There has been some interesting debate recently about Lotus Domino development, Ed Brill’s latest post is a good reference point for this (here).
For me the key is to allow an experience where developers can work efficiently to produce applications which people can use intuitively. The area I think has been neglected from Lotus is the power user. The people in all our work environments who develop excel spreadsheets, access databases and other such tools to solve problems for their particular needs. I’d like to see some regression to combine basic development features in the Notes client which would allow these power users to develop solutions they need.
I have heard and read that in activity explorer there are plans to analyse the workflow within activity threads and allow re-use of common workflows to solve business need. It would be great if the notes client had a simple workflow template, perhaps a graphical interface developed from a flowchart, which linked to a defined area on a domino server for ad-hoc workflows. This for me would be a benificial addition to the Notes stable.
Hi Stu,
I completely agree. I started my Notes career as just such a “power user”. The good news is that I’ve been asked to present a Jumpstart session at Lotusphere that touches on this very issue, although perhaps not exactly as you suggest. I’m behind in blogging about it myself, but the session link is here: http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/events/govfor.nsf/(UID)/D9C722D2DB09BCA3852572220069E7CD?opendocument
Cheers,
Kevin
LikeLike
In case that link doesn’t make sense, its session JMP201 which is listed under “tracks and session” on http://www.lotusphere.com
LikeLike
Hi Stu,
I’ve been working on a workflow engine for some time, it is currently in Beta 3 on openNTF.org. In so much as workflows are reusable, my engine has proven successful in a commercial environment. The concept of drafting workflows in a GUI has been on my mind for some time and may get some attention in the near future. We’re also thinking about a subsidiary ‘workflow repository’ project to complement the workflow engine. Check it out at http://www.openNTF.org (Qenos Application Framework).
Regards,
Mark
LikeLike