Two Unnecessary Costs of Software Development

Putting my “Chief Technology Officer” hat on for a second, there are lots of cost levers behind the total expense of software development and most of them are necessities. Yes, we should always allow plenty of time and money for testing and user feedback. Yes, we should try to pay down technical debt. We’re not talking about any of that.

Private companies working on proprietary software can mitigate a small amount of this through standardizing development processes, but open source projects are a total free-for-all.

In the end, what’s needed in order to eliminate false starts and blind alleys is for individual developers themselves to practice using Github effectively in order to not waste their own time and effort working on the wrong thing. This guide will help show you how.

Initializing a Git Repository

Specify the path to the repository you are going to store your versioned files in the Initialize a Git Repository dialog box or click Browse and browse for the directory required.

A .git subfolder is created in the folder you specified in step 3 above (your NetBeans project folder by default), which is your Git repository where all the data of your project snapshots are stored. Git starts versioning all files in the folder you specified. You can open Window > Output > Output to view the IDE’s report about the progress of the repository creation under your local working directory.

All the project files are marked Added in your Working Tree. To view a file status, place the cursor over the file name in the Projects window. The status of the file in the Working Tree displays in green to the right of the slash like shown in the following picture.

Cloning a Git Repository

In the Parent Directory field, the path to the directory intended for the cloned repository on your hard drive (alternatively, click the Browse button and navigate to the directory). The Parent Directory field is pre-filled with the path to the default NetBeansProjects directory where all NetBeans projects are stored.

Leave the Scan for NetBeans Projects after Clone checkbox selected to activate after-scanning right after the clone finishes. (The plugin searches for NetBeans projects in the cloned resources and offers to open the found projects.)

Cloning a Repository from GitHub via SSH protocol

(Skip if using SSH-agent or Pageant for automated SSH access to the Git server.) Complete the following steps to access the Git server using your private SSH key and a passphrase:

Specify the path to the key file, for example C:\Users\key . The OpenSSH private key format is required. Keys generated by PuTTYgen for Microsoft Windows must be converted to the OpenSSH format before using them in the IDE.

(Applies if using SSH-agent or Pageant for automated SSH access to the Git server.) Leave the Private Key File and Passphrase fields empty to get authenticated access from the IDE to the Git server via correctly configured SSH-agent or Pageant.

In the Parent Directory field, the path to the directory intended for the cloned repository on your hard drive (alternatively, click the Browse button and navigate to the directory). The Parent Directory field is pre-filled with the path to the default NetBeansProjects directory where all NetBeans projects are stored.

Leave the Scan for NetBeans Projects after Clone checkbox selected to activate after-scanning right after the clone finishes. (The plugin searches for NetBeans projects in the cloned resources and offers to open the found projects.)

Adding Files to a Git Repository

When adding files to a Git repository, the IDE composes and saves snapshots of your project first in the Index. After you perform the commit, the IDE saves those snapshots in the HEAD. The IDE allows you to choose between the two workflows described in the following table.

[start=4] . In the Commit dialog box, select the Changes between HEAD and Index ( ) toggle button. This displays the list of files that are already staged.

[start=3] . In the Commit dialog box, select the Select the Changes between HEAD and Working Tree ( ) toggle button. This displays the list of files that are not staged.

Step Four: Create Your First Repository

Now that you’ve made it this far, you can actually use GitHub! As a first order of business, we’re going to create a repository (or “repo” for short). Head on over to GitHub and click the “New Repository” button on the top right of your account page. (Note: If you’re still displaying the GitHub bootcamp section, it’ll show up underneath it.)

When creating a repository you have a few things to decide including it’s name and whether it’ll be publicly accessible or not. Choosing a name should be pretty simple because you likely already have a name for your project. If you’re just following along for learning purposes, use “Hello-World.” Why “Hello-World” and not “Hello World”? Because spaces and special characters will cause problems. Keep it simple and easy to type in the command line. If you want to include a more complex name, you can add it to the optional description field beneath the name field.

If you’re creating an open-source project, you want a public repository. If you want to code by yourself or share only with specific people, a private repository will do. Make the choice that works best for you and your project.

When you’re all done, you can click the “Create repository” button but you might want to do one other thing first: check the “Initialize this repository with a README” checkbox. Why? All repositories require a README file. Ideally that file would contain a little information about your project, but you might not want to deal with that right now. By initializing the repository with a README, you’ll get an empty README file that you can just deal with later. For the purposes of this tutorial, we’re going to leave the box unchecked because, in the next section, we’re going to create a README file from scratch to practice committing (sending) it to GitHub.

Step Five: Make Your First Commit

When you send files to GitHub, you commit them. To practice, we’re going to initialize your local repository and create a README file to commit as practice. Before you start, you need to know where your local code repository is on your computer and how to access it via the command line. In this tutorial, we’re going to assume there’s a directory called “Hello-World” in your computer’s home folder. If you need to create one, just run this command (same for Git Bash on Windows and OS X’s terminal):

In case you were wondering, the ~ represents your home directory in Git Bash and Terminal. It’s simply shorthand so you don’t have to type it all out (which would look more like /Users/yourusername/). Now that your repository is ready, type this:

If you already had a repository ready to go, you’d just need to cd to that directory and then run the git init command in there instead. Either way, your local repository is ready to go and you can start committing code. But wait, you don’t have anything to commit! Run this command to create a README file:

Let’s take a break for a second and see what just happened. Go into the home folder on your computer and look at the Hello-World folder (or look at whatever folder you’re using for a local repository). You’ll notice a README file inside, thanks to the command you just ran. What you won’t see is a .git folder, but that’s because it’s invisible. Git hides it in there, but because you ran the git init command you know it exists. If you’re skeptical, just run the ls command in Git Bash/Terminal to display a list of everything in the current directory (which, if you’re following along, is your local repository).

While the other commands were pretty straightforward, the commit command has a little more going on so let’s break it down. When you type git , that’s just telling the command line that you want to use the git program. When you type commit , you’re telling git you want to use the commit command. Everything that follows those two thing count as options. The first, -m, is what’s known as a flag. A flag specifies that you want to do something special rather than just run the commit command. In this case, the -m flag means “message” and what follows it is your commit message (in the example, ‘first commit’). The message isn’t absolutely necessary (although you’ll usually need to provide one), but simply a reference to help you differentiate the various versions of a file (or files) you commit to your repository.

Your first commit should go by in a split second because you haven’t actually uploaded anything yet. To get this empty README file to GitHub, you need to push it with a couple of commands. Here’s the first:

Source:

https://petabridge.com/blog/use-github-professionally/
https://netbeans.apache.org/kb/docs/ide/git.html
https://lifehacker.com/how-the-heck-do-i-use-github-5983680

However, HubSpot’s installed base would only consist of the customers currently using HubSpot products in their day-to-day workflow. By highlighting this subsection of our customer base, we can personalize our marketing, sales, and customer service offers to fit the specific needs of our active users.

WCF client overview

In WCF, services and clients model contracts using managed attributes, interfaces, and methods. To connect to a service in a client application, you need to obtain the type information for the service contract. Typically, you obtain type information for the service contract by using the ServiceModel Metadata Utility Tool (Svcutil.exe). The utility downloads metadata from the service, converts it to a managed source code file in the language of your choice, and creates a client application configuration file that you can use to configure your WCF client object. For example, if you are going to create a WCF client object to invoke a MyCalculatorService , and you know that the metadata for that service is published at http://computerName/MyCalculatorService/Service.svc?wsdl , then the following code example shows how to use Svcutil.exe to obtain a ClientCode.vb file that contains the service contract in managed code.

You can either compile this contract code into the client application or into another assembly that the client application can then use to create a WCF client object. You can use the configuration file to configure the client object to properly connect to the service .

Recommendations

A big customer base gives your business a better opportunity to reach out to even more individuals and expand the base. Faithful customers are constantly crucial in getting the word out and ending up being self-proclaimed brand name ambassadors.

Customers that work with a new cleaning business have a feeling of belonging and are required to help the business expand. Given their experience is positive or the services and items you are offering are superb, they are most likely to share these details with their peers. They assist get the word out to individuals that may be unfamiliar with your business.

Usually, customers do not like getting their goods and services from places where no one is acquiring. Having a substantial customer base from the start will undoubtedly place a valuable statement throughout the market.

Economically sound

By examining a big customer base from a financial viewpoint, it will undoubtedly be seen that extra financially appears to have an enormous devoted customer base from the start. It is less costly to preserve an existing customer in contrast to getting a new one.

Current customers are more valuable than new ones. It is evident that for you to hook a new customer, you require to sustain some advertising or product promotion prices. All you need to do with the existing customers is to keep the top quality and customer fulfillment rates.

Permits you to adjust your procedures

When you collect the metrics and pay added attention to what your customers are stating, you enhance your business. You might be doing things in a certain way and discover that your substantial customer base is focused on another method of doing business that you have not transported sufficient time and sources right.

The comments you get from them assist you to straighten your function and direction in a proposal to concentrate your power on what jobs best. These customers act as your initial group of mediators who explain where you fail.

Puts you ahead of the competitors

Unless you are supplying a unique business or service, your business will certainly deal with some rigid competition. The variety of customers is limited, and all the companies are making every effort to hook a significant percentage of these customers.

How Do You Identify Your Ideal Customer Base?

Understanding these responses will certainly help you plainly define your ideal customer base and that exactly you should be seeking with your marketing efforts. Producing customer identities can help you understand your optimal customers better.

Offer a free newsletter

Free is something that everybody can afford, from small companies to international companies. You inform your possible customers that you are prepared to give free info from the beginning when you offer a cost-free newsletter.

Before a web visitor leaves your website, demand that they complete a short study about your business. People enjoy sharing themselves and frequently delight in informing you about their online and offline experiences.

Keep up and maintain exceptional customer support and service

A customer that gets in touch with customer support about their first order is as crucial as a customer that contacts customer support concerning their tenth order. Deal with each customer with respect and take appropriate action.

A pleased customer is most likely to inform a minimum of three friends regarding a favorable experience, and great client service results in increased sales. Most importantly, you can track previous customer communication with tools such as CRM software applications.

Keep your website content fresh

Keep your content fresh by releasing a blog that reports the most up to date business information, key-takeaways from whitepapers, and warm topics within your sector. New content will certainly additionally assist your website to be discovered in an online search engine.

How to Build a Customer Base

1. Build brand awareness on social media.

2. Partner with other businesses.

3. Run email marketing campaigns.

1. Provide excellent customer service.

This may seem obvious, but many companies fail to deliver exceptional customer service. In fact, research shows 80% of consumers have stopped conducting business with a brand due to a poor customer service experience.

Engaging with needy or unhappy customers shouldn’t be viewed as a chore, as your team should look at them as an opportunity to grow your customer base. Instead, respond swiftly to customer complaints to increase the chances of these customers purchasing your products again.

Customer service is also a significant influencer of customer retention. Studies reveal that 91% of consumers will buy again after positive customer service. So naturally, this puts more pressure on your customer service team to fulfill the customer’s request and do so promptly.

2. Encourage customer advocacy.

In addition, customers are skeptical of advertisements, and most won’t be swayed solely by your marketing efforts. Instead, they need to feel confident your company is aligned with and invested in their goals.

3. Create freemium offers.

Freemium offers are a great way to grab the attention of potential leads. With a freemium offer, companies give away something of value for free in exchange for customer information. The item given away can be as simple as a PDF download or more interactive, like a free prototype software.

This way, customers can get a taste of how useful HubSpot tools can be for their business. Then, HubSpot can analyze the product usage reports for these users and craft personalized customer service and sales offers based on the tools they use most.

4. Adopt customer service tools.

One tool you can integrate into your customer service team is a help desk. A help desk is a platform that hosts a variety of helpful customer service tools, like a knowledge base, a ticketing system, and a shared inbox. These tools automatically organize and distribute incoming service requests, making it easier for reps to manage their open cases. Instead of having to keep track of what they’re working on, customer service tools optimize your reps’ workflow and free up time for them to take more cases each day.

5. Collect customer feedback.

Positive feedback tells you what you’re doing well and what you should boast about to new leads. Negative feedback highlights where you need to improve and what needs to change to increase customer retention.

Service feedback should be collected after a support ticket is closed or after a customer service interaction. You can also ask customers for feedback after a purchase is made, as you might be curious about the customer service efforts of your on-the-floor sales team.

NPS® surveys are great because they provide your company with qualitative and quantitative data about your customers. If your team is having trouble collecting responses, check out some of these strategies you can use to obtain customer feedback.

6. Create a customer success program.

Successful businesses understand that a customer’s value increases as they buy from your company over time. So if you can convince people to keep coming back to your business, your customer base will continue to grow consistently even if you’re only acquiring a handful of customers each month.

One effective customer retention tool is a customer success program. Customer success teams monitor individual accounts for roadblocks within the customer’s journey. If they anticipate friction, they can reach out to the customer and help them navigate the issue before it escalates into a significant problem.

7. Consider web accessibility.

Some people need special features enabled on their computers to effectively use and access your site. If your site isn’t compatible with these programs, this audience can’t reach your content, meaning you’re missing out on opportunities to convert potential leads.

Web accessibility can open the door to a new ecommerce audience that your brand might not have considered. For example, the graphic below shows us how much money was spent on ecommerce in the UK. The red circle at the bottom indicates that more than £17 billion in potential revenue could be lost due to web accessibility issues.

If you’re new to web accessibility, reviewing the guidelines can help you update your site so you can become accessible to all audiences. Not only is this a smart move for your business, but it’s a step you can take to make your business more inclusive.

Customer Base Examples

1. Loyal Customers

Undoubtedly, it’s crucial to pay special attention to this group of customers. You can keep them satisfied by maintaining or improving the quality of your products and services. You can also start a loyalty program that rewards these customers for their loyalty.

2. New Customers

If you’re a product-based business, offer new customers manuals or guides that contain detailed information about using the products. And if you run a service-based business, you’ll need to create personalized onboarding experiences for these customers.

3. Potential Customers

Although these are not technically customers yet, it’s still vital to pay attention to them. People in this group are likely still investigating whether your products and services can alleviate their pain points.

4. Bargain/Discount Customers

Sources:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/wcf/wcf-client-overview
https://www.getfutura.com/customer-base/
https://blog.hubspot.com/service/customer-base