After some hard work we have finally gone beta with our service: RerouteMAIL. A service with which you can easily run a mailserver even if your ISP actively blocks port 25.
A while ago I posted about some wild idea's where you could go around the SMTP block of your ISP by running your mail through another (non blocked) mailserver and forward it to your mailserver which is running on a different port. Today, we go beta with a service which makes this possible for everyone!
The road from 'Proof of Concept' to 'Finished Product' was, as always, a bit longer than expected. First of all I switched from developing in PHP to Django (to expand my knowledge) and secondly, there are some pitfalls when you want to make this kind of service for more people than just yourself.
For the people who don't know what the fuzz is all about, a short rundown. There are ISP's in the world which believe that there are a lot of people who don't know what they are doing. So when those people run a mailserver chances are rather large that they don't configure their mailserver correctly, and they become an open-relay and thus, open for spammers to be used as spamming machine.
Although these ISP's are in their right to do so, we believe the clients (and especially the business clients) should have the chance to be able to run a mailserver if they completely understand the risks.
By default (and according to everyone and everything on the internet) a mailserver listens on port 25 for incoming mail messages. Because this is the default, ISP's block this port (incoming and/or outgoing).
Fortunately we have thought up a way around the ISP's who are actively blocking port 25.
As a lot of people (mostly unix administrators) know, you can run a mailserver on a different port than port 25, say port 26. However, the email world does not know this. So when a mailserver (for example the google mailserver) wants to mail to you, it tries to connect to port 25. And so you have to find a way to let the other mailserver think you are on port 26. But this can't be done easily and without your ISP.
It can be done via our new service: RerouteMAIL. The trick is that we listen on port 25. And then relay the incoming message to your mailserver running on port 26!
And the best part is, we have a fee free version which everyone can use, a hassle free registration, and no questions asked.
If you are interested or curious please have a look at: www.reroutemail.com or leave a comment on this blog!
It really is everywhere! Until now, in every company I have worked for, I have seen it. Projects fail to hit their deadline. And total anarchy emerges from the ashes of those failures. Save yourself (or your company) while you can and learn from the top 10 list of reasons I came across in the passed 8 years.
I have been developing (web)applications for some time now. And although some people might consider the 8 years as being "new", I consider it long enough to be able to point out some important reasons to why projects fail.
Although it was really really hard, I tried to make up a top 10 list of things that can (and have gone!) wrong. And because if I have experienced these problems. You can bet others (you?) have and will too! So, here goes. My top 10 reasons:
10. Not all things have been taken into account
It sounds too obvious to be true. But it is. When people start a project they mostly don't take time to step back for a moment and consider the implications of the project. I haven't been in a meeting which went like this: "Hey! Is this really as easy as it sounds? Or are there hidden problems lying low and ready to jump at us when we least expect it!?". Most of the time people are too excited about the project and feel like they can take on the world! And they realize halfway through the project (if you're lucky!) that they didn't realize feature X would take as much time as it did! And so, their deadline creeps up on them and BAM... The deadline can not be met.
9. It's a rush job!
How many times haven't I heard this one: "I know it's a rush job! And we are aware of it!". Only to hear a few weeks later: "But how is it possible that this bug exists?! We just CAN'T have these kind of bugs!". And most of the times these bugs only surface after it has gone live for a few days.
8. There are no milestones
No proper milestones have been set for a project. And this is not good. Not for you, nor for the customer! If you don't have milestones, you have no way of measuring your progress. And even when you think you are on the right course, you can never know for sure. More so, you cant update your client (or customer) on the progress. Because you just don't know!
6. The customer lacks technical insight/knowledge
It can be a real problem when the customer (or your manager) is not as technically endowed (on this subject) as you are. But realize it is as much of a problem for them as it is for you! They wonder why you take so long to create feature X which seemed soooo easy to them. The biggest problem is not their perception of complexity, because this you can explain. The biggest problem is that they will not be able to explain their wishes to you in detail enough so you can make a correct estimate on the project length.
5. Ad-Hoc projects / Prolonged FireFighting Mode
Your morning at work starts and your manager runs into the room yelling and screaming: "WOEAAAH!!!!!! WE NEEEEEEEEED BUG 1337 FIXED RIGHT NOW!!!!". The sky has fallen! All customers have ran off and the cash has stopped pouring into the bank account of the company! All because of this bug! Or... so your manager led you to believe! You rush yourself to your computer and work long and hard to fix the bug as soon as possible! Finally! the bug is fixed! And you can continue your daily work on bug 1884. But then, after lunch, it starts again: "AHAHAAAAAAAA!!!!! THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH X AND Y! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!" and of course you need to fix it right away! This scenario continues some time.. Until at the end of the day, the things you had to work on that day didn't finish. A day passes by and you fix some "MUST BE FIXED NOW" bugs until one moment: "WOEAAAAH! WE NEED BUG 1884 FIXED!! AND IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIXED 2 DAYS AGO!". And the circle is complete... Because you were fixing bugs which seemed critical, you are not able to work on your daily routines. Which in turn, turn out to be "need to be fixed now"-bugs eventually.
The biggest problem with this is that you will always keep a feeling of behing behind all the time. And escaping from this vicious circle can be very hard. Although you can't prevent this problem directly, you can discus the matter before fixing the "need to be fixed now"-bug. Ask your manager "Is this 1337 bug really more important than bug 1884? And if so, are you okay with delaying 1884?". This will probably make your manager think the request over and it will allow you to fall back on the conversation when 1884 became a real "need to be fixed now"-bug
4. Communication problems (or lack of communication) "
It happens quite a lot. A salesperson has promised feature X to customer Y and has told the Project Manager to make it happen. It slips the mind of the PM and the salesperson didn't remind the PM about the feature. Until the time approaches that it should be delivered to the customer and the salesperson asks the PM about this. "Damn!". The PM wraps up some developers and a technical lead and you'll hear something like: "We have promised the customer a month ago we have feature X in the release for the end of this week so build it and build it right!".
Everybody should know this is a recipe for disaster. You just can't build a feature in a week (or less)! No arguments. You just can't!
3. Total lack of specifications
You think you have done everything right. You talked to the customer, written things down, had the customer sign the document on what to deliver. But you don't write the specs. You didn't work out the details of the features and think you can manage it along the way.
Just Face it! In the larger projects (even if it is still a one man job) it is almost impossible to do things right the first time. And unless you have calculated a lot of refactor time (and I really mean a lot!) into your project, your deadline's will slip. And you will have an unhappy customer. Just take your requirements and work them out. Just make small mock-up of what you are going to create. Write down some flows. And be sure to show them to your customer and have them comment on them.
You don't have to create full detailed Interaction Designs. Work out all the Use Case Scenario's and write pseudo code for every function. Just make sure the outlines are there and have them approved or reviewed.
2. A Sales person determines the deadlines without consulting programmers
This I hate the most!
Operations come's to you and says: "Yeah we have to create X, and it has to be completed before end of the week!"
"Que?"
Damn, they have done it again! They promised stuff to the customer, and we don't even know if it is technically possible to do so! And even if it is possible, we don't know if we can have it production ready in that time...They haven't even discussed it with the PM or a TL.
1. There are no, or incomplete, requirements
This one is also very classic, and very easy to make. "We need a program that can do this and do that, <explanation of what and how etc>.. can you make it?". Sure you can! And there you go happily programming and creating what the customer asked. And after some hard weeks of working and finally delivering the program, you receive the following reply: "Ah, yes.. But... This is not how we wanted it. It should work like this and that!". So you reply: "But.. Why didn't you say so?". And the customer replies: "Well, er, it is obvious that it should work that way!". And there you go.. Throwing away a big part of the program, starting over again..
And the biggest problem is, there is really no one to blame! It's just that people won't exactly, with 100% certainty, know what the other person really means or thinks. So, even when you have requirements, it is quite hard to say "Well we decided this and that and I made it that way. So, its your fault!" because with that attitude you will only get your customer mad and create an atmosphere in which you can't work.
The solution? Make sure you agree on what is required of the project, and make sure you write them down. Have your customer specify what the program has to do to make it acceptable for him. And finally make sure you live the project as much as your customer does!
Well there they are! My list of reasons why a development project can and will fail. They are based on my personal experience in the passed years.
Have you experienced these reasons as well? Or have experienced others? Leave a comment!
After a few day's cool down (christmas, new year's eve and a nice long weekend) we can plunge ourselves back into real life and into the new year!
I would like to wish everyone the very best for 2010! I hope everyone will have a great, healthy and prosperous year!
I am looking forward to hearing from all of you some time in the future!