Creating custom software can add incredible value to your business by automating processes or easing pain points that keep your team from working at full capacity. Taking on a project like building a piece of software can be a daunting task, however, without doing a few things prior to starting.

Obvious things like finding a software engineer, picking a platform, picking a technology, and even more technical details will need to be decided. You will also need to put a good amount of thought into everything you want the software to do. Before all of that though, you need to think about these four things so your project can be successful. These four things are so important, you should stop now, and write them down before you put any more effort into planning your project.

Lately, I’ve been in a bit of a self-reflective mode. So, this blog post is going to be a little different than normal. Usually, I try to post about very technical / programming things. However, due to some things at work that I probably shouldn’t air in public, I’ve started to think about what I put my energy into at home and at work.

Like many software engineers, I really, really like writing software. It doesn’t matter what the software does. So long as it solves a problem, I’m happy to work on it. This also means that my hobby is (drum roll please) -- writing software. So, at work, I write software. I come home and I write software. It’s part of loving the creative process and having a bit of a one-track mind. It’s part of being compelled to learn something new and fulfill the ever-so-eternal quest to improve on existing processes.

I had a great time speaking at the “Super Laptop Meeting” last night. My 20-minute talk was “Best Practices for Custom WF Activities.” I even won the grand prize, so thanks to all of you that voted for me!

If you are interested in the slides and the demo I showed, you can download them by clicking here. If you want to know more about the Lincoln .NET Users Group, you can do so at http://www.lincolndev.net