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... Isn't it interesting how a little communications leads to more communications! Feedback!! Thank you all for your comments. On the signature line of each email I send is the following anonymous quote: Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always. Just a reminder that as Scouters we are all obligated to live by the spirit of the Scout Oath and Law and to lift one another up, while providing direct feedback, so that every day we can improve the Scouting for the youth of America.
So my last blog post (and several before that) have evoked many requests to know what the development roadmap for Scoutbook will be. Anyone who has brought a complex product to market (software or otherwise) while keeping the wheels spinning knows how risky projecting milestones is. Never-the-less, in the spirit of openness, I'm going to lay out the priorities for the Scoutbook development team over the next three months, which is as far as I can see with clarity at this time. As you review these priorities, please remember three things –
1) The resources are what the resources are. While Boy Scouts of America is investing significantly in the development of Scoutbook, there are some wishes that will not be realized and some that will not happen as fast as we all would like.
2) We are building Scoutbook for the future of the youth and leaders of Scouting. Sometimes this is going to mean we will be developing "stories" (to use the agile term) that do not in the short term appear to have clear user value but will be cornerstones of future functionality (this is particularly true of the building steps to full integration with BSA's person database, Akela – aka ScoutNet or PAS, the place for all advancement, awards, training, etc.).
3) There will be dedicated resources assigned to each of these priorities so don't think of them as having an order, they are all important.
4) Okay, four things. The priorities are informed by the following: data on site performance and usage, the user community’s forum and blog posts, consultation with the Scoutbook User Advisory Council of volunteers, advice and guidance from Shawn Jackson (Scoutbook creator and user advocate), Asynchrony (our software development partner) and BSA’s system admin and database resources. In the final analysis, however, the priorities are my direction to the team so all credit to the team, all criticism to me.
So, with those thoughts:
|
Priority |
Comments |
|
CS/BS implementation and User Valued Enhancements
|
Completion of new Cub Scout program awards and functionality within Scoutbook, preparation for 1/2016 launch of new Boy Scout requirements. Enhancements to the calendar, payment log, messaging, etc. |
|
Site Performance
|
Actions to speed site responsiveness/load times. SQL query optimization, parameterization, database maintenance jobs, etc. |
|
COPPA Compliance and YPT Adherence
|
COPPA - Federal law outlines required processes to authenticate a parent’s permission for under 13 year olds to have online accounts. Assuring that all communications with youth members involves more than one adult. |
|
Customer service support and site experience
|
Impacting new and learning users a “self-help” area is being developed to support a series of videos Shawn Jackson is preparing, consolidating FAQs (in addition to the “tips” that appear throughout the site), etc. |
|
NET Authentication – Akela Integration Roadmap |
Technical roadmap to true integration of Scoutbook with BSA’s person database. Initially will not affect the user experience, later will integrate Scoutbook and my.scouting login. |
What I have outlined, and the team has committed to, is an aggressive vision, one which we believe will support users of all “calibers” and move Scoutbook forward. As always, feedback is welcome.
BTW, this IS THE FRIDAY BLOG (@Craig Mielke). This week we released a fix to the phantom pack meeting that many of you may have received notice of (I hope the meeting went well and the boys had a great time) and four SQL optimizations intended to speed loading of the dashboard and other high volume pages. Initial results suggest that, while effective, those fixes “uncovered” other performance opportunities – which we are perusing.
TTFN and have a great weekend.
I am a software developer by trade and I do understand the frustration and headaches your team is facing but you also need to understand our frustration using a product we pay for where we are no longer able to do the things we purchased it for in the first place.
I know things take time and we all understand that but very open discussion with details needs to presented. This is not a beta software. This is a product we paid for and use daily. A task as simple as the report I mentioned above now takes almost 45 minutes to go into 18 scouts for our one den and take screenshots of all there advancements to match that same functionality that previously worked.
I also ask that is some of these things such as reports are going to take a while, please fix the export functionality so we can at least get a flat file of the data so we can create our own reports outside the application.
Bob has requested that the discussion for this important blog post continue on over in the Forums this week. This way, Scoutbook Users can SUBSCRIBE to the Forum Thread and stay more up-to-date on discussions and conversations on the FUTURE of Scoutbook. Rome may not have been built in a day -- BUT -- as someone who has closely followed the progress (and frustrations) of Scoutbook Development for years, I can say confidently that having now seen the above timeline and just how many departments of the BSA are being incorporated into these plans, there is MUCH GOOD WORK TO DO and all of our help and input will be needed.
The link for the Forum Thread where ALL Comments for this Blog should move over to is:
Since BB Code does not work in this blog reply, simply COPY AND PASTE to use the following link in your browser:
https://www.scoutbook.com/mobile/forums/using-scoutbook/54914/official-bsa-scoutbook-timeline--bob-s-blog---2015-11-20-/
So, Steve, looking forward to some great conversation over at the Forum Thread. There are SOME items not prioritized yet (we are voicing the support for Venturing regularly, for example) but we want to CELEBRATE some of the break-throughs that are coming in the near future and then work toward support of even more in the mid-term to long-term future.
See you at:
https://www.scoutbook.com/mobile/forums/using-scoutbook/54914/official-bsa-scoutbook-timeline--bob-s-blog---2015-11-20-/
Dave, nice to know that all of the Voices of the Scoutbook Users are being accounted for, right? In a volunteer-led organization, User input is very important so Bob Scott's Team can make the best decisions to move Scoutbook forward into the future.
Join us over at the link below for more discussion like this though. ONLY the link below will allow you to SUBSCRIBE TO the responses so you can follow the conversation. The Scoutbook Blog Area does not have that capability (at least not yet).
https://www.scoutbook.com/mobile/forums/using-scoutbook/54914/official-bsa-scoutbook-timeline--bob-s-blog---2015-11-20-/
Hats off to the team working on this and I'm excited to see what's to come!
Are there any plans to archive outgoing messages? While always remembering to send to myself is a solution, having messages archived in Scoutbook would be ideal.
It's been more than the 3 month, since you provided a 3 month road map. Would you be so kind as to communicate an update on the road map priorities...
Having worked on Agile projects, I understand the challenges with delivering complex projects, but part of being a product owner / Scout Leader in my estimation is be open about reality.
I don't think I am alone in wishing for more communication / visibility.
Yours in scouting,
Robert Cranney
With regard to the above list of priorities, I also would much appreciate an update on the progress of these identified priorities. As we are in the flux between high activity portions of the year and fundraisers, the update to the payment log would be much appreciated. we are trying to move away from an independent payment log and now is the perfect time of the year to make this transition, but the current log in scout book just does not cut it. could you please provide an update on when the payment log advancements will occur and if possible, what those advancements might be? Priorities to make this workable for a pack includes an administrators need to log/ charge payments due and credits to accounts from a ledger so you don't have to go into each scouts account individually. With over 60 scouts, one at a time entry is time prohibitive.
Thank you in advance for any updates you may be able to provide.
If the answer is, nothing will be done, that will help me to plan as well. Thanks
Matt
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