 'recreating the wheel' for each application.

Microsoft Technologies
The .Net framework was created in the early 2000's under the same principle that drives Ablesoft to develop the 'ASI Core' - to speed up the process and quality of programming by re-purposing pre-built code created. But, as technologies evolved and the requirements of applications changed over the years, Microsoft created multiple programming languages and frameworks to support web-based, desktop, and mobile applications. Now, their vision is to begin consolidating the once disparate development technologies down into a shared framework that can be used across devices. This is called .Net 5 and symbolized in the chart below:

Although this write up may generate eye rolls from programmers for its simplicity, or readers irritated by the untimely Christmas Story reference, it is a necessary risk to take. So, when it comes to the future of your company's applications written with Microsoft technologies, consider us as your own personal decoder. Hopefully, our decoded message from Microsoft is more helpful than Ralphie’s.  

When Humans Are Away

One unforeseen consequence of the mandated shut-ins has been the emergence of animals in places where people would otherwise occupy. Stories of monkeys taking to the streets in Thailand cities, rats finding their ways into people’s homes instead of restaurant garbage, and sheepish wildlife being sighted in public areas have been appearing.

Click image for WSJ article.

Click image for Chicago NBC article.

Click image for the Hill article.

This global phenomenon does not stop in major cities. A similar occurrence has been observed right here at the Ablesoft office. Fortunately, it is not rats or wild animals, but rather a staple of our office who is attempting to re-establish his role in the office hierarchy - Doug.

Once outnumbered by humans, Doug accepted his place as the token tech. company dog. Now, the tide is changing, and Doug is establishing ways to challenge those who remain in the office as 'Top Dog'. Below is a glimpse of his desperate climb to the top.

A sign of the turmoil to come first began with Doug’s showcased reading choice. Clearly directed at Noel, Ablesoft’s President.

Meetings became impossible with Doug’s constant insistence that he had already reserved the meeting room.

Then came the unusual content selections in ASI’s break room.

The stand-off finally came to a head with Doug claiming the boss’s spot….

Just to realize, he had crossed the line…

As sanctions are beginning to lift things are getting back to normal for the employees of Ablesoft. Gradually, employees are returning to the office and look forward to being back in each other’s presence soon. Although Doug has settled back into his role of the token tech. dog, he is not afraid to remind us whose home Ablesoft really is.

From the employees of Ablesoft, we wish you good health and a smooth transition back into normalcy. Also, a little less turmoil with your pets than us.

Our Takeaways from this Year's Microsoft Build

Day 2

Microsoft Build Day 1

What would otherwise be hosted in a packed convention center in downtown Seattle filled with flash, hype, and grand statements on technology, Microsoft's annual tech convention took a different approach this year. Condensing a 3-day event to a 48-hour marathon of online content, Microsoft's build conference adopted a more intimate tone. Flash, or not, the developers of Ablesoft were focused on one thing - the tech. We made sure to take the necessary steps to avoid missing one moment. Following that experience, here are some of the takeaways from the Ablesoft team:

WinForm Example

The story of WinForms by Monty Python

Respect the Elders
Since its inception in 2002, Windows Forms (WinForms) was introduced as Microsoft's first user interface technology for building .Net Framework applications. Because of its power and relative ease of use, developers and organizations utilized the technology for business applications. Many which are still in use today. As with any 'legacy' technology, over time whispers of obsolescence quickly gain traction to fear that the technology will not be supported, or in other words dead. In this recent build conference, Microsoft clarified that WinForm apps will be adapted for the future - so the technology can live to see another day.

Microsoft’s open source offering to developers.

Sharing is Caring
With the recent explosion of virtual working, Microsoft has advanced 2 years in 2 months with their collaboration tools according to Satya Nadell, Microsoft's CEO, in his keynote. That future puts an emphasis on collaboration across employees and developers with Microsoft Teams, open source communities, and environments that foster co-creation across developers. A few updates:

Microsoft Teams – With the Power Platform, will give the ability to add low-code programs to carry out workflows. I.E. sending automated on-boarding materials through to a new-hire through Teams. For more examples, click here.

Open Source Communities – Starting with the acquisition of GitHub in ‘18, Microsoft has continued to tout its push to open source communities where developers can share programming pieces for quicker application development.

Converging Technology
Where is the Microsoft giant bounding towards these days? To a centered, inward peace. With the proclamation of agile, modern, and open development being the future, Microsoft is seeking to converge many of their development technologies, such as WinForms, WPF, and UWP into shared platforms. This journey ends with businesses using polished applications while lowering their maintenance costs across time. So, Microsoft is more of the 'Big Friendly Giant' than a tormenting one:

Microsoft keeping their little developer friends content.

Collaboration Technologies – Microsoft Dev Ops and Microsoft Teams will pair together as a tool for developers to communicate, track requirements, and monitor the development of programming for applications.

Despite missing out on the perks of conventions with the complimentary coffees, lunch buffets, and free vendor swag, the Build conference was viewed positively by the Ablesoft team. Microsoft is providing a clearer path with the unification of their technologies which is energizing our developers in forging our future technology approach. Stay tuned for more.

The Bugs Among Us

As a reference, the ‘before’ shot. Clear damage near the fridge represented a ‘small’ matter to address.

In the programming world, the term ‘bug’ represents a malfunction within a program that is generally hidden and interferes with an expected outcome. Bugs can range from a minor miscalculation, to a large-scale technical glitch that may compromise the system. Typical of engineering, even its origin story is quite literal when Grace Hopper, a computer scientist, discovered a moth trapped within Harvard’s computer in 1947 which was throwing off results and puzzling colleagues. Common and potentially disastrous, bugs are an undeniable force which need to be managed under the watchful eye of a programmer. This story is about a different type of bug. A literal bug. The termite.

Apologies to the squeamish. Soon into the tearing out of flooring, termites in action discovered.

Like for most, this past month has provided an opportune time to address long-overdue tasks such as cleaning, organizing, and making updates to one’s living environment. Noel and his wife Sally (Owner and Head Investor) were addressing the latter with the exciting prospect of changing out the flooring across their home. Quickly into the project, minor termite damage was discovered. What began as minor, quickly escalated with each tile removed. Reader’s be warned, what you are about to see are the devastating effects of hidden bugs.

An example of the hidden carnage ravaged under the entrance to the kitchen.

No more white wall, and floor for that matter.

Further progress into tearing out revealed more damage. Note the white wall.

Last one for good measure.

Fortunately from a systems perspective, Ablesoft has avoided such painful surprises as Noel and Sally through effective ‘bug’ management. In using a software development tool called Microsoft DevOps, testers are easily able to identify bugs, developers exterminate them, and progress is then shared across the team. So Noel’s home may have been compromised by those pesky bugs, but his systems are not.

This story is not solely a warning of the damages hidden bugs can cause us – both virtual and real. With the large scale damage has come a push for Noel and Sally to rethink the layout of their home and incorporate new ideas. In additon, the decade long wood buffet for the termites could have ended in even larger infrastructure damage to the home if continued to go unnoticed. That said, their experience is one that would be wished on very few. With that, monitor the bug, respect the bug, and you just may avoid a hidden disaster. 

Ablesoft’s Home Invasion

It's difficult to avoid using predictable expressions when describing the havoc COVID-19 has wreaked on our lives. "The new normal", "It will get worse before it gets better”, and "They are out of toilet paper", are some among many phrases which have inadvertently slipped into our conversations. With those expressions have also come changes in the way we work, live, and socialize. One of the largest changes for Ablesoft was transitioning to a fully remote workforce.  Even for a tech company, we emphasize the intimacy of our small office environment and were concerned at what would be lost in sacrificing it. As a precaution, we setup daily Microsoft Teams ‘check-ins’ in hopes of staying connected in a casual way. Below are some of the highlights from invading each other’s homes.

What would otherwise have been a risky proposition, the pasty team of Ablesoft was able to enjoy a meeting at the beach.

The marketing meeting included Michelle’s encouragement of Lisa on baking her first cookie people..

…..They tasted great!

Ablesoft’s head investor (Noel’s wife), stopped by for a morale boosting pep talk.

Fortunately, the office was still able to carry out our annual tradition of ‘hat day’. Some of its participants were a fire fighter, hacker, witch, and a fan of a hopeless team.

Despite the unknowns and forced adjustments, perhaps the changes have fueled new ways for us to communicate and come together. Or,at the very least, provide some mild entertainment. From the team at Ablesoft, we hope you all the best of health, safety, and sanity.

Talking Design with Next Generation Entrepreneurs

Prior to being owned and renovated, the building Ablesoft resides in today was a dusty resale shop. Originally built in 1893, the weathered floors, relic-filled boxes, and eerie history of manufacturing caskets provoked similar responses when the prospect of purchasing it was brought up by the owner, Noel. "Really?". Six years later, Ablesoft employees proudly walk visitors through the office like kids showcasing their prized effort. Built just how they like it. And like most projects, the journey to the finish yielded many lessons. 

A Before Picture of the Office…See What I Mean?

Six Years Later, Current Day.

This week, the nostalgia of renovating the office was provoked when students from Oregon High School paid a visit to Ablesoft. Hearing through the Oregon grapevine that Noel was familiar with a variety of design tools, the students came looking for guidance on creating layouts for their new business. This ambitious project is one of many initiatives stemming from the OHS Entrepreneurial Club. The program creates an environment for students to launch ideas and get hands-on experience. Like Noel 6 years ago, the students have the opportunity to convert an empty building into a functioning business. The building is located in Mt.Morris, and currently is being designed as a Tea Shop featuring local artists, entrepreneurs, and an environment to learn. Stay tuned for more.

The visit was a success with Noel and the OHS crew sharing ideas on how to get started after a quick demonstration of Homestyler, Noel’s design tool of choice. Noel was impressed by the student’s engagement and ability to focus on the task at hand.

Despite the daunting nature of the coming renovations, we are excited for them, and look forward to the day we can enjoy their results.

Noel reviewing the old photos of the building with the OHS entrepreneurial members. Doug was trying to get in on the action too.

The Brainstorming session.