The following story took place in Paris. "Rainy day in Paris... I got used to it after one and half year here... Big buildings around me filled up with companies. I just wanted to make some sales. So I got in a big building that was hosting 5 companies.

• First floor: A company that was building and selling structures to hold safely buildings.
  
• Second floor: A PR company
• Third floor: A Real Estate company
• Fourth floor: A company that was designing structures
  
• Fifth floor: A company that was specialized in big constructions

So I have been to the fifth floor. What are your needs, I asked. They told me that they have a big project on constructing a 8 floor building with an underground parking of at least 4 floors. So I said, whats the problem. They said that they want that the building but also the parking  should be of material that will be really a) familiar with the local environment b) authentic and c) elastic since there was a lot of wind and specifically for the parking they wanted day light down there (something like Louvre).

Imagine what I did (Hint: climbing up and down the elevator for three hours). Finally I won that day $20.000,00. Sweet isn't it?"

The whole problem of the companies that were in the same building is... communication! And the Second floor did not help! It always need a person that will smell the opportunities and do not hesitate.

Flavor of the day: White Chocolate Lemon Napoleon

Have you ever thought why you are building or reading specifications, on why and how you will proceed on the development of a simple or a complex application? I will give you not one but five reasons:

1. You will not loose time on developing something that will be then altered
   
2. Your customer and you will compromise on final deliverables
3. You will have a solution approach model
4. The customer will not ask more than those that are written down
5. You both know what you do!

A specification is an explicit set of requirements to be satisfied by a material, product, or service. Before even starting writing the specifications is that there is not only one type of them, but again ... five. These are:

1. Functional Specifications
2. Graphical User Interface (GUI) Specifications
3. Technical Specifications
4. Platform Server and Client Specifications
5. Maintenance Specifications

It sounds a lot of work, even before start working, but trust me, it saves much of your time!!!

Interesting: IEEE, Wikipedia: Web Standards, W3C

Todays flavor: Molten Lava Cakes

I had an interesting lunch with a Public Relations master (lets call him StA) this week [Link: I - II ], discussing on how we are approaching and finally penetrating the market and also how we intend to expand Apogee's brand recognition. As I have already stated my three fundamental pillars are:

• Quality
• Innovation and
• Evolution.

After a couple of minutes of silence StA told me, "you know what you miss? a clear and focused plan on how you will approach a targeted market. This will guide your marketing efforts not assist them". It took me some minutes to realize what he is saying... But it's true.

In a competitive world and e-world were many companies are desperate for our attention, there are only some minor details that define who is the best. Electronic and traditional Media exposure delivers credibility. But even more, consider who is accepting the information and then the value is increasing only if that person will be in a decision making position.

PR is one of the most highly effective ways to establish your business in a market. Placing articles in trade, business, and special- interest publications is an easy way to begin your targeted (?) PR efforts.