Conceptual Clarity

It’s been a while since I’ve written an article about EditLive! so I thought that I’d better put one out there about what the team has been working on recently and what we are currently working on.

Since the introduction of the major new functionality of the 6.0 release we’ve been working on performance.  “Performance, but EditLive! is a Java applet!?” I hear you say.  That’s right, we’ve been finding some great new ways to get Java to stand up and perform.  And performing it is.  I now routinely experience EditLive! load times of less than 3 seconds!  That’s less than most JavaScript based editors out there (BTW that’s because of the number of HTTP requests they perform). 

In the EditLive! 6.Performance releases (that’s 6.1, 6.2 and 6.Next) we’ve incorporated a whole range of caching routines that people can take advantage of, particularly with 6.1 and 6.2.  In order to take advantage of these things you will have to make some code changes to your integrations, but they are minor and if you have any questions check out the information on LiveWorks! or get in touch with our ever-helpful support team.

As always, we’re running all these improvements on our internal systems as part of our commitment to continual testing.  The performance improvements are outstanding, of course I’m somewhat biased as the EditLive! Product Manager, so please, check out the improvements for yourself.

We’ve also incorporated the new Inline Editing functionality of EditLive! with our EditLive! for ILWCM integration and we’re getting rave reviews from those who’ve rolled it out.  In particular we’ve had a major client shift from using IBM’s JavaScript-based editor to EditLive! and they’ve cut their page load times from over 30 seconds to 3.

The engineering team has definitely pulled some rabbits out of their collective hats and they’re not done yet.  EditLive! 6.Next will contain more improvements.  At this stage I’m not going to spoil the surprise, but I think there will be many out there who appreciate it.

So check out the latest release of EditLive! and experience just how fast Java can be.  Also stay tuned for what’s coming up in the next few months, there are some exciting improvements just around the corner.

I was reading BRW Magazine this week and noticed a quote from Scott Farquhar, co-founder of Atlassian

Hire young people.  Staff enjoy working in a young company.  No one says, “Wow, I work in a company with lots of old people”.  Young people are flexible and have no baggage or pre-conceived ideas - they are cheaper and they grow with the business.

Scott Farquhar, BRW July - September 2007

Now if you’ve read some of my previous articles you’ll know I’m a fan of what Atlassian is doing, both with their software and for Australian IT.  I’ve met their team on a few occasions and their company culture is something to be envied.  But, while I know quotes can often be taken out of context, I couldn’t help but get a little upset at Scott’s quote.

At only 26 I’m a fully fledged, card carrying member of Gen Y.  Yet, I’ve had the invaluable opportunity of working with many older (I won’t call anyone old) people, at Ephox, Ephox’s partner organizations, other business connections and through my MBA.  Those older people have excellent ideas, are definitely flexible and can bring a wealth of experience to many situations.  Conversely I’ve met many younger people who can be stubborn, close minded and naive.

While it may sound cliched, I believe the kind of age that Scott is talking about is truly only a state of mind.  I don’t think anyone ever wants to be perceived as “old” and certainly not the kind of “old” that carries around baggage and a wealth of preconceptions.  However, I think there are many organizations out there who artificially “age” their employees.  Organizations whose culture kills innovation with processes and cost efficiencies.  Organizations who don’t support their employees and cannot see the value in suggestions from those at the coal face. 

If you want innovative people, if you want your people to be unafraid of baggage and to discard their pre-conceived ideas then you need to support them, whether they are young or old, through the culture of your company.  If you think I’m crazy then check out the work of Ricardo Semler at Semco and see what a huge difference a supportive company culture can make.  Whether the people in your organization are young or not-so-young, if your culture enables them to think freely and is supportive of continuous innovation and improvement then to me that is more of a recipe for success then hiring any number of young people.

Hire the best people, independent of their age.  Support those people and their ideas throughout your organization.  Listen to them and appreciate the perspectives and experience they bring whether they are young or old.  Encourage them to be flexible and to challenge preconceptions.  In return provide your staff with flexibility, understanding and challenge your own preconceptions.  Your business and it’s people will grow together.

Damien Fitzpatrick, Conceptual Clarity - August 2007