You need only to take a quick glance around you, whether walking down the street or waiting in a restaurant, to see examples of guys who have forgotten, or perhaps don't even know, how to behave like a gentleman.

Being a gentleman, both in life and in business, isn't easy and it doesn't come naturally. I myself am still learning and make more mistakes than I'd care to admit. Fortunately, I had a father who was and remains a true gentleman; an attribute I daily witnessed and took note of as his son.

Despite what you may have heard, business isn't always cut-throat and free of morals. In fact, there's going to be many times when taking the high road and simply being a gentleman will do wonders for your stature in the community and your business relationships within.

The following rules are some of what I've learned in running this company for the past five years. If you oversee or are planning to start a business, I hope that you can benefit from this knowledge gained and apply it to your own circumstances.

Don't show off. Rather, impress. There's a world of difference between asking to be publicly validated versus getting attention because you deserve it.

Keep your word. If you say you'll do something for someone else, do it. No excuses.

Finish what you start. Even when business gets really tough and you just want to quit, dig deep and keep going. No one, especially those who need and are loyal to you, likes a quitter.

Stay busy. You'd be surprised how much there always is to do. Use the slow times to better yourself and take care of those tasks that are too often neglected.

Be a good listener. Close your mouth and open your ears. Don't just wait for your turn to talk.

Take the blame. Don't throw other people under the bus. Accept responsibility for what went wrong, even if sometimes it's not your fault. The favour will be repaid.

Reputations are built one day at a time. What you say and do today will forever affect others' perception of your business, so make sure both are how you want to be known.

Guys, we can do this. Let's help each other, and our sons, learn what it takes to be a gentleman, and in the process, make the world a better place.

ibbit is a server and application framework, built on Microsoft technologies, that makes it easy to get amazing business software for a fraction of the price and in the shortest time possible.

If you're familiar with (and perhaps have even installed and are running) Windows 8 Consumer Preview, you know about the tremendous usability and design improvements that have been made by Microsoft with Metro style apps. Some of these improvements have bridged the gap to the Windows 8 desktop, but only in minor ways.

After having used Windows Phone for over a year, we're very familiar with what makes the platform a joy to use every day. We've also run Windows 8, in various capacities, on our personal computers since the beta was made available last fall.

We love Windows Phone and the promise of Windows 8. We also love the web. And we adore Metro.

ibbit combines our affections for all of these things into an incredible, affordable solution for next-generation business software.

Forget being tied to ancient technologies and ugly software interfaces: With ibbit, we've created a framework through which we can quickly build and deploy business software that is highly usable, beautifully designed and most importantly, works as good as it looks.

Pre-built ibbit components currently include forms, dashboards, maps, workflows and reports, all of which can be customized to your unique business needs. Apps created with ibbit will also run in any modern web browser and operating system, including Windows and Mac OS X.

We've made it extremely easy for ibbit to be hosted on your own internal network server, with your own data. We then provide our application framework; setup, training and management services included.

Finally, ibbit includes a powerful dashboard interface that allows you to manage users, publish new apps and combine all of your data, from across different ibbit apps, into a single, cohesive stream of updates and activity.

We're tired of seeing people suffer with lousy software.

So we did something about it.

And that something is ibbit.

Don't spend it before you have it

Even if the due date for an invoice is tomorrow, you shouldn't spend a nickel until that money is firmly in your bank account. This is especially important if you've got multiple invoices out at once. When suddenly none of your payments arrive on time and you've already spent the money you had on hand, running a business gets really scary, really quickly. As it's said, don't count your chickens before they hatch.

Always take a deposit

It wasn't until this past fall that we changed our payment policy from billing NET 30 to asking for an initial down-payment. We used to sign a contract, work for a month and then invoice at the end of that month. This means, in the best situations, we would be paid about 60 days after the contract was first signed.

But, as I've said, those payment don't always miraculously arrive on schedule. Sometimes payments are 10 days late, other times, close to 45 days or more. Compound that problem by how many payments are overdue and you can see how that places a huge strain on your agency's cash flow. Taking a deposit tips the scales more in your favour so that your business can survive longer in these situations.

Know when to get serious

We're purposely casual in many aspects of running Subvert, as I've written about before. But, if a cheque is late, I'm serious about getting it paid.

I completely understand why payments sometimes can't be made when the invoice is due, and empathize in those situations when there's a good reason for the delay. But no matter the reason, as the number of days late tick by, the more aggressively you need to chase down the missing payment(s). These are often awkward, painful conversations that will change your relationship with the client, but they need to be had when the moment comes.

Constantly track it

When I first started Subvert, I used a spreadsheet template to track our cash flow. This became cumbersome, so I switched to Pulse; a fantastic web application that served our needs very well for several years. Pulse was built by some nice guys who were also running their own small agency, so it had a lot of the same features and tools that we required.

That said, we've been finding that some of our needs have changed. As we're more regularly building and shipping our own software products, we seek a day-to-day perspective on cash flow; knowing what's coming in and what's going out is key. So, as Mike and I both have a Windows Phone, we wanted to build a dedicated Windows Phone cash flow app that fits this new way of thinking: the result is Cash Hound.

No matter how you track cash flow, the important lesson is simply that you follow it closely. Cash flow is a dynamic, living, sometimes fire-breathing, thing that needs to be leashed at all times.

In summary

Running a small agency is not a sprint, it's a marathon; a race on a road filled with peaks and valleys. Smart cash flow management is the fuel you need to keep going for the long-term.

There's boat-loads of articles available online about UCD. Many of these go into extreme detail about tools and tactics for conducting formal user research; personas, task-based scenarios, use cases, needs analysis, paper prototyping, card sorting and mental models, for starters. Many of these articles are extremely valuable and helpful.

But sometimes, all you need to remember is a simple phrase: Design for "me".

No, not you. Me. As in the person using your software.

If you're designing enterprise software, this can mean laying out screens based on what information is necessary for someone to most easily do their job. Include links, buttons, data and forms that only matter to them in that very moment. Everything else in the interface can be dramatically minimized or even removed. Put the focus on me.

For those of us who have conducted on-site usability tests or contextual interviews, you know that in many cases, users have a lot going on in their world. Phones are ringing, mobile devices are beeping, co-workers are chatting, doors are slamming, faxes are doing whatever faxes do and requests for attention are coming in from all directions. In other words, constant interruption.

One of the simplest and most effective design decisions you can make is to be sympathetic to a user's personal environment. Focus your design on what matters most to them, in that single moment, and do whatever you can to make that process as fast and efficient as possible.

Designing software, especially big systems, is complex and challenging work that requires deep functionality and intricate business rules to be addressed. But, at the end of the day, you need to remember that there's still going to be real people - very busy, distracted people - who will be using your software. Design for them. Design for "me".

Unfortunately, while most brand-oriented companies are careful to emphasize these qualities in their printed materials and corporate websites, few pay enough attention to how their other digital products - customer-facing software and customer self-serve websites - perform for people.

Don't look to blame the marketers and branding agencies. From what I've seen, the problem actually stems from a lack of well-conceived product requirements; you know, those big, complicated technical documents (which nobody seems to read) that are supposed to be used to design and construct the company's software and websites.

With customer-facing software and customer self-serve websites, the goal of visually maintaining corporate brand (through the use of colours, images or typography) is far less important than the content and function of the products themselves. For those building these systems, that means translating the brand's "experience attributes" to the product itself.

For example, if a brand's attributes are "expert", "forward-thinking" and "precise", the organization's software and websites need to match and support those attributes in every way possible. On rare occasions this exercise is easy, but often, the entire endeavour is a tough slog. It can be a challenge to translate vague one-word attributes to real-world customer experiences.

To manage this process, we've found that using a combination of personas and mental models helps the project team to focus on how a customer will experience these attributes through their software and websites. From the content of error messages and inline help to the layout of form controls and the flow of data from one area of the software to another, every corner of the digital product should be examined, planned and designed through the lens of brand experience attributes.

Think about Apple, Google, Microsoft, Bell, Oracle and Cisco. Do these organizations' individual brand attributes consistently translate to their customer-facing software and customer self-serve websites? As a possible consumer of these products yourself, only you will know the answer to that.

Next time you encounter one of these companies' digital products - whether buying online through the Apple Store or sending an email via Google Apps - consider if and how the journey impacts your opinion of the brand. How do you perceive the company and its product; beforehand, during and afterwards?

That's designing with experience attributes at work.

Straight up: the traditional Windows desktop GUI is a second-class citizen when it comes to the overall user experience of Windows 8. And you know what? That's okay. I'm cool with it. Here's why.

Microsoft is pushing heavy on Metro and its series of gestures, views, styles and interactions. On a tablet, Windows 8 is going to be ridiculously awesome. But when it comes to the desktop (which is actually considered a standalone "app" in Windows 8) it's basically Windows 7 with some interface changes and performance improvements here and there.

To me, the Windows desktop GUI is mature and polished enough for Microsoft to leave, and have left, alone. I feel as if they made the right decision in tweaking the Windows 8 desktop "app" enough for it to be different in areas but mostly the same in others; a complete re-invention of the Windows desktop GUI is not necessary at this time.

Now, the Metro/tablet interface, on the other hand, is vastly different than the Windows of old. Worlds apart. It looks and behaves like nothing you've ever seen or touched. Well, that is, unless you've used a Windows Phone device, than it's familiar territory.

I've been using Windows 8 Consumer Preview as my primary operating system for the past 24 hours. Besides getting used to Metro taking a front and centre position in the overall user experience, it's really not that difficult of a transition. So, if you're on the fence about switching to Windows 8 as your own daily system, I say go for it. All of the software I've installed and am using on Windows 8 is the same as what I was using on Windows 7.

Microsoft has made a very bold move with Windows 8. They are clearly, wholly committed to Metro and the tablet interface, so much so, that their bread and butter product - the traditional desktop GUI - has been relegated to second place. Metro is in your face and wants to be used as much as possible.

Compare this tactic to Apple's approach in bringing iOS to OS X: gradually introducing features, interactions and services from one to the other. Each iteration of its operating system, starting with Lion, and progressing this summer with Mountain Lion, has brought and will bring more and more items across.

Not so with Microsoft: Windows 8 and Metro is the future of their operating system and they want to share this vision with the world...now.

Microsoft will iterate and improve on Windows 8 Consumer Preview, no doubt about that. They did the same with the previously-released Developer Preview and you will immediately see those changes when you open up Consumer Preview for the first time.

Love it or hate it, Windows 8 is where Microsoft is going. Kudos to them for having the courage to take their vision and turn it into a reality that we can all experience today.

On the latter, this is because if you've spent time carefully modifying a set of filters on a big data set then you accidentally hit the "Clear" button, you instantly lose all of that work and have to start from scratch. Smart systems will include a behavioural layer to prevent this (the application will catch your request and ask if you really do want to clear all fields, for instance) but not all software has the same level of user experience thinking built in.

Having said all of that, absolutely there are situations where a Clear button is useful and makes sense to include in your software interface. For me, these are environments where there are three or more form fields and resetting them all one-by-one would be annoying and time-consuming.

The issue I've run into then is deciding on the content of the button itself. Should it be an icon or text? If it's an icon, what should that look like? How do you create and design an icon that universally says Clear? And, speaking of that label, should it even be Clear? What about Reset or Start Over?

In the end, you're going to have decide for yourself because different cultures and settings will have unique ways of interpreting the meaning behind an icon. So, to be safe, I’d just use simple text and present it in the chosen language of the user.

A related example of an element from one of my interface designs is below:

With this particular software, I followed my own advice and chose to avoid an icon and just use a text label. With it, I put a verb + noun combination together where Clear is the verb and Field(s) is the noun. In this case as well, the fields themselves are jump lists that automatically respond to user input; that is, instantly filter the data below based on choices above.

In my mind, "text" is the simplest, most direct way to deal with destructive button like Clear. Other, less-powerful buttons can safely use an icon as a label (as long as you combine it with a tooltip as a basic usability back-up measure) but for important actions, I’d really recommend plain old text.

I did the same when the Windows 7 public beta was made available and that software caused me very few issues, so I feel confident that Microsoft will deliver a great product that most people will be able to happily use on a daily basis.

Looking at Windows 8 from a builder's perspective, almost all of the marketing and communications towards developers and designers from Microsoft about Windows 8 has been focused on Metro style apps: what they are, how to make them and in which ways they'll be delivered; that is, through the Windows Store. And of that information, most of it has been directed towards developers.

So, what about designing Windows 8 desktop applications?

Overall, any official information from Microsoft about desktop applications in Windows 8 has been scarce. For those of us who design custom Windows desktop software for a living, this lack of detail has been disconcerting. What's the future of Windows 8 desktop applications? What are these applications supposed to look like? What themes and default controls are we supposed to use? What rules and standards do we need to follow to ensure our custom software fits seamlessly into the Windows 8 desktop environment?

Since Windows 8 was revealed at Build, there's been a number of commercial products released that bring many aspects of the Metro design language to desktop apps. Metro-inspired, pre-packaged controls like DevExpress' DXv2 (see screenshot below) and Telerik's RadControls for WinForms are some key examples here.

As much as these products are beautifully designed, highly polished, and well, generally just look awesome, I remain unconvinced that they are the definitive future of Windows 8 desktop applications as a whole. This is because, with desktop apps, users need precision control.

With desktop apps, people need to handle multiple windows at once, manage files across the system and perform many different types of actions at any time. In my experience, the Metro style app interface style is more geared towards consumption than creation. Great for a dashboard and perfect for simple tasks like browsing, typing and viewing (such as on a Windows Phone or in a basic app on the PC) but not so hot for more complex decision making and complicated system-user interactions.

Now, you can see where Microsoft has been applying some of the key Metro guidelines to Windows 8 itself. For instance, the file copy/transfer window that Microsoft shared on Building Windows 8 is a clear nod towards Metro in its simple grid, colours and language.

Another good example is the Windows 8 Task Manager as also shared via Building Windows 8. The typography and layout really speak to the Metro design principles.

From all of the reading I've done - which as I mention above, is limited in its volume - the way in which Microsoft is applying Metro (in its minimalistic way) to Windows 8 desktop applications is how us designers should also be applying it to our own work. That is, squeezing in Metro where it makes sense from an information perspective, but sticking with "standard" Windows design elements for the rest of our application interface. The question for designers is how much of each do you apply and what is the recommended ratio between Metro and desktop elements?

While no one is going to stop you from bringing the whole visual language, presentation and interaction model of Metro into custom WinForms or WPF apps, that doesn't always mean you should nor will it be the go-to solution in every situation. I just don't see how it could. Along those same lines, if the WinRT default design is Metro - at least, I think it is! - what does the new standard of WinForms or WPF application look like? This?

What I'd like Microsoft to do is to completely pull back the curtain and provide designers of their desktop applications a clear vision, strategy and designer-oriented documentation for how we're supposed to move forward. I love coming up with totally custom interfaces, but I also want whatever I create to still look and feel like a true Windows app. I, as much as any designer, want my Windows 8 desktop applications to be the best they can be; we simply need some crystal-clear guidance for how to do that.

When I say "guidance", I'm talking about supplied templates and exact measurements from Microsoft, like desktop applications' recommended margins, padding, alignment and spacing plus colours, vocabulary, typography and icons. They've done a very good job with this on Windows Phone. But when it comes to Windows itself, this is the only MSDN article that I can find regarding margins, padding and spacing, yet it doesn't even include any numbers! All there is are simply vague references to what those terms mean. In this User Interface Text article, Microsoft actually details font sizes. That's exactly the level of information that we need, just much, much more of it.

As you'd expect, Apple provides extensive documentation for user experience and user interfaces in their Mac OS X Human Interface Guidelines. Compared to the Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines, Apple's version is much more visual, better laid out, has more detail and is way easier to understand. For instance, first look at this section on Windows Frames from Microsoft and then compare to the Apple documentation on windows. Apple puts this all into a single section packed with information, while Microsoft scatters it throughout their MSDN website for designers to seek out and discover on their own.

Let's hope that Windows 8 takes a cue from Apple and does the same thing for its latest and greatest operating system: cohesive, consistent and clear, designer-oriented Windows desktop application guidelines.

With the success of Windows Phone and how even diehard Apple users (many of whom are designers) actually like how the phone looks and works, it's easy to see that Microsoft is onto something big. At this stage in the game, with Windows 8 and its slew of desktop applications coming very soon, they need to capitalize on that momentum and keep attracting and talking to designers. Everybody, and I mean everybody - designers, developers and users in general - will reap the benefits of such a move.

We've talked a lot about Cash Hound here on our blog, for obvious reasons. We're really happy with how the app has turned out and what it does. We also want people to buy it. Yes, I have no shame.

In business and at home, having accurate, up-to-date knowledge of your finances is key to staying afloat. While there's already many cash flow apps and spreadsheet templates out there, we believe Cash Hound is, of all those available options, the simplest, easiest and best way to stay on top of your cash flow. The app is equally useful for both business owners and those who manage their home finances.

So, if you're lucky enough to have a Windows Phone, we urge you to take Cash Hound for a quick walk around the block.

We think Cash Hound is pretty darn awesome. Here's hoping you do too.

Oh boy, was it ever going to be tight.

When I submitted our app design to the contest, I really didn't think we'd win. Truthfully, I was hoping for an honourable mention, but that was about the extent of it. I knew I'd have some stiff competition, so to have won, well, it still kind of blows my mind.

The app we submitted was based on rough, some rather lofty, ideals and features; we knew parts of it were going to be simpler to build while others were going to take much longer and require substantially more thought, experimentation and testing.

Mike and I decided to leave the app design as it was submitted and start developing the back-end services and technical architecture first. This would give us time to think about how the app works and make modifications to the software interface and interaction design, if any, based on what was going to be technically possible in the given time-frame. We can always add more features and details later; our current focus needed to be on whatever core functionality would help us get a high quality, first version of the app to market.

This "design, then quickly prototype" approach has given us a chance to play with the app and get a feel for what needs to be done, rather than drawing it all in a design program, like Adobe Fireworks (which is what I used to design the interface). It also afforded us time to research other apps more in depth, which is good, because we hit a snag with the app's name.

Our app used to be called Rhythmatic until we found an already existing product called Rhythmatic in the Apple App Store. Oops. As it's a possibility that we may bring our app to other platforms in the future, we wanted to keep that door open and so re-named our Windows Phone app to Cash Hound. We then hired a brilliant local illustrator to design our Cash Hound icon.

Look, a puppy!

After the app's back-end pieces were in place, we moved to look at the visual design and user/system interactions again. I knew that there were some key areas of the app that I want to clean up, optimize and polish. What I submitted to the contest was pretty bare bones; I wanted to dress it up and really pay attention to the visual and interaction design of Cash Hound.

As the weeks have flown by, Mike has gradually applied the new look/functionality to our app prototype. We continually tested it in both the emulator and on our Windows Phone devices to get a good handle on how it all felt, behaved and worked. As of yesterday, we've got a fairly polished app running in Expression Blend and Visual Studio, not to mention on our phones, pulling in real data. It's getting close...very close.

We always prefer getting to a workable prototype sooner than later, so that's what we're doing here. We've learned from years of experience that while you can have great looking software in a design program, that design may or may not hold up to real world use once it's actually built. To mitigate that risk, we do things fast.

Our preference when it comes to process is to always do some initial design up front, but then build as quickly as possible so we, and others, can get hands dirty. As time ticks by, we apply more polished design and interaction layers. We're confident enough in our design and development abilities to do so, and that makes a huge difference when it comes to shipping good software on time and on budget.

To date, we've been solely focused on building our app, thus, we don't have much in the way of marketing going on yet. That said, we do have a Cash Hound Twitter account if you're of the tweeting sort, so we invite you to follow our progression there, here or on the Core77 blog. Thanks!

With Windows Phone, the horizontal grid is consistently laid out in 12 pixel wide columns across the screen. Everything is then a multiple of 12: 24, 36, 48, 60 and so on. Jeff Wilcox brings this specification up in his handy Metro design guide for developers.

In that same blog post, Jeff states, "In some situations it may be appropriate to use 6px or 18px numbers (often when spacing text and other elements vertically), but try 12px first, it’s consistent and clear. The magic number of Windows Phone.".

Problem is, 12px as a suggested vertical measure doesn't line up. Given the 800px height of a Windows Phone screen, if you divide 800 by 12, you end up with an unfortunate "66.6" as the number of grid rows. That's not a definitive grid at all.

After some experimentation and testing, I've since discovered that the correct vertical spacing is actually 16px. Not only does 16 divide nicely into 800, but it also cleanly splits the application bar in half (8px top and 8px bottom). Clean, precise and repeatable.

Now, aligning elements vertically on Windows Phone is not a guarantee of consistency for your app software interface; it's more of a helpful aid. Type itself is also not naturally consistent in its presentation, so you should probably use this 16px measure as a general baseline.

If you, like me, design Windows Phone apps in Adobe Fireworks, here's the template that I use, with both grids (12px x 12px and 12px x 16px) intact, that you can download. I've included each for comparison's sake.

Happy designing!

Something that I've been thinking about as of late is how we can make people, that is, our customers, happy. Or if they're already happy, even happier.

It's usually not that difficult to make somebody else happy. The challenging part is swallowing your pride and humbling yourself before them; to become their servant. Is servant too strong of a word? I don't think so. "Servant" is perhaps an unpopular term these days, which is lousy, because the underlying meaning is very powerful when you consider it in the context of a service-based business.

We, as a company, perform many duties for others. We consult, we plan, we design, we build, we ship and we manage. We help others improve their businesses through our knowledge of software, websites and digital marketing.

To me, all of this sounds like servitude. And none of it is beneath us. It's who we are and what we do.

Which leads me to the making of happier customers.

We firmly believe that Subvert should do whatever makes our customers happiest, as long as it's not completely unreasonable. Of course, knowing where that border of irrationality lies is something you need to figure out for yourself and your own company.

We've made some mistakes over the years, but in each case, we've tried to learn from those errors and improve ourselves. Happy customers are earned, one at a time. It's not the quickest or most glamorous way to the top, but it's genuinely satisfying.

Doing something nice for somebody else - for instance, not billing for every minute they engage you, fixing something that only you know is broken at no extra charge or not stopping work simply because the project budget has run a bit over - will do wonders for your reputation. Small gestures like this go a long way towards customers recommending your company to others and them returning to you at a later date.

Everyone always remembers how they were treated. Would you prefer to be the bad experience or the fond memory?

With this milestone in mind, I've put together a walk down memory lane. To make it extra fun, I went through our historical archives and grabbed screenshots from the various Subvert websites that have represented us over the years.

2006

Subvert officially became a company in February 2007, but I registered and started using the domain name subvert.ca in 2006. At the time, I was doing a little bit of consulting on the side while I was working at Aasman, but it was mostly home to just my blog.

2007

When Subvert actually became a real business, I really had no idea of what I wanted the company to become. As a solution, I just threw myself out there. My offer to do anything helped me to figure out what people thought my best skills were and how I could help their organizations. By far, the biggest draw was usability testing and user experience research, something we still do in a major way today.

Here's a photo of my spare bedroom office at the time.

2008 (first year)

This was the year that I got really busy. In between personal websites like Urban Yukon and client websites like Whitehorse Star, I also managed to do a fair amount of work outside the territory for companies in B.C. and Alberta. In doing this, I realized how out of touch I felt with the rest of my industry - being located in Canada's far north will do that to a fella - so I started up a series of blog interviews with agencies and solo developers. This resulted in me making some great contacts and friends.

2009 (second year)

The third year of Subvert saw a lot of huge changes.

On January 1, 2009, I moved from our spare bedroom to an office. I looked a lot of places before I settled on this spot, located right across the street from the Yukon River in downtown Whitehorse. The building was old, but the other tenants and location were great.

At this time, I also chose to switch from using Apple Mac OS X to Microsoft Windows. More and more, I was working with other companies and contractors building Windows or Java-based applications, and OS X was causing too many issues.

In March 2009, my wife and I went to MIX, a Microsoft-sponsored conference aimed at user experience designers and developers. It was at this conference that I decided I didn't want to run Subvert by myself anymore. Not only was I burned out from working too much, but I felt like if I was going to stay interested, I needed to find myself a business partner. Someone who could help move Subvert from just designing applications, software and websites to actually building them.

Well, from the first time that I met him, I knew I'd found him. That person was Mike. We'd worked together on some other projects and we got along great, so we started talking. In October 2009, it became official.

2010 (third year)

In 2010, Mike and I had the privilege of working with some amazing clients, from all over North America, on projects that have really stretched us to learn new things and utilize cutting-edge technologies. From GIS web mapping applications to WPF software and mobile apps to enterprise software, we've been lucky to have designed and built some pretty cool stuff.

Yukono was a website I had dreamed about for years and in February 2010, we made it happen. I'd say that Yukono is what put us on the map, at least locally, when it came to awareness of our company. Now, almost two years later, the website is still going strong and has a vibrant user community behind it.

In October 2010, we moved to our current office; a brand new space atop another Whitehorse historical landmark.

The work and products that we delivered in 2010 started to put us on a new path: bigger, more complex systems with more demanding requirements and features. As such, we tuned up and documented our processes, while also getting more serious in our approach. That didn't mean we lost focus of who we were and where we came from; just that we looked at our world and our clients a little differently.

We also worked on a lot more software and applications than websites during 2010, a pattern that would continue in a greater capacity during 2011.

2011 (fourth year)

This past year has been a transitional one for Subvert. We moved from mostly working for others to making and selling more stuff ourselves. With some help from Yukon College, we built and shipped Flik, our first-ever commercial software product.

Our second software product, this time for Windows Phone, is due to be released in February 2012. I did some initial design work to enter a Microsoft-sponsored contest and we won, so now it's on us to get the app to market in less than two months. Good thing Mike is as brilliant as he is.

In addition to our own products, we also built a few more GIS web mapping applications, some enterprise software and a number of awesome websites. We also helped organize a very successful Yukon Technology conference and delivered a number of WPF applications for clients. We continue to be blessed with great customers and challenging projects.

2012

The past five years has been a wild ride filled with plenty of ups and downs, but such is business (and life, for that matter). To anyone out there looking to start their own company, all I can is this: don't give up. Building something of significance takes time, commitment and, once in a while, brute force, but it will happen if you stick with it.

Looking forward, Mike and I are extremely excited about 2012. Excited about what we'll create, what we'll ship and what we'll learn. From Windows Phone apps and ASP.NET systems to Windows 8 software and ArcGIS applications, we're lining up some cool new stuff. I have a feeling that this year will be our biggest and best yet.

Here's to a great 2012!

On a personal level, this was a particularly rewarding contest to win. As a high school student who got accepted into Ontario College of Art's Industrial Design program, but never went (I instead chose a completely different post-secondary path), this specific area of design has always been important to me and very much a part of who I am. If you could look back through all of my childhood drawing books, you'd see them jam-packed full of industrial design-type illustrations for sports equipment, clothing, footwear, technology and all sorts of other everyday items. I guess, in some ways, this is my interest coming full circle.

Now, what was appealing to us about this contest is that it wasn't just asking for design concepts and leaving them as just that: ideas. The Windows Phone design team and Core77 actually want to see the apps created by designers be turned into functional, sellable apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace. And then, after they are in the Marketplace, completed apps are going to be eligible to receive additional marketing and promotion from Microsoft, the App Hub, Core77 and at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

So, we decided to enter. Our idea was Rhythmatic: a dynamic, intelligent business cash-flow management app that leveraged some of the big features of Windows Phone, namely integration with Office Mobile and Live Tiles. After some time spent sketching, talking about and sitting down to design several of the individual screens for our app, we submitted Rhythmatic (as in the rhythm of running a business) to the contest website. And waited.

Yesterday we found out that Rhythmatic won! Yep, that's right, out of all the entries that the judges received, our app was chosen to be included in the top five of all entries worldwide.

What's next for Rhythmatic? We get to actually build it. The goal is for the app to be available in the Windows Marketplace in early 2012 with help and guidance from appointed senior Windows Phone designers. That's admittedly not a lot of time, but we've got plenty of experience building stuff fast. Really fast. So we're taking it upon ourselves to make this happen and we couldn't be more excited.

Stay tuned for updates on Rhythmatic as they come. Core77 has also assigned a writer to the development story who will be documenting our experience over the coming weeks and months. So that's now also official: we've become own reality show.

Off we go...

1. Easy to use!

2. Refreshingly different!

3. Live tiles!

4. Not enough apps.

On the last point: I really wish that this pattern would stop. It's not fair of journalists to criticize the lack of apps for Windows Phone compared to those of Apple iOS or Android; they are doing a disservice to their readers by focusing on such a small, inaccurate "issue" of the Windows Phone user experience.

Many people will read that last "Not enough apps" line and blindly dismiss Windows Phone as a good alternative to its competition, when in reality, it truly deserves your attention. Windows Phone has plenty of apps, many of the same as on other platforms, if you only search the marketplace.

I'll admit that I'm not a heavy app user. On my aging iPhone 3GS, I've only got 60 apps installed and 22 of those were added by default from Apple (therefore, 38 from independent developers). I've downloaded just over 100 apps in my two years of owning the device.

Last January, we bought a Samsung Omnia 7 running Windows Phone, from Expansys. We did this to be able to test, experiment and play with the new platform. Earlier this spring, Mike moved from his iPhone to a HTC HD7 with Windows Phone. I plan to do the same over the coming year.

On the Omnia 7, I've been able to find more than suitable replacements for the apps I regularly use on my iPhone. All it takes is searching the Windows Phone Marketplace and clicking the get/buy button on the app you want. Could it get any easier than that? Windows Phone even offers a free trial on every app in their marketplace; a feature that's sorely needed in the Apple App Store.

So, let's go through the third party apps, screen by screen, that I have installed on my iPhone and I'll point you towards the Windows Phone options that have the same functionality, and often, publisher.

The first screen on my iPhone:

TSN Mobile. There's no TSN app at present, but if you don't care about the service provider, there's ScoreMobile or ESPN ScoreCenter both of which are equally good. I use ScoreMobile.

CBC News. Again, no dedicated Windows Phone app at present, but Globe and Mail is a terrific replacement.

Harvest. Try Harvest Time Tracking. When TimeTractor finally launches, it will be a killer option.

Done-zo. Not needed; see below.

Reminders. This app is part of iOS and is run as a different app. Not so with Windows Phone, where it's integrated as part of Calendar, which I find to be a much more natural position. Plus, being packaged, it takes up less real estate on your phone.

Cyclemeter. Try RunKeeper which has very similar functionality and a better interface. It's also free.

Pkt Weather. WeatherMaster is sweet. Featuring Live Tile support so that your home screen is always up-to-date, WeatherMaster is a colorful, relatively attractive weather app option.

Reeder. Wonder Reader also syncs with Google Reader, just like Reeder.

Twitterific. Like Facebook below, Windows Phone has a built-in Twitter app, but I prefer rowi.

Facebook. Another built-in app, but unlike iOS, it's deeply integrated into the entire Windows Phone experience. For instance, Facebook events are part of your phone's central calendar.

The second screen on my iPhone:

RBC Mobile. I don't use this app very much, so the basic web browser version is more than adequate for those rare occasions that I do.

ING Direct. There's a Windows Phone app for ING DIRECT Canada.

Flickr. In using both the iOS and Windows Phone version of this app, I feel the latter is superior. Photos are bigger and the side-to-side swiping is oh-so-natural.

CBC Radio. CBC has quite a number of its channels available in a mobile version. Surprisingly, they only have a French version of CBC Radio at present, but no English version. Not a problem; I rarely use this app. Also, I'm sure English radio is on its way.

Alarm Clock. Night Stand Clock is the one to pick. As an aside, I've only used an alarm clock probably three times in the past seven years. Our kids are my alarm clock; they wake up every day at 6:00 a.m. for some insane reason.

Tag. Although Tag Reader is a good app, with Windows Phone, you don't even need to install it. Mango (Windows Phone 7.5) has a built-in tag/QR code reader with Bing.

Tipulator. Give Tip Calculator a shot. Bonus points for being less cartoony and cutesy than the iOS app.

Flixster. Same on Windows Phone.

Mixology. Cocktail Flow is a superior app to Mixology: more colourful, easier to use and there's actual pictures of the drinks.

Amazon. No app required. Simply go to Amazon and pin the website to your start screen.

Canadian Tire. Hooray! No buggy, complicated app required. Just go to Canadian Tire and pin the results to your start screen.

Yellow Pages. There's a Windows Phone app called...wait for it...Yellow Pages.

And finally, the third screen on my iPhone:

This is my kid screen: Games only. Itsy Bitsy, Diego Music, Super Why! and PAC-MAN, to name a few.

I'm not much of a gamer, but suffice to say, the Windows Phone Marketplace is stacked with games. The other day I downloaded and showed our older kids the game called Kinectimals. Suddenly getting the high score in Fairies Fly didn't matter anymore. Kinectimals blew their mind (as it did mine).

So, if you're shopping for a new phone, give Windows Phone a chance. Don't be swayed or deterred by the greatly exaggerated reports of Windows Phone lacking in apps, because it's simply not true. There's more than enough in the marketplace to satisfy the needs and curiosity of the average user.