Agile isn't an excuse for sloppy project management or development

Those who have read 37Signals book: "Getting Real" should be well versed in what Agile Development is all about. Basically the theory you can do more with less is the easiest description I have of what Agile Development boils down to. I am warming up to the idea of a development process that is less linear, and more pliable to the demands of a fast paced on demand "Web 2.0" world.

That being said in a recent Dr Dobb's newsletter I read this article on the disciplines of development using Agile methodology.

Google to take on Facebook by more open API

It was only a matter of time before one of the top three: Google, Yahoo or MSN did something with respect to Facebook.

Google is apparently working on opening up its API's for existing services even more than Facebook. See this article for more detail.

Ditch your news section or press room and build a blog!

It still amazes me to see sites launching with a news or press room. This seems like one of the legacy web 1.0 items thats still makes its way into most corporate domains.

Granted if you are a fortune 500 company perhaps you still need your official new release section. However for most small to mid size companys this seems like serious overkill. The "one to many" broadcast approach is clearly over with the rise of social media, web 2.0 and functionality that allows for your users to engage in a conversation with you!

Some blog facts:

• Blogs are hip
• Authentic
• Let you engage with your user = two way conversation!
• Let your users identify with a personality along with your news
• Build Community: They create repeat visits (stickyness) by users
• Content can be syndicated via RSS and email subscriptions
• Build Traffic: Ultra SEO friendly helping to get you found
• They create conversation on other blogs = Online PR +Seeding!
• Cross Sell: Generally they create a lot of referrals back to your corporate site

Recent validation of Linkedin - networking 2.0

I recently had a situation in my day job where more work than we could handle. I needed a qualified group of five internet developers with varied skill sets such as: XHTML/CSS, Flash, .NET, PHP and we needed them quickly.

Formally we would try two things:

• Mine existing freelance resources
• Go to a local staffing firm that specializes in interactive to find the desired candidate(s)

We tried option one, and everyone we knew was committed. Option two takes time and we were under the gun with tight deadlines.

So what do you where you in a bind and need to recruit in a vacuum? Networking 2.0 utilizing your social networks!

Within a few hours of identifying the need I hit my LinkedIn network. By the end of the day I had answers and people lined up to do the work. It was instant validation to me of the power of social networking tools like LinkedIn, and putting my network that i'd built overtime to work for me.