Import Excel Project File
Posted by Chris Williams in News, Vuuch Feature, Vuuch Release on July 15, 2010
Almost every project team is tracking project issues and tasks in excel. Well now you can quickly turn those excel files into Vuuch pages and activities. In case you are not fully up to speed on da Vuuch terminology here are two important things to understand:
- Vuuch Pages:A Vuuch Page represents something you and/or the team cares about. It could be nothing more than a simple list (Things I got to do) or a group of issues you need to address (Bugs I am working on) or a file that you are trying to complete (For example a CAD file or maybe a budget in Excel) or some component of your product (The Base_Unit). Vuuch Pages collect Vuuch activities as well additional information about the thing the page represents. Since Vuuch Pages represent the things the team is delivering and therefore in your excel file these are either grouped together using a colomn or Excel tabs.
- Vuuch Activities:A Vuuch Activity is a threaded discussion that can be classified as an Issue, Task or Discussion. Vuuch Activities represent the line items in your project spreadsheet and therefore they have a status (Red, Yellow, Green or On Hold) and participants, an owner and a due date.
Now that you have a basic understanding lets look at how you can convert your project excel file to Vuuch pages and Vuuch activities. Take a look at the video below and you will see how simple this is.
All you do is reform the spreadsheet based on the Vuuch terminology, save it as a Excel 2003 file and then import it. Done. You now have Vuuch pages and activities created.
User Group Leaders Unite
Posted by Chris Williams in News, Vuuch Feature on July 15, 2010
Vuuch is embracing user group leaders worldwide. Through our beta releases we have had the distinct pleasure to work with user group leaders amd it is now time to say thanks to all those group leaders who put in countless hours pulling together meetings. If you are a user group leader for any product development application then you qualify for a free year of Vuuch. Just create a Vuuch account and drop us a note letting us know you are a user group leader and we will authorize you for one free year of Vuuch.
In order to qualify for your free year send an email to contact@vuuch.com and provide:
- Your Vuuch user name.
- The email address associated with your Vuuch account.
- A link to your user groups web site so we can validate you as a group leader.
If you are not sure and/or you have not setup a Vuuch account then complete the form below and we will be in touch with you to discuss the details of the offer.
DEVO Is Back So Vuuch It
Posted by Chris Williams in Uncategorized on June 23, 2010
In an amazing blast from the past DEVO is back with a new album. Who remembers Whip It? Makes me think of Vuuch It. Want to learn how to Vuuch It then check out the up and coming webinars http://vuuch.com/company/events.
Learn how and why Vuuch becomes part of your vocabulary within weeks of your first Vuuch. Customers tell us that shortly after using Vuuch they find themselves shout out Vuuch in the hall and meetings. It becomes common the find people in meetings saying “Vuuch it” or “Vuuch knows” or just yelling Vuuch for the fun of it.
These webinars will walk through a series of use case examples of how to start using Vuuch inclusive of live Q&A. If you just can’t wait to Vuuch then signup and getting Vuuching. If you have specific use cases questions that you would like to get answered then forward them along to contact@vuuch.com.
Don’t be afraid. There is nothing like your first Vuuch!
Vuuch Releases for Primetime
Posted by Chris Williams in News, Vuuch Feature, Vuuch Release on June 14, 2010
A new version of Vuuch available. Many of you have been using it but for those that have not you can download the new add-ins from www.vuuch.com/download and put the power of social to work for you and your team. Want to checkout an overview of this release then checkout the release notes http://vuuch.com/release_notes.
The biggest baddest newest feature in this version is the ability to pay. Yes that’s right Vuuch has paying customers.
This version marks an important point in the development of Vuuch as this version is being released for sale. Yes that’s right Vuuch is ready for primetime. No worries, trial accounts are still active and are still available. Who needs a paid account? Only the people on the team that create a Vuuch page will need a paid accounts. People who participate in activities and work on pages that have been created by others DO NOT need a paid account.
Subscriptions are simple, one price for one year and Vuuch as much as you like. Subscriptions are $250 and use the link below and your favorite credit card to purchase a subscription.
Managing Expectations
Posted by Chris Williams in Uncategorized on June 7, 2010
Anyone that has managed a project or anyone that will, should look at this picture. Although very funny it is also very accurate. It has been a long time since I’ve seen this but today while on a little Google I ran across it. Reading it and laughing out loud I decided to save it by drafting a quick post (the best way to ever find it agian is to add some context to the image). IMHO this image is well aligned to the power of Vuuch and why we find Vuuch becomes part of the vocabulary within our users companies. The main reason why these 10 views of a simple product exist has to do with the complexity of managing communication, expectations and the ability to keep people on the same page, especially when things are changing at a dramatic pace, as they do in any project.
By now it is clear to everyone that the most common way to manage a project is check lists and piles of emial. We all do it, even in the management of stuff in our personal lives. Just look at how many list management applications there are in the istore. And ask a friend if they are a crosser outer or a checker offer and they know what you are talking about…
The best way to reduce the number of images for this simple product is to improve how you manage the list of issues, things to be discussed and the tasks that need to get completed. Let me tie this back to a Vuuch customer. Just before finding this I was speaking with one of our users who has just completed a project. He was telling me about how Vuuch had helped… The excitement in his voice was great, but better than that was how he would use Vuuch in a sentence – “Even though we might not be responsible for the next design phase my manager told me to Vuuch all the known issues that need to be addressed in the next design cycle”. The next team that works on the product will have the known issues documented as part of the design files (in this case SolidWorks) as well as having access to the design history stored in Vuuch.
Now I need to find the one of the gun salesmen standing at the tent where the chief is walking out the back door and yelling I have no time to talk to a salesmen, I have a war to fight…
Getting Start with Vuuch
Posted by Chris Williams in News, PLM, Vuuch Feature on June 3, 2010
As we move out of beta and into paying customers we are finding some best practices for getting started with Vuuch. Like everything Vuuch, simplicity is key, so before starting please remeber the KISS principal. You know: Keep It Simple Stupid or I guess you could say Keep It Stupid Simple.
Below are recommendations we’ve found that gaurentee a successful use of Vuuch:
- Training: Even if you’ve fooled around with a trial you NEED some training. Although Vuuch is very simple we do not recommend that you just jump of the end of the dock without a swimming lesson. Training takes between 1 and 2 hours. Attend a group training session or send an email to contact@vuuch.com requesting a private training session (There is no charge for training). Or if you are the nerdie type that like manuals (the only type of reading I like) then subscribe to the Vuuch documentation page here http://vuuch.me/collaboration/fileRepNW4/discussions/916.
- Keep it real: Use real data!!! Use real data!!! OH did you get that, Use Real Data!!! If you just make stuff up you will find you create no stickiness. Real data makes Vuuch real sticky. Pull out that excel file you are using to track what needs to get done and start with this. Pick a few deliverables, Vuuch them and add the information from the excel file. Delete this stuff from excel and guess what you are now using Vuuch to track your deliverables.
- Start small: Remember, success breeds success!!! See keep it real just above. Start with one or two deliverables and grow from there. Before you know it you will hear everyone in the office saying things like Vuuch it, Vuuch knows and maybe even just yelling Vuuch as it is so much fun to say. Some people have started as small as just themselves, so don’t be afraid to Vuuch alone.
- Keep it simple: Vuuch is already feature rich and every week there are new features (got to love SAAS). Don’t turn using Vuuch into a PLM deployment. Use a few key features, generate success, use Vuuch in a sentence and expand from there.
And above all, don’t be afraid to smile, Vuuch is fun. OH and if you have not updated your Vuuch add-ins please do so. There are some new features but best of all after this next install the add-ins will update automatically for you.
A Look At Use Cases
Posted by Chris Williams in News, PLM, Social Media, Vuuch Feature on June 2, 2010
We have just released some new features. The new features give you the ability to send a link to people for a Vuuch page and provide these people an ability to subscribe (join the community of people who care about the deliverable the page represents). For example here is a link for the Vuuch page for a use case presentation I shared with Ken Wong http://www.vuuch.me/collaboration/fileRepNW4/discussions/888. Navigate to the page and subscribe and you will be able to aprticipate in discussions about this presentation as well as download the presentation. Feel free to openly share this link and if you have questions about the presentation please ask.
I imagine this has stirred a number of questions. Well here are some of the ones I have heard so far:
- What if I want to constrain the subscriptions to a certain group of people? When you turn this feature on you can configure a list of domains the person must be part of in order to subscribe. For example if I wanted to constrain who could subscribe to only people from Vuuch I would configure the subscription domain to be vuuch.com. Therefore only people from this domain could subscribe.
- Can I create Vuuch activities that only a certian list of people can see? Yes absolutely. See next question.
- Is everthing on the page available to everyone? No not at all. When an item is created you decide who has access. You can open it all the way up by making it public or you can close it all the way down by defining a list of participants (like a list of participants for an email). And you can change this at anytime.
- Can I connect/relate this page to other Vuuch pages? Yes absolutely. And these related pages could be public or completely private. When you do this only those people that are involved with the related page will be able to navigate to the related page.
- So how might this functionality be used? OK you are thinking this is pretty cool but how might this functionality be used? Well here are a few examples of cases we have worked with a number of companies. See below.
Example Use Cases:
- PowerPoint Use Case (Presentation sent out to your field team):
Within the presentation a link is provided and if the sales team has an interest in asking questions about the presentation or accessing FAQ information then they can subscribe. And if they install the Vuuch for MS Office add-in they can do all this without leaving the presentation. You can imagine a sales person sitting in a Starbucks getting ready for a customer presentation and they want feedback on a certain slide. They go to the slide and type their question. Later when they are at the customer site and just before projecting they check the slide for the responses. The sales person never needs to leave the presentation as the presentation is the access point to all those who have an interest in the presentation. - Supplier of Components:
For example if you supplied motors you could create a Vuuch page for each of your motors and engage a community of people that use each motor. For example if I were searching for a motor I could go to this page and ask the community for feedback on the motor and/or get additional information about the motor. I could define issues and tasks that I would like the motor supplier to address for me. Right from this page they access a public and private community. - Green Materials:
Remember anything can be Vuuched. In this case the user is using an application for green product development, say Sustainable Minds and they are looking at different material characteristic within the application. They see a material they think might work but they are not familiar with this material. Well luck for them the material database has been Vuuched. So they link to the Vuuch page for the material they are looking at using. Here they can access additional information and ready discussions people are having. As well they can post their own questions. As well they could create private tasks for people in their organization to further investigate the material, for example maybe they ask purchasing where they could purchase the material and they ask quality to provide a review. Right from this page they access both a public and private community.
Facebook Your Autodesk Inventor Files
Posted by Chris Williams in Inventor, News, Social Media, Vuuch Release on May 18, 2010
Ken Wong wrote a first review of Vuuch for Inventor. I really enjoyed his explanation of Vuuch as well the video that he put together. He pointed out the solution that is “Facebook for Files” doesn’t have a Facebook fan page, so I guess I know what is on my agenda for today.
I look forward to following up with Ken as both the Vuuch platform and the Inventor add-in evolve. For anyone interested you can find a public Vuuch documentation page here. You might being asking yourself “Public Page”? Well although most items in Vuuch are private to your team it is possible to make information public. For instance maybe you want to ask an Engineering question or maybe you have a question about how to do something in your CAD system? Or maybe you want to create a public page for responses to a problem. The Vuuch documentation page provides access to not only the file but also any public questions people have about the file.
There are many use cases for Vuuch. In the demo Ken put together you can see how Vuuch replaces that Excel file your team is using to track part design issues. Another use case we have seen is when a drawing is being checked for release and you want to track all the items that need to be fixed. Vuuch the drawing file and create a Vuuch activity for each issue that is found. As each issue is correct by the team it can be either archived or forward it on to another team member to validate the change.
Vuuch for Autodesk Inventor
Posted by Chris Williams in News, Vuuch Feature, Vuuch Release on May 3, 2010
Well Vuuch for Autodesk Inventor is right around the corner. We have a first version of the Vuuch for Inventor plug-in running and we are looking for people to give it a try and provide some feedback. If you are an Inventor user and want to try go to www.vuuch.com/download/inventor.
The initial functionality is limited:
- Currently you can only Vuuch the file. You cannot connect a Vuuch Activity to a selection in a file. For example in SolidWorks or PowerPoint a Vuuch activity can be related to a feature of the model or a slide in the presentation. This will be the next step in Inventor.
- Currently the Vuuch UI is a separate dialog window that pops up in front of the Inventor window. In our next release we will work the Vuuch panel into the Inventor UI.
- Currently you must work in the new ribbon mode. You cannot run in the “Classic” mode.
To see Vuuch running in Inventor check out this movie http://www.vuuch.com/files_for_download/vuuch_for_inventor.swf.
What’s in a BOM
Posted by Chris Williams in BOM on April 27, 2010
Of course it is clear a BOM has components. But what is maybe not so clear is the fact that a BOM also reveals relationships between team members or that a BOM organizes what needs to get done. For example if your team is developing a new washing machine shouldn’t the BOM be able to tell you all the people involved with say the motor? Of course it should, or at least if it could it certainly would be useful, don’t you think? Instead of trying to figure out who to copy on an email wouldn’t if be useful to send an email to the motor and everyone involved would get it?
At a basic level a BOM is simple as it is nothing more than a collection of components organized in some way that makes sense to the team. But what else is there in a BOM? And in many cases doesn’t a parts list work just as well? If you look at something as simple as the washing machine motor you find there are many things that need to be represented. The quantity of motors in the washing machine, the vendor for the motor, all the files that represent the motor (a budget file, a performance calculation file and the CAD model) and the status.
Forgetting about release and staying focused only on the design phase, what things can the team expect/need to have in a BOM? And what about BOM management? At this point in the development cycle the BOM is managed in Excel and therefore the only controls that are in place are more social or collaborative than rigid check-in/check-out.
If a BOM is a convenient method for organizing the team and delivering information to people then how should it be managed during design? What should be in the BOM? Who should control the BOM?
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