Happy new year 2013! Best wishes to you all !
Bonne année 2013! Meilleurs voeux!
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| Finally 2013 shows up! Let's hug! |
Next post in 2013!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Saturday, December 29, 2012
App user testing : Getting ready for the big move
After 2 months of hard rework and extensive design and recoding, the app reaches the stage where we can test it.
2 months may sound long to some but remember we are family men and we work at night. I've read recently that start ups behave like rock bands and I find it very true, we just don't have the road shows in far away places on week ends.
If you come from the IT world, you know about user testing. Back in the "old ways", user testing would happen at the very end of the project and would be very structured with long user scenarios and so on. The software world has gone very far in industrializing the process and when a product reaches user testing, if the work has been done properly, they are not that many critical bugs i.e crashes that prevent you from doing what you are supposed to do.
IPad app user testing is different. It is closer to web like applications development and what people in IT call Rapid Application Development meaning coding and testing go in parallel. However there are 2 things that you need to know about iPad apps user testing:
- iPads may sound homogeneous but there are multiple configurations out there: iPad 1, iPad 2 and so on, various ios versions and it seems that some apps will generate memory issues. So sometimes the App will crash on one configuration and not on another and finding the bug can be very time consuming.
- It happens all along the project with 2 stages:
Stage #1: you test it home, some features work fine, some not at all, multiple crashes, several days to fix them. Fine.
Stage #2: you make the tests in real life situation.
Why? Because the Apple development environment happens on Mac and even if the simulator is good, it feels very different on your tablet where you happen to use your fingers and not the mouse pointer.
And also because if you have followed us so far, you know that the umbrella principle applies. If you want to test the umbrella, get out when it's raining and see how it goes.
So we took our iPads in multiple meetings. And we tested and we crashed and we fixed. It was very painful when it crashed during meetings so we really made sure it will NOT happen again. The very good point is that it gave us new ideas on features we could propose to the user.
More importantly we were able to "impress our colleagues" with a report right at the end of a meeting and saved us a LOT of time. Audio records were also a must, you can really write down minutes without any mistake.
Lesson#7: Good real life testing should make you feel comfortable for submission
Time now to get prepared for the big show, the Apple submission.
2 months may sound long to some but remember we are family men and we work at night. I've read recently that start ups behave like rock bands and I find it very true, we just don't have the road shows in far away places on week ends.
If you come from the IT world, you know about user testing. Back in the "old ways", user testing would happen at the very end of the project and would be very structured with long user scenarios and so on. The software world has gone very far in industrializing the process and when a product reaches user testing, if the work has been done properly, they are not that many critical bugs i.e crashes that prevent you from doing what you are supposed to do.
IPad app user testing is different. It is closer to web like applications development and what people in IT call Rapid Application Development meaning coding and testing go in parallel. However there are 2 things that you need to know about iPad apps user testing:
- iPads may sound homogeneous but there are multiple configurations out there: iPad 1, iPad 2 and so on, various ios versions and it seems that some apps will generate memory issues. So sometimes the App will crash on one configuration and not on another and finding the bug can be very time consuming.
 |
| Let's admit it: bugs are a hassle |
- It happens all along the project with 2 stages:
Stage #1: you test it home, some features work fine, some not at all, multiple crashes, several days to fix them. Fine.
Stage #2: you make the tests in real life situation.
Why? Because the Apple development environment happens on Mac and even if the simulator is good, it feels very different on your tablet where you happen to use your fingers and not the mouse pointer.
And also because if you have followed us so far, you know that the umbrella principle applies. If you want to test the umbrella, get out when it's raining and see how it goes.
 |
| No test is worth a real life testing |
So we took our iPads in multiple meetings. And we tested and we crashed and we fixed. It was very painful when it crashed during meetings so we really made sure it will NOT happen again. The very good point is that it gave us new ideas on features we could propose to the user.
More importantly we were able to "impress our colleagues" with a report right at the end of a meeting and saved us a LOT of time. Audio records were also a must, you can really write down minutes without any mistake.
 |
| When you're done testing your app, you feel indestructible |
Lesson#7: Good real life testing should make you feel comfortable for submission
Time now to get prepared for the big show, the Apple submission.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
The umbrella principle and why Office like suites are in trouble
With a mobile device app, what is important is the context where the user is and the added value you bring to him. I call it the umbrella principle. Let me explain.
If you go to a museum nowadays, you'll see people walking around with iPads, looking at a painting or a sculpture, googling it out on their iPad to get details or explanations. Some do that their with smartphones as well. And museums out there are designing apps to help people walk around and promote museum stuff such as in NYC Natural History Museum.
As it may have occurred to you, none of this ever happened with laptops because they aren't designed for this kind of mobility. And the same thing applies to applications and office type suites. It means that, as Google has understood it, office type suites are to become a commodity and Microsoft Office is in trouble.
I am not saying that Office like suites will disappear on tablets but what I believe is that their usage will decrease and so will the prices the users are likely to spend on them. Why? Because these applications were designed for computers (desktops and laptops), they give the user an incredible freedom but they are not "situational".
Business apps designed for tablets or smartphones are "situational", they are designed to answer one situation and add value to it. Just like an umbrella which is useful when it rains. That's the umbrella principle.
iTakeNotes have been designed with this principle in mind.
Situation: you go to a meeting and you have to do a meeting report.
Added value: You can prepare it beforehand or jumpstart and set the elements afterwards. You can record what is said and take pics or draw and use them to finalize your reports. You can generate a structured report right after the meeting with all elements set up. And finally you can generate an email and send the pdf or txt to the participants. The added value is 30-50% time saving.
It's a push button process and word processors don't do that. And I know what I am talking about. I've been writing tons of meeting and interview reports, forgetting things, rewriting and I hated it.
Lesson learned: Concentrate your app on its key features and make sure the added value is there in the situation it is designed for. Forget the rest.
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| Umbrellas and apps have much in common |
If you go to a museum nowadays, you'll see people walking around with iPads, looking at a painting or a sculpture, googling it out on their iPad to get details or explanations. Some do that their with smartphones as well. And museums out there are designing apps to help people walk around and promote museum stuff such as in NYC Natural History Museum.
As it may have occurred to you, none of this ever happened with laptops because they aren't designed for this kind of mobility. And the same thing applies to applications and office type suites. It means that, as Google has understood it, office type suites are to become a commodity and Microsoft Office is in trouble.
I am not saying that Office like suites will disappear on tablets but what I believe is that their usage will decrease and so will the prices the users are likely to spend on them. Why? Because these applications were designed for computers (desktops and laptops), they give the user an incredible freedom but they are not "situational".
 |
| Mobile apps are giving Office like suites a hard time |
Business apps designed for tablets or smartphones are "situational", they are designed to answer one situation and add value to it. Just like an umbrella which is useful when it rains. That's the umbrella principle.
iTakeNotes have been designed with this principle in mind.
Situation: you go to a meeting and you have to do a meeting report.
Added value: You can prepare it beforehand or jumpstart and set the elements afterwards. You can record what is said and take pics or draw and use them to finalize your reports. You can generate a structured report right after the meeting with all elements set up. And finally you can generate an email and send the pdf or txt to the participants. The added value is 30-50% time saving.
It's a push button process and word processors don't do that. And I know what I am talking about. I've been writing tons of meeting and interview reports, forgetting things, rewriting and I hated it.
 |
| And now gentlemen, who will write the meeting report? |
Other features will be of course be available to accommodate upcoming needs. But for a first dry version it has to concentrate on key added value.
Lesson learned: Concentrate your app on its key features and make sure the added value is there in the situation it is designed for. Forget the rest.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Time to market: how long can the chicken cross the road?
All right, we have lost enough time: between the moment I got my idea and the moment our team was up and ready, 9 months have been wasted.
Everyone tells you that time to market is everything. I challenge this opinion. Big time.
Don't get me wrong here. Time is important, it's a variable you need to take into account. but it's not everything. Between the time the web was accessible (1995) to everyone and Facebook turned out (2005), how long? Sure HTML evolved and web changed into 2.0 but was technology the only issue here? Of course not, maturity is what matters here.
The first iPod was released in 2001, the iPhone in 2007, the first iPad was shipped on April 2010. And those products keep evolving. Even if that sounds strange in a world where technology is everything, products and markets evolve and mature with time.
If you take into account the equipment rate, people started using the iPad in 2011. Do we really know all the usages that are enabled by the iPad? And I'm talking only about general apps. Now let's talk about business apps.
Even if everyone agrees that the laptop is doomed and that tablets are to replace it, how many people do you know have given up their laptop since they have an iPad? None. And why's that? Because businesses cannot yet replace laptops and despite all the "freemium" frenzy and what your kids may think, iPads are not for free.
The average price of the iPad is $550 in march 2012 whereas the average price of a windows laptop is $513. So instead of spending $513, the average business would spend more than a $1000 per user? Not likely.
When both features and prices will be in line, then you can guess laptops will drop sharply and join VCRs, wired phones and stereo systems in history books. With Amazon, Google & friends and Windows & friends trying to jump in the bandwagon, you can bet this will happen.
Now there are about more than 1.8 billions laptops out there (about 380 millions are sold every year and I took 6 years lifetime if you want to know). And how many iPads are out there? 80 millions as of September 2012. Do I let you do the maths?
So when the market is 5% of what it should become in, say, 3 years, who is arrogant enough to tell you how such a massive number of people are going to use and behave with their tablets?
Instead of concentrating on time, tablets software vendors must concentrate on getting the right product with the right features, able to evolve with the market.
Does iTakeNotes fall in this category? You bet!
Everyone tells you that time to market is everything. I challenge this opinion. Big time.
 |
| Time to market, a time bomb? |
Don't get me wrong here. Time is important, it's a variable you need to take into account. but it's not everything. Between the time the web was accessible (1995) to everyone and Facebook turned out (2005), how long? Sure HTML evolved and web changed into 2.0 but was technology the only issue here? Of course not, maturity is what matters here.
The first iPod was released in 2001, the iPhone in 2007, the first iPad was shipped on April 2010. And those products keep evolving. Even if that sounds strange in a world where technology is everything, products and markets evolve and mature with time.
 |
| First car phone, not so cool when you use it in a roundabout |
If you take into account the equipment rate, people started using the iPad in 2011. Do we really know all the usages that are enabled by the iPad? And I'm talking only about general apps. Now let's talk about business apps.
Even if everyone agrees that the laptop is doomed and that tablets are to replace it, how many people do you know have given up their laptop since they have an iPad? None. And why's that? Because businesses cannot yet replace laptops and despite all the "freemium" frenzy and what your kids may think, iPads are not for free.
The average price of the iPad is $550 in march 2012 whereas the average price of a windows laptop is $513. So instead of spending $513, the average business would spend more than a $1000 per user? Not likely.
When both features and prices will be in line, then you can guess laptops will drop sharply and join VCRs, wired phones and stereo systems in history books. With Amazon, Google & friends and Windows & friends trying to jump in the bandwagon, you can bet this will happen.
 |
| Don't worry, everyone will have a tablet |
Now there are about more than 1.8 billions laptops out there (about 380 millions are sold every year and I took 6 years lifetime if you want to know). And how many iPads are out there? 80 millions as of September 2012. Do I let you do the maths?
So when the market is 5% of what it should become in, say, 3 years, who is arrogant enough to tell you how such a massive number of people are going to use and behave with their tablets?
Instead of concentrating on time, tablets software vendors must concentrate on getting the right product with the right features, able to evolve with the market.
Does iTakeNotes fall in this category? You bet!
Developing the app - episode 3 : A new hope
As I said, I was in the middle of nowhere. I was contacting IT firms, many of them were talking about starting all over the project with in many cases serious doubts about the possibility of getting some of the results I was looking for on an iPad app.
Proposed budgets were also far from the idea I had in my business model. Don't get me wrong, I am not related to Uncle Scrooge but I tend to dislike throwing money down the drain and my previous experience was pretty bad enough if you've read this blog from the beginning.
I have realized the net and the iWorld were pretty close to the wild west and I was not ready to give away money to people I didn't know or who couldn't get recommended by anyone I trusted.
Speaking of trust, one thing I was late realizing was that my own personal network could be of help. A friend of a friend had developed an iPhone app, I might as well get in touch with him, even to get an advice...
Lesson #2: never underestimate the power of your own network
So through a friend, I met with Guillaume Horen who happens to have developed with David Ughetto an iPhone app named Optivisit designed to help you ranking and classifying real estate visits. And they have developed it on their own, graphical interface and app.
Ironically we met in a place called "La Grande Armée", "the Great Army" (of Napoleon), a restaurant near Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
I showed them the project (the interface, the bugged App) and the added value. We had a good discussion and a few days later we decided to go forward.
To make a long story short, we ended up partnering in the company I created not right away but a few months later.
Lesson #3: Three are better than one
Why? Because we bring complementary skills to this project. And that's a big lesson I learned overall. a team can do much better than one person, especially when it's not a full time job.
But not any team will do: experience in coding and ability to develop/modify a graphical interface are key to any success in the iWorld.
Great coding skill helps you include quickly in your app new available coding features instead of reinventing the wheel. Printing a pdf for example is a feature that's already been developed, don't bother wasting time coding. Instead better concentrate on the added value your app is bringing to the end user.
It is also the ability to fix the bugs that will appear. And except in you live in Lala's world, there are always bugs hiding somewhere especially considering the multiple ipad/ios combinations.
And finally great coding brings a great point of view that is truly enriching when mixed up with others.
Graphical interface is also a real expertise: it is both being able to bring up the top graphics and getting the best user experience. A new feature that you haven't thought about will need a graphical object or symbol.
And don't think that because you happened to be gifted in drawing when you were 10, you'll be kicking ass in designing a graphical user interface. It is a long learning curve and it doesn't come cheap. And even if you have that expertise in your team, there are still some little things here and there that will require you to buy a software license or call an individual consultant.
Now iTakeNotes is in better shape to get finalized and reach the Appstore but we are not there yet: choosing priority features with a clear roadmap and setting up the sales and marketing pack are next.
Proposed budgets were also far from the idea I had in my business model. Don't get me wrong, I am not related to Uncle Scrooge but I tend to dislike throwing money down the drain and my previous experience was pretty bad enough if you've read this blog from the beginning.
I have realized the net and the iWorld were pretty close to the wild west and I was not ready to give away money to people I didn't know or who couldn't get recommended by anyone I trusted.
 |
| Hard to find people you can trust in the App world |
Lesson #2: never underestimate the power of your own network
So through a friend, I met with Guillaume Horen who happens to have developed with David Ughetto an iPhone app named Optivisit designed to help you ranking and classifying real estate visits. And they have developed it on their own, graphical interface and app.
Ironically we met in a place called "La Grande Armée", "the Great Army" (of Napoleon), a restaurant near Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
 |
| Small teams meet in great places |
To make a long story short, we ended up partnering in the company I created not right away but a few months later.
Lesson #3: Three are better than one
Why? Because we bring complementary skills to this project. And that's a big lesson I learned overall. a team can do much better than one person, especially when it's not a full time job.
But not any team will do: experience in coding and ability to develop/modify a graphical interface are key to any success in the iWorld.
 |
| Not any team can do the job |
It is also the ability to fix the bugs that will appear. And except in you live in Lala's world, there are always bugs hiding somewhere especially considering the multiple ipad/ios combinations.
And finally great coding brings a great point of view that is truly enriching when mixed up with others.
Graphical interface is also a real expertise: it is both being able to bring up the top graphics and getting the best user experience. A new feature that you haven't thought about will need a graphical object or symbol.
And don't think that because you happened to be gifted in drawing when you were 10, you'll be kicking ass in designing a graphical user interface. It is a long learning curve and it doesn't come cheap. And even if you have that expertise in your team, there are still some little things here and there that will require you to buy a software license or call an individual consultant.
Now iTakeNotes is in better shape to get finalized and reach the Appstore but we are not there yet: choosing priority features with a clear roadmap and setting up the sales and marketing pack are next.
Monday, December 24, 2012
Developing the app - Episode 2 - Looking for help
Shopping for an iPhone / iPad developer doesn't sound that hard at first. It's just a question of finding the right person and pay the right price.
But it isn't that easy: the iPhone and iPad markets are just booming and there are not that many developers in Paris. I could try hiring someone in the US or elsewhere in the world but I am too old fashioned: I like to see the person who is supposed to translate my requirements into a business app. I have been doing enough user testing in my consulting life to know that working with some distant developers can drive you insane.
So I turned to Google search and start collecting names of developers in the area and found myself a small web agency specialized in the area: I met 2 typical Apple geeks which got interested in my project and signed in to provide me with:
- a user interface
- a working app
I signed a fixed fee contract with a variable fee tied to the revenues.
A few weeks later we produced the business requirements and a glimpse at the look & feel. I got the user interface later on and with a few changes it seemed to me that I was on the right track.
I also found out the name : "takenotes", "meeting minutes" and so on until I found "iTakeNotes" which I tested with a few friends and the name had a good feedback. I opened a page on Facebook, created the company (which is in France always a headache) and waited for a first release.
The first release arrived. But to my disappointment there were a LOT of bugs with very little features. So I did all the necessary user testing, posted the bugs and waited.
And waited... Nothing seemed to happen, responses were taking longer and I finally got a response stating that they were having financial issues and that we needed to double the budget to finish up the product.
We weren't talking about millions but still, there was something wrong. The 2 guys I had hired were fine in designing user interface and setting up a look and feel but truth is they weren't coding. And the coding expertise was somewhere else.
So what is their added value? I figured I'd do better on my own and recover my interface and my product as it was and look myself to get help elsewhere. I could have sued them but that wouldn't have got my product done, they were not able to produce it.
Lesson learned: if the external help you are getting isn't able to code in Objective C, look somewhere else.
At that point of the project, I had my code and my user interface but nothing else. The Appstore seemed really far away. I was desperate. I was close to give up. Fortunately for me, there was an episode 3.
But it isn't that easy: the iPhone and iPad markets are just booming and there are not that many developers in Paris. I could try hiring someone in the US or elsewhere in the world but I am too old fashioned: I like to see the person who is supposed to translate my requirements into a business app. I have been doing enough user testing in my consulting life to know that working with some distant developers can drive you insane.
So I turned to Google search and start collecting names of developers in the area and found myself a small web agency specialized in the area: I met 2 typical Apple geeks which got interested in my project and signed in to provide me with:
- a user interface
- a working app
I signed a fixed fee contract with a variable fee tied to the revenues.
A few weeks later we produced the business requirements and a glimpse at the look & feel. I got the user interface later on and with a few changes it seemed to me that I was on the right track.
I also found out the name : "takenotes", "meeting minutes" and so on until I found "iTakeNotes" which I tested with a few friends and the name had a good feedback. I opened a page on Facebook, created the company (which is in France always a headache) and waited for a first release.
 |
| iTakeNotes first user interface |
And waited... Nothing seemed to happen, responses were taking longer and I finally got a response stating that they were having financial issues and that we needed to double the budget to finish up the product.
We weren't talking about millions but still, there was something wrong. The 2 guys I had hired were fine in designing user interface and setting up a look and feel but truth is they weren't coding. And the coding expertise was somewhere else.
So what is their added value? I figured I'd do better on my own and recover my interface and my product as it was and look myself to get help elsewhere. I could have sued them but that wouldn't have got my product done, they were not able to produce it.
Lesson learned: if the external help you are getting isn't able to code in Objective C, look somewhere else.
 |
| Ultimate test of motivation |
Developing the app - episode 1 - Try it yourself and then don't
Developing an app for iPad mustn't be that bad.
When I was 13, I learned Basic, a scriptural language and I used to develop amazing programs on my Commodore 64. Don't bother looking for Basic tutorial on the web, that thing is way too old for the net, you will need to get into history book. And Commodore 64 was a top computer back then, not some TV show.
Anyway, I was sure I could do it so I started looking around for tutorials. I bought 2 books : Developing iPhone apps for Dummies and another one of the same kind. The books were all about setting up Xcode, the developer framework, for a start.
First of all, don't even think about developing on iPad or iPhone if you don't have a Mac. Apple doesn't provide any developer framework on Windows and even if here and there they explain to you how to set up Xcode on Windows, unless you are McGiver, don't even think about it. Get a Mac. By chance I happened to have one.
So I downloaded Xcode on the Mac Appstore which is for free (worth saying because there's not that many things for free in this story).
Once with Xcode and the dummies book in your hand, you feel like Steve Jobs in his garage, well at least for the first 50 pages. Then it gets really rough.
Developing an app requires you to master Objective C, an object oriented language which is at the core of all Apple developments. I found two ways to improve my Objective C level (which was level zero when I started):
- iTunes University which provides some classes on the subject
- a website named Lynda.com which is focused on software training and has tons of really good video courses. I recommend the courses given by Simon Allardice on what is object oriented programming (mandatory) and objective C (really good).
Unfortunately coding is a full time job, well at least for me that's how it appears. A good Objective C developer is someone who knows how to re-use what's been developed by the Objective C community. And the more I digged into it, the more I realized my app was complex to code, that it would take me a year to succeed and I needed help. But having tried to learn coding, I felt more comfortable talking to someone who knew and concentrate on marketing the app.
I also needed to design the interface and that is something I didn't feel comfortable with. So help is all I needed but how much is it going to cost? And who is going to help me?
When I was 13, I learned Basic, a scriptural language and I used to develop amazing programs on my Commodore 64. Don't bother looking for Basic tutorial on the web, that thing is way too old for the net, you will need to get into history book. And Commodore 64 was a top computer back then, not some TV show.
 |
| A good old Basic screen |
Anyway, I was sure I could do it so I started looking around for tutorials. I bought 2 books : Developing iPhone apps for Dummies and another one of the same kind. The books were all about setting up Xcode, the developer framework, for a start.
First of all, don't even think about developing on iPad or iPhone if you don't have a Mac. Apple doesn't provide any developer framework on Windows and even if here and there they explain to you how to set up Xcode on Windows, unless you are McGiver, don't even think about it. Get a Mac. By chance I happened to have one.
So I downloaded Xcode on the Mac Appstore which is for free (worth saying because there's not that many things for free in this story).
 |
| Xcode doesn't look too hard |
Once with Xcode and the dummies book in your hand, you feel like Steve Jobs in his garage, well at least for the first 50 pages. Then it gets really rough.
Developing an app requires you to master Objective C, an object oriented language which is at the core of all Apple developments. I found two ways to improve my Objective C level (which was level zero when I started):
- iTunes University which provides some classes on the subject
- a website named Lynda.com which is focused on software training and has tons of really good video courses. I recommend the courses given by Simon Allardice on what is object oriented programming (mandatory) and objective C (really good).
Unfortunately coding is a full time job, well at least for me that's how it appears. A good Objective C developer is someone who knows how to re-use what's been developed by the Objective C community. And the more I digged into it, the more I realized my app was complex to code, that it would take me a year to succeed and I needed help. But having tried to learn coding, I felt more comfortable talking to someone who knew and concentrate on marketing the app.
I also needed to design the interface and that is something I didn't feel comfortable with. So help is all I needed but how much is it going to cost? And who is going to help me?
Sunday, December 23, 2012
The original idea
Ok so every app starts with an idea and an iPad (or an iPhone).
I bought my first iPad in January 2011, I already had an iPhone 3G which I found nice but nothing really thrilling. The iPad was somewhat different.
As any modern consultant, I have been living with a laptop for the last 15 years. Laptops are nice, especially since they have been improving so much: weight, performance, connections and so on. But even though they have improved, they still take long to start up especially if you have a windows OS. Also they heat up on your knees when you are surfing on the net and checking your emails in front of your TV (did that ever happen to you?) and they are still pretty heavy.
With the iPad, my laptop suddenly got really old. I can surf on the web, check my mails, turn it on and off quickly enough and yes, watch a TV program.
I started to wander around with my iPad and I started taking it at work. I found good use of it especially in meetings where I found it
- more discreet and efficient than the laptop to check emails
- less annoying than the iphone/smartphone (but that's a personal view)
While in meetings I started taking notes with it because it was really a pain to show up both with the iPad and my notebook.
But how do you take notes with the iPad?
There are only 2 choices on the iPad: email or Apple Notes.
- email gives you little room for template but you can recover your notes by sending them to yourself and then take your good old laptop to re-work it.
- Apple Notes are not very intuitive: you cannot structure them the way you want, you still need to work a meeting report out of them and so on.
Taking notes directly on your iPad or your notebook have also one big drawback: it is hard to talk while typing or taking notes. So all in all taking notes on your iPad is not so much of an improvement since you still have to work a meeting report after your meeting and it is always hard to be sure you have taken good note of what has been said.
And if you have been in business meetings long enough, you know how it is long and painful to write down meeting reports afterwards, especially when you get 3 to 4 meetings a day.
There. That's how I got it.
So now I have an idea: If there was an app able to help you take notes on your iPad, record everything which is said and generate a meeting report ready to be emailed, there would be added value.
When I looked on the appstore, I got comforted that at that time there was no such app.
Having an idea is great. So I wrote it down: the concept and the user case.
And now what? I figured I just need to find myself developers to get it done.
I bought my first iPad in January 2011, I already had an iPhone 3G which I found nice but nothing really thrilling. The iPad was somewhat different.
As any modern consultant, I have been living with a laptop for the last 15 years. Laptops are nice, especially since they have been improving so much: weight, performance, connections and so on. But even though they have improved, they still take long to start up especially if you have a windows OS. Also they heat up on your knees when you are surfing on the net and checking your emails in front of your TV (did that ever happen to you?) and they are still pretty heavy.
With the iPad, my laptop suddenly got really old. I can surf on the web, check my mails, turn it on and off quickly enough and yes, watch a TV program.
I started to wander around with my iPad and I started taking it at work. I found good use of it especially in meetings where I found it
- more discreet and efficient than the laptop to check emails
- less annoying than the iphone/smartphone (but that's a personal view)
While in meetings I started taking notes with it because it was really a pain to show up both with the iPad and my notebook.
 |
| Which device should I use to take notes? |
But how do you take notes with the iPad?
There are only 2 choices on the iPad: email or Apple Notes.
- email gives you little room for template but you can recover your notes by sending them to yourself and then take your good old laptop to re-work it.
- Apple Notes are not very intuitive: you cannot structure them the way you want, you still need to work a meeting report out of them and so on.
Taking notes directly on your iPad or your notebook have also one big drawback: it is hard to talk while typing or taking notes. So all in all taking notes on your iPad is not so much of an improvement since you still have to work a meeting report after your meeting and it is always hard to be sure you have taken good note of what has been said.
And if you have been in business meetings long enough, you know how it is long and painful to write down meeting reports afterwards, especially when you get 3 to 4 meetings a day.
There. That's how I got it.
So now I have an idea: If there was an app able to help you take notes on your iPad, record everything which is said and generate a meeting report ready to be emailed, there would be added value.
When I looked on the appstore, I got comforted that at that time there was no such app.
Having an idea is great. So I wrote it down: the concept and the user case.
And now what? I figured I just need to find myself developers to get it done.
Welcome
First let me introduce myself: I am David Yana, a management consultant working at Deloitte where I am a Partner in the French practice in charge of the Human Capital Practice. I live in Paris, France and I am married with 3 kids. And yes, I speak English (or at least I pretend to).
One year ago I decided to create an app on the appstore, an app designed to take notes and help structure meeting reports as soon as a meeting is over. It is called iTakeNotes and it works as of today in english, french and spanish.
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| iTakeNotes on iPad |
Anyway, this blog is about this little story of mine, from the idea to the product launch on the appstore and beyond. Being a complete amateur in all the issues I was about to deal with, I would have appreciated to run into such a blog. So I decided to write my own and here it is.
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