Everyone who arrives at our office ALWAYS comments on the big bright plasma screen we have on the wall, with data changing on it every few seconds! It’s bright, it’s addictive to watch, and it also a part of our web development project management known as SCRUM.

We’ve been scrumming with evly since day 1 of development, and every day it just seems to get more and more efficient.

For those not in the know, SCRUM isn’t a rugby term, it’s a methodology for managing the development of a project. If you really want to sound clever, when you’re speaking about scrum to non-techies, say…

ahhh. Scrum! A good method for agile development!

We’ve read dozens of books, articles, white papers, and luckily have some amazing guys on the team who have used scrum in the past.

So here is my thoughts on what we do to make sure SCRUM works for us:

[Read more →]

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD (see below). For the last 2 years, we have worked NON STOP to build some new Internet based software which we think has the potential to change the world. For the first year we strategised, and the following year we recruited a team and started developing.

We still have a way to go, but we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. The software platform we have created is getting better by the day, and will be launched “shortly” (hopefully “shortly” means in the next few months!)

But in the meantime, the FIRST official evly.com press release has been issued.

Read through, and I’m looking forward to hearing your feedback, suggestions and comments. And it would mean a great deal if you can twitter, facebook and write about this press release. The more people that hear about evly, the more chance that it will achieve what we have envisaged.

All the best

Eric

BUILD. GATHER. SOLVE. ANYTHING

Cape Town – South Africa, evly.com will be launching the first crowdsourcing social network that utilizes a custom built drag and drop website builder available for free to any registered user. Evly is an online network of crowdsourcing communities where users can create advanced crowdsourcing websites in a few clicks to bring people together to constantly solve new challenges.

Crowdsourcing is the method of sourcing a solution from a crowd, community or social network as opposed to a single contractor with the understanding that the wisdom of the crowd is greater than the wisdom of the individual. This method not only gives rise to a variety of stimulating solutions but also powerful viral marketing potential.

Evly websites function much like the group or fan-pages on …

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I’m watching the Algeria versus Slovenia world cup match, and i’m frustrated! Why? Coz, instead of watching the world’s best soccer players and listening to world class commentary on the TV, I’m listening to a swarm of bees - ANGRY BEES! (aka. the VUVUZELA)

Yesterday, during the England versus America football battle, there was a brief moment, when the English supporters rose up above the B Flat torture of the Vuvuzela, and sung their supporters songs - and it sounded SWEET!

But it lasted too short a time, and once again the angry bees soundtrack filled the air.

As an entrepreneur, I ALWAYS ask people to bring me potential solutions when they bring me problems, so I’m practicing what I preach.

Here are my Top 4 PRACTICAL solutions to the Vuvuzela problem: [Read more →]

How are you handling all the info that the net has thrown at us? Do  you just ignore it? Or have you found the perfect way for FILTERING the CRUCIAL, and ignoring everything else?

I’ve got RSS feeds I haven’t looked at in months.

I’ve got emails streaming in about work!

I’ve got friends and contacts mailing, blackberrying, and sms’ing to say hi!

Then there are then daily and weekly newsletters (most of which i’ve now unsubscribed to).

I want to keep updated with news, and besides catching sky or CNN in the morning, I try check a few local and international news and finance sites in the morning.

There’s Twitter! (You’ve probably noticed I’ve cut down my twitter usage considerably)

And there’s Facebook (You’ve probably noticed I’ve also cut down my facebook usage considerably)

I try go onto our company sites on a regular basis (springleap etc)

And I want to keep up with industry news (whether TechCrunch, Crowdsourcing news, internet marketing news, or local bloggers)

And the guys at my office send me updates of whatever they think is IMPORTANT information for me to know - and usually after reading or watching their links, I agree that it’s essential info to have taken in!

BUT…

It just seems TOO MUCH! To keep updated in the modern world seems IMPOSSIBLE!!

How do you do it?

They say that the only fear greater than death is…

*Drum Roll*

Public Speaking

3 years ago, I felt the same way, so I joined up with my local toastmasters group - an organisation with 250,000 members around the world dedicated to improving people’s communication and speaking skills.

I try my best to make the monthly meeting our local group has (there are about 8 groups meeting monthly in Cape Town alone), and last night after our 3 hour meeting finished (each club is different but we make our monthly event into a dinner event - impromptu talking, dinner, prepared speeches, dessert, evaluation), I thought back over the last few years and realised how incredible the experience has been. [Read more →]