I always get really excited when we kick off development of a new version. It begins after years of customer feedback, and even though we regularly add minor features, a major development like v4.0 means we get to add all of the goodies that we (and our customers) have always wanted.

Of course this is easier said than done!

I need to ensure that the new product doesn’t disadvantage anyone, it needs to be more efficient than its predecessor, yet we want to continue leading the pack with great new features. So for me the process is like a 6-month game of chess. Every small move has repercussions, there are risks, happy accidents, and opportunities.

I’m also a songwriter, and this process is so similar, starting with a theme/idea/rationale, or even a set of principles, and driving your obsession to create a new form. So, this time around I thought I’d share the process with you all. while I won’t be divulging too much I hope you find the journey as fascinating as I know I will. Let’s begin!

The process for me has become refined over the years. It used to be that we’d add one big feature (e.g. Our flash-based dynamic gantt chart, a web-based PM first), and I’d plant myself in a local cafe (e.g. My current fav, A Minor Place, on Albion St, Brunswick, if you’re ever in town!) with a 20-page wish-list document from customers, seven latte’s, and choose five features that would make the most impact for our customers within our limited budget.

Five years on the process is a little more refined (as is Copper these days), however, despite the available technology it still starts with a table full of printouts, three principles and a spec document.

The three very simple principles for Version 4.0 are:

1. We’re going to reduce pages/clicks by 40%
2. It needs to be something that I personally will use every single day
3. We’re going to add 100% of the features in our specification document

These might seem like relatively simple goals, but they’re anything but! Reducing pages/clicks by 40% (point 1) whilst adding over 165 features (point 3)?! Thanks to the Inner Circle program (which is filling fast, click here if you want to secure a spot) all three principles are certainly achievable. We’re about a month on since those above shots were taken.

Next week, I’ll post back with a sneak-peek at the spec doc, maybe a screen or two, and talk about how the mock layouts work hand in hand with the spec doc to arrive a development-ready brief. As always thanks for your continued support!

– Ben Prendergast

Last week we launched our second annual Enterprise Inner Circle program, aimed at bringing on pre-order customers in order to fund the development of the Copper 4.0 product. We had some great responses, and now having completed our v4.0 specification (including 165 improvements) we need a certain number of participants in order to get started.

The magic number is 30-40. “Hey, that’s two numbers Ben”, I hear you say. “Well spotted old pal”, I retort, “thats because we like to stay zen with our development, and you know this!”. But certainly 30 is the target, and 40 will result in the ultimate awesomeness for Copper.

Here is the offer:

You purchase a Copper Enterprise license ($2999) and receive:

1. A complementary hosted v3.5 Enterprise account (normally $199/mth) during development (or current server license).
2. Unlimited users, Unlimited projects. Boom!
3. Involvement in our v4.0 development (ready to kick off this month)
4. A guaranteed feature inclusion (you ’sponsor’ a feature from our spec)
5. The v4.0 Enterprise version when it is released (Est 4-6 months)
6. Two years of free updates and support
7. Inclusion in our East/West coast gatherings (June 2008)
8. One Inner Circle participant will receive an iPhone/iPod Touch. ($500 Value)

As mentioned above, we have a clear cut specification for v4.0, that closely mirrors the key changes requested over the last 3 years, and is going to take Copper another 5 steps forward in terms of efficiency/project visibility.

This offer represents a great opportunity, in fact you could add a zero to the price and still not approach the approximate value here, but ultimately you need to ask yourself; What price the love of a good software?

If you’d like to be part of the next Copper chapter, please click here to get in touch for more details about the offer or click here to purchase an Enterprise license and secure your spot in the circle.

– Ben Prendergast

It’s on again, we’re looking for a group of customers or prospective customers to come on board as an Inner Circle partner.

The way it works is this: We accept a group of customers into our development process for the next version in exchange for a pre-order of that version. We divulge our specification for the next version, and these partners can become involved in the development process, effectively sponsoring a specific feature (ensuring its inclusion in the next version). Each partner receives a hosted version of the beta product, the final version for server installation, and receives two years of free updates.

If you have a feature that you simply must see in Copper 4.0, have a customization budget, or if you have been looking at purchasing or upgrading the Enterprise version anyway, this represents a great deal.

Additionally, this time around we are building industry-specific features or streams. So, on top of the Enterprise 4.0 version, these customers also have the opportunity to assist us in designing great new solutions to specific challenges they face in their vertical.

The nominated industries/streams are:
Advertising & Design
Architecture
Event & Artist Management
Film & TV
Patient Care
Product & Fashion
Worship
Legal
Real Estate

So if you’re additionally interested in being part of the industry-specific streams, click here to let me know

– Ben Prendergast

Just kidding, it’s still a little preachy, but read on if you’d like to know more about how we’re steering our little ship toward the big seas and how we’d like you on board (paddling, or bailing water, or as ballast. OK, enough with that metaphor).

We’ve been through some significant changes in the last three months, we’ve restructured our team, systemized parts of our business that required too much administration effort, introduced some new partners to the business to improve our marketing and PR efforts, and have otherwise spent the better part of this quarter getting ready for the next round of developments.

Namely, Copper version 4.0. Wow. Version 4.0. It sounds so mature doesn’t it? And it’s only taken us six years to get to this point! Biting wit aside, I truly believe that this next version will be something special, especially as it will require a greater collaborative effort between us, our partners, and you the customers/supporters/cheersquad. However, I can tell you the 4.0 specification is in place, and to borrow an Anglo-Australian colloquialism, it’s a ripper! It will be the best Project Management Software tool available, period.

But I thought I’d share with you our manifesto, a half decade in the making, so here it is:

We’ve spent years working on building the best product we possibly can, years refining our marketing and sales model, casting the nets each month (you thought I was done with the nautical angle right?) and connecting with those who best suit our product. We’ve got our support systems to where we want them, we proudly have one of the best response rates and solution rates in the business. We have our development methodology down cold, we ask our customers what they want, and filter this through a philosophy to arrive at both great features and a compelling product. The question remains: Where to from here?

Well, we believe we can be the best in the world at building efficiency products for creative teams. After years of refining this idea, I recently read Good to Great by Jim Collins and I had an “A-Ha!” (not the band) moment. You know the kind of moment? Anyway, it crystallized my thinking of the previous six years. If you haven’t read the above book and you’re in business, make it the next book you read.

In order to build a great company, the kind of company that matters, you need to synthesize three things:

1. Be passionate about what you do
2. Be the best in the world at something
3. Discover your economic engine.

It’s called the Hedgehog principle, and in your corporate heart you become fanatical about doing one thing really really well. Suffice to say, we were well on the way to this principle anyway, we’d just never put a name or model to it.

We continue to be amazed at the organizations enquiring and purchasing Copper. From multi-national Film & TV organizations, leading Ad Agencies, technology product marketers, medical & legal teams, the list is long and broad, but there is a common focus. All of these teams want to be the best in the world at what they do.

What is Element passionate about? We’re passionate about helping those that make a difference be more efficient at it! In other words, any leading team that is out to make their environment better. No matter if it’s Apple, WWF, Greenpeace, Wilco (the band), Nissan. No matter if it’s product development, solving world hunger, shaping a cultural response, selling a family their dream home, cancer research, educating the population, or touring the world connecting with those that need a lttle soul therapy. We want to help creative teams take the myriad information and shape their response more efficiently than ever, do what they were born to do, and ultimately reduce their administrative footprint.

We’ve worked with/in/around creative teams for years, and are passionate about what it means to push new boundaries. We know we’re not uber-Geeks creating a new search engine algorythm or the next web 2.0 phenomenon, but we ARE a company that understands, values, and is committed to producing a software that helps creative professionals make a difference.

Can we do it without making a profit ourselves? No! Which leads me to the economic engine. This is the one metric that great companies instinctively know as the most important metric for maintaining that passion, being the best in the world, and continuing the evolution. I won’t go into our metric, but it involves our Advertising and Development budget (or lack thereof!).

So combining these thoughts, we’re again inviting you to become involved in our next Copper development. We have an Inner Circle program that we are offering, as well as an industry-specific stream that will allow us to further refine Copper toward these verticals. It’s a great program that is effectively a customer-sponsored feature-fest that everyone benefits from. It’s what you do when you want to be great, want to maintain and drive the vision, but you don’t have Valley funding.

If you’d like to get involved see the next post, or click here to get in touch.

– Ben Prendergast