Denver Dev Blog » Business

DevonThink for Managing Information Capture

Matthew McCullough — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 22:01:37 +0000

As part of my job, I need to capture and reference a lot of information from a lot of sources. DevonThink is one of the tools that helps me do that efficiently. This quick video showcases just 5% of what I use DevonThink for and focuses specifically capturing data from web pages and various RSS feeds, such as Delicious Bookmarks, Twitter, and ReadItLater.

QuickBooks Pro 2009

Matthew McCullough — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 01:34:00 +0000

I have used QuickBooks Pro for about 8 years. The upgrade to the 2009 edition is the single worst upgrade ever. And trust me, I’ve submitted insane everyday-workflow bugs against the other older editions, so saying this is the worst is saying a lot.

Let’s articulate.

1) They have redesigned the transaction download screen. So far, I’ve yet to be able to find ANYONE who thinks it is an improvement. Read these three long forums and reviews for just a smattering of the loathing going on:
An Accountant’s Review, request for time-loss reimbursement
Intuit Community Post (got so long, they had to start a new one)
Intuit Community Posts about Online Banking feature destruction in 2009
And those are just the first Google Hits. There are hundreds.

2) So, an apology would be in order, right? And just restore the 2008 features, right? Nope. No can do according to “Greg Wright, the product manager for QuickBooks”.

“I care a lot about fixing the QuickBooks online banking feature so that it works as well as it used to. … I can’t go into details yet about what our plans are…”
You can find this quote in the forums.

3) The amazon.com rating has dropped so dramatically that Mr. Wright has reached out to customers, pleading for their patience in the form of a review.

4) I have sent Mr. Write a personal email outlining the 8 problems, including the ones in the Online Transactions window, in the latest R05 release. That’s right folks, there are 5 service releases for this 2009 app and we just rang in the new year 18 hours ago. And they still haven’t even addressed the bugs, and are still asking for our patience to get this screen back to it’s ’08 behavior. Wow.

I applaud Mr. Wright for replying, but he also better get the team coding/fixing/reverting. Mr. Wright noted “We have the developers working nights and weekends to fix this.” Maybe a quick subversion revert is all that’s needed guys.

Problem list, from 45 minutes of using it and 2 hours updating it:

1) A forced call in to activate? I am OK with DRM for licensing, but a forced call to try and be sold to all kinds of services that I don’t use feels very wrong. It took over 15 minutes of my very valuable time listening to a non-english speaking rep ask me non-sensical questions. I am patient with ESL folks, but one of the questions she kept repeating (I asked and wrote it down carefully so I could send it to you) was “And is role add what?” I tried three times, then eventually just replied, “None”. I have no idea what I was answering. She also kept asking me how my Christmas was. That’s nice once, but three times? Please, I am busy running a small business. Just give me my code and let me get on with business.

2) No way to disable Online services advertisement at login to the application. Only choices are Later and Sign Up. How about a Never button?

Online/Downloaded Transactions Screen–>

3) Can’t copy and paste between any text field in the transactions fields (with mouse right click or keyboard)

4) Billable — Can’t ever get it to stay checked. It flickers off a millisecond after I click it. It does this no matter how many times I click it.

5) Amount is not populated into the split. And I have to use split because that is the only way I can enter a Class. I have to tediously click the “Show Splits” option just to enter a class.

6) Can’t do a “Receive Payment from Customer” like I could in 2008. I have to go out and manually do that via the menus, then enter back in to the online transaction view (even worse since it requires all other screens to be closed)

7) Close all other windows? I’ve never had to do this in any previous version. This is an extremely odd step backwards, given that the new screen is otherwise a net loss of features. Perhaps I could have lived with this if the downloaded transactions screen was more feature-ful than ever before.

Have to click NOT AN EXPENSE to get the manual match screen? But it is an expense. So clicking on NOT AN EXPENSE makes no sense. I need a “Match Manually” link like we used to have in 2008.

Be nice. But not too nice.

Matthew McCullough — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 04:53:00 +0000

An article I picked up about “being too nice” from Tim Berglund that was published on CIO.com hits a very sensitive spot. It indicates that being too nice, when it means compromising your position and ideas, is a career risk. When you step back and think about it, that makes perfect sense. I have taken a cautious few steps towards the solidarity-of-position, even when it poses small endangerments of conflict. I am already starting to see some of the benefits. But this is truly a fine line to walk. Don’t take it too far.

Too Much Reliance on Software

Matthew McCullough — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:46:00 +0000

When we begin to rely on software wholly, utterly, and without any safety-net or reservation, we end up with signs like this:

If the machines were capable of laughing at us, they certainly would. Maybe we should reconsider the importance of intelligence, skill, and creativity in the humans working with the computers as well.

QuickSilver for Linux

Matthew McCullough — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:50:00 +0000

There’s a new Linux competitor to QuickSilver in town. It’s called GNOME Do, and it just reached version 0.5.

It offers the same quick keyboard shortcut commands that QuickSilver does. Noun-verb-directobject goodness abounds.

If you’ve never used QuickSilver on the Mac, use it for a week, and you’ll never be the same again. The keyboard takes on a whole new power.

Seth Godin Books

Matthew McCullough — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:36:00 +0000

Here are some excellent books on marketing by Seth Godin that I’m also done reading. At first you’ll say, “I’m not a marketer, so why would I read these?” One quick read through these books will change forever how you look at things that are marketed to you every day. It will make you a cynic about most ads, and also give you an entirely new vantage point on whatever you job is and how you “market” it to other people, perhaps without even knowing it. He also has a web site and more useful / very insightful blog. Even his video of his talk at Google is pretty good, though a bit longer than it should have been. I love his story about, “If cat food were being marketed to cats, it would come in one flavor, MOUSE! Instead, it is being marketed to people so it comes in flavors like Grilled Salmon. Because of course, cats in the wild start open fires and GRILL the salmon they catch in the river.“