Hi, new to IS and as a samll company owner with lots on my plate, I am immediately aware that there exists a need to be able to 'spec' a followup sequence before coding it for 3 reasons;
1. It allows the implementing coder to shake it down and see if it's actually possible.
2. It becomes a part of what i'm seeing as a 'manual' of followup sequences a salesperson can look at when deciding on his/her next move
3. It provides a document-bridge between salesperson and coder, eliminating 'snafus' further down the line.
Cos i'm the new kid on the block, I'm wondering what present users have evolved that might fit the bill and are willing to share.

Ian

Maybe you can start by defining your main goal. Then after that, you can give options or selections of tasks and do some priorities. After reviewing the task, you can implement it then.

Thanks, karma, what you say is of course correct. I'm just wondering if anyone has used IS enough to evolve this form of documentation to a sharable stage.

ian

Yup, as a former coder myself I like to "see" what I'm trying to build. In the case of speccing out the f/up-seqs I wanted the same ability. After some thinking I found a tool that worked rather well for me: Mindjet Mindmanager

Basically I create a mind map for the sequence. I use the central topic as the title of the sequence and the radiating sub topics as the sequence steps. Mindmanager has auto numbering so it keeps the whole thing sequenced and because mindmaps are read "clockwise" around the central topic, the timing/sequence aspect makes sense too. The actual content for the email or letter or action I simply put into the notes field of the sub-topic. And the best part... in Mindmanager you can chain and link mindmaps together... I've created some very detailed maps of the sequences I've built. Oh yes, the app is drag and drop and mindmaps are useful for loads of things... not just sequence planning.

If you want to see one of mine, let me know and I'll publish it for review/discussion.

Here's a link to Mindjet:
http://send.onenetworkdirect.net/z/33048/CD123109/

~James

I'm partial to Visio, which comes with MS Office, for those who have it.

It's simple enough and can be used for many things, supporting all manner of program and data flow charts.