Andy Gaunt Founder FMPug

This week's interview is with Andy Gaunt, the founder of FMPug -- a growing syndicate of FileMaker Pro User Groups located around the globe. As such, Andy is one of the most visible and respected members of the FileMaker community. FileMaker Inc. itself has acknowledged this, having awarded Andy the "FileMaker Excellence Award for Evangelist of the Year" in 2006 and 2007, and the "Mad Dog PR Award" in 2005. Andy is one of those truly inspiring people that you are lucky to have the opportunity to meet, and this particular interview was a real pleasure to conduct.

Read on to learn about Andy (and his "clones!"), to get some of the inside scoop on FMPug, and more!



How did you get started in IT?
It all began in a quant British seaside town, circa mid 1980s, where a boy attained his dream of owning his very own computer powerhouse -- the Commodore Vic20. Yes, with 5KB RAM and aMOS 6502CPU,it was a computer not to be taken lightly. That Vic20 was my launch pad into the world of technology, the beginning of the end really. From that point, the RAM has only grown and one might say so has my interest in the world of hardware, software, gadgets and gizmos!


How long have you been using FileMaker Pro, and how did you get started with it?
I was introduced to FM over a decade ago (how time flies), way back in v3! I was working with a company in London as the Director of Training and was tasked with training clients on the FileMaker application. As it turns out, those classes opened my eyes to the world of database development and soon thereafter I found myself as lead in-house developer. That was twelve years ago and FileMaker has been the other woman in my life ever since.


You are originally from the United Kingdom. What brought you to the US, and to settle down in Orlando in particular?
Three things, really
1.Girls I was told they dig the accent
2.The weather Little known fact, Florida has more sun than the UK
3.My love of the game of cricket

So after a period of time, I've stayed for "the girl" but could easily do with a break from Florida's weather (WAY too hot and humid for WAY too many months of the year) and have found this country has absolutely no idea what a crease, bail or wicket is. So, umm, one out of three isn't too bad right?!


You are perhaps best know as the founder of the wildly successful FMPug, an independent network of FileMaker user groups. How did FMPug get started?
Contrary to popular myth, FMPug was never hatched from a grand plan; it actually came about by complete and utter happenstance.

When I moved to Central Florida I found there was an existing FileMaker user group in the area. My choice to attend was to simply hang out with some like-minded individuals and talk tech (as it were). However, after attending a few meetings I was disappointed to learn the group was not heavily attended (if at all) and the coordinator simply didn't recognize the group's potential. After some negotiation, I was able to slip into the driver's seat... and FMPug was officially born.

With a new name, came a new location and a new mentality. I was bound and determined to get the word out to ultimately boost attendance. My grass roots campaign began by attending other local user groups covering Mac, PC, software, business and everything in between. At one point, I was attending more meetings on more tech topics than days of the week. Even after my hard-hitting advocacy campaign, the attendance at the first few meetings was small, with a handful of people showing up. But like a dog with a bone, I wasn't giving up. I kept attending the various meetings around town, posted meeting notices on a variety of forum and community sites and continued to spread the word of FileMaker using every means possible. The work paid off and the attendance grew slow and steady with some attendees driving over two hours! With Heather's (my partner in crime and in life) input we decided to pull out all the stops for our Orlando meetings we decided to lure our attendees with a home-cooked meal every meeting with dessert. Good food, good topics, it's a formula that works. But I am not above stating that Orlando has gained (and kept) more than a few followers because of the food.

Everything was beautiful, the meetings were well-attended, feedback was fantastic, but little did I know my world was about to be rocked.

After posting about FMPug on FMForums, its founder Stephen Dolenski contacted me regarding his idea of beginning a FM user group in San Diego. After batting around a few ideas, FMPug, the syndication was hatched. Sure it all sounds great, but I had absolutely zero clue as to what that really meant. Over the next few weeks the number of ideas about FMPug completely flooded by brain more and more it made perfect sense to redefine the whole user group concept, to eliminate the "island" effect and make FMPug the first connected, united FM-centric user group experience open to everyone who uses FileMaker in any capacity.

Suddenly things exploded and before I knew it we had several new groups. More eyes meant more exposure, greater diversity and varying levels of expertise. I knew it was time I put our increased numbers to good use to excite our attendees and help market some great products with some great companies! I began contacting vendors, manufacturers and trainers of FileMaker-based products. Productive Computing and SeedCode (formerly the templates division of Cleveland Consulting) were two of the founding companies who rallied behind this fledgling concept. Within the first year we gave away over $100K in door prizes spread across all our groups. It was an exhilarating, yet exhausting year... and running us slowly but surely into the poor house. The time poured into FMPug devoured what little time we had left between juggling it and our two separate consulting businesses. After 18 months of running FMPug "gratis", we knew something had to change. Soon after, the paid membership model came into play, and thus marked another enormous milestone in the short life of FMPug.

Honestly, it was a bitter-sweet time. On one hand we had a great deal of support but we also met a fair amount of resistance. A number of groups dropped us like a hot-potato, other groups who had previously debated coming aboard didn't buy into the paid concept. It was a rough patch and I admit, I had my doubts about the entire decision -- did I do the right thing? But if I'm being honest I knew FMPug, that is to say my dream of FMPug, couldn't exist on bread and water alone (so to speak). Thanks in large part to the surge of membership dues, I kept my nose to the grindstone and (re)invested a good amount of time into revamping the site, wrapping my mind around new directions and more importantly laying the groundwork for new member benefits. It wasn't long before my doubts gave way to the rush of excitement. Suddenly, right before my eyes FMPug transcended beyond its user group roots into a real live, living, breathing community chock-full of new members and new groups who were excited and proud to be part of the FMPug community. That was the moment when FMPug began to flourish and truth be told, we haven't looked back with a moment of regret ever since.


What plans do you have in store for FMPug?
Well Tim, it's safe to say I am nearly always bubbling with new ideas. One might say I'm effervescent (he says with a grin)! The one thing that we take pride in is listening to our community. It's a simple concept really, they make suggestions and we do our best to deliver. Granted we don't have a magic wand (though one would be highly beneficial), but we do our best to ensure members are happy and moreover feel they're benefiting from their membership. Following Devcon 2007 we have begun the complete redesign of the FMPug.com website, making it more efficient and easier to navigate. We also have many wild and wonderful ideas to enhance the experience we want our members to grow with FMPug, not out grow us. That means making sure we're thinking ahead, anticipating needs and making darn sure things are fresh and exciting. It's work, but we love it!


Are you surprised by the success of FMPug?
Not so much surprised as absolutely thrilled. 'See a need, fill a need' that's been our informal motto for FMPug since its inception. Truthfully, we've worked dog-gone hard (I can't resist the dog puns) to meet the needs of the community as a whole. But it must be stated the success of FMPug is only partially due to us here at FMPug HQ. FMPug owes much of its success to the local groups, its members and especially the coordinators who invest their time, effort and expense to hosting groups every month. Each physical FMPug chapter is run independently of one other, but managed centrally via our site. The objective is to elevate the administrative tasks, to allow the coordinators, well, to just coordinate. By providing centralized management, the coordinators don't have to worry about maintaining a website, calendar or mailing lists. They are free to concentrate on the content for meetings. FMPug HQ provides all the administrative functions for the groups and also works with vendors to provide door prizes and giveaways. I believe it's a concept that really works and lends itself to a great team effort.

Bottom line with or without the administrative tasks, hosting a group is a huge undertaking and we tip out collective hats to every coordinator out there!


Obviously, you feel strongly about the importance of user groups in the FileMaker community. How has being involved in your local group helped you personally?
Over the years I have been a member of many technical-based user groups, both here and in the UK. I've always been a huge advocate of user-based networks whether it be user groups, message boards, list serves, etc whatever medium(s) that enable a person to grow stronger in their pursuits. I feel they're all integral to the overall learning process. But I have to say it's when I began hosting the group here in Orlando, that I was forced to stretch myself in ways I could have never imagined. You wouldn't know it by looking at me now, but I used to be an introvert - one might say hosting the group forced me out of my proverbial "shell". Many find it hard to believe, and some have told me I perhaps lost the shell somewhere along the way, but beginning that group in Orlando nearly five years ago was one of the best things that has happened to me personally, as well as professionally.

On a larger level, as the coordinator of a local group, you are able to see firsthand how much the sharing of information and expertise, how networking with other professionals helps people to learn and grow. I have heard similar stories from our coordinators, stories of members who through monthly meetings have honed their skills, landed key clients, begun philanthropic endeavors, established new teams, launched new companies -- it's rewarding on so many levels.


At DevCon this year, FMPug gave away what is, without a doubt, the coolest giveaway. Of course, I'm talking about "The Everything Reference for FileMaker Developers." How did that come together? What are your future plans for the book?
To tell this story I have to take you back to DevCon 2006. FMPug and FMForums decided to get together to produce a fantastic giveaway, something attendees would need, use and want. A giveaway that would be referenced long after the conference was over. After tapping into our collective brain, we came up with the FileMaker Functions Reference Poster. We just knew if we put "Filemaker" and "reference" together in the title, it would be by name alone, a sure winner! We recruited Matt Petrowsky of ISO FileMaker Magazine to collaborate on the poster's content. To their complete credit, Matt and Stephen were the primary content contributors on this project, putting in countless (long) nights to document all the functions for FileMaker. I was the designated front man, working with advertisers to provide exposure during the conference and beyond. We worked with a good number of vendors who did not have a presence at the conference's showcase to make certain they gained some great advertising exposure.

The Reference Poster certainly made waves. We have gone on to sell and distribute over 4000 posters worldwide. The poster has been mailed to every corner of the world, from South Africa to South America, from Australia to the upper tip of Canada and nearly everywhere in between. Over one year later, orders are still being fulfilled. It's incredible!

So when it came to the giveaway for this year, the bar was set undoubtedly high. During the past year we've received great feedback from people; while they loved the posters, the number one criticism was they were large enough to wallpaper a room. Of course I'm taking liberties with the exact wording, but the inference was the same. They are after all, quite large and double-sided to boot, so you need two of them to see everything. I spent months thinking how we could make the poster more manageable and at first was focused on reproducing and updating the existing functions poster. However one late night I had a bolt of inspiration. During development I was always referencing certain information from this source and that -- error codes, functions and keyboard shortcuts to name but a few. So I thought to myself why not produce a book that contains all these items and title it something completely obscure like The Everything Reference.

And the idea for the book was born.

I spent a great deal of time working through the format options. I wanted to overcome the tedium of your typical reference book, always having to prop it open with something or other. That's how and why we finally decided to produce a 9x11 coil-bound (landscape) book, so it 'lays flat on your desk so you don't have to!'.

We produced 1200 books, all of which were given away during the days of Devcon this year. The book will be available for purchase beginning this winter (before 2008)! We'll have both a hardcopy book for sale as well as an electronic, easily searchable .PDF copy available too. We're excited, so keep your eyes peeled in the next month or so!


Tell us about your company, DnG Design & Development Inc.
Short and sweet... DnG is the company that pays the bills.

All joking aside (but for the record I'm not really joking about the bill thing though), DnG offers web and database work, marketing, training and we'll take the occasional chimney sweep gig. But only occasionally when there are too many bills for the number of dollars in the bank. Oh, and its other side-side-side job is acting as the corporate backbone to FMPug. (That's only a small, teeny-tiny little thing though.)

DnG is how we make an honest living.


How do you find time to juggle the demands of running DnG and overseeing the day-to-day operations of FMPug?
Cloning.

It's a little known fact there are actually four of me well, two carbon copies and one copy of a copy, so as a copy of a copy he's not the sharpest tack in the box. Andy #4 (as we fondly call him) is mainly responsible for the FMPug mascots, Peanut and Kismet, who are admittedly more than a bit shall we say, "diva-esque". Their needs are rather simple for international mascots I suppose, premium kibble, top of the line grooming necessities with only the finest essential oils, sleeping on high-count freshly laundered white sheets every night and Peanut likes her morning flowers to be lilacs with sprigs of lavender. So #4 manages their needs, he's an absolute wiz (no pun intended) with it all too. The dogs rarely complain.

Myself, Andy #2 and #3 work with the clients, speak with vendors to line-up new benefits for FMPug, monitor the RealTech list, answer emails, build databases, fix web sites, design campaigns, redesign sites, take calls.it's all very easily managed between the three of us. (Actually, #2 is the one who composed the answers to your questions"hi Tim!")


You've won the "FileMaker Excellence Award for Evangelist of the Year" for two straight years (after winning the "Mad Dog PR Award in 2005"). That must have been quite an honor.
Tim, it is an absolutely fantastic honor. I think what makes it even more special is that both the FileMaker Excellence Awards are nominated by my peers, and there is no greater honor than being recognized by your own community. The awards, the recognition make my drive to reach-out and connect with the FM community through FMPug all that much greater.


Besides using FileMaker to develop solutions for your clients, what role does FileMaker play in the operations of DnG and FMPug?
Honestly FM permeates my very existence. FMPug's core is built entirely using FM as the database back-end with PHP as its interface. It was extremely important when building a website that supports the FileMaker community, that the site shows-off FileMaker's capabilities on the web. This will be equally true once the revamped Pug site is unveiled. As far as other uses, I use FM to manage my client invoices, time allotments, billing & receiving, as well as proposals. Truth be told, when it comes to database functionality, there very little I DON'T use FM for.


What do you like best about your job?
Wow, a wide-open question. From the consulting side, I love the challenges that clients throw our way I love solving puzzles, coming up with solutions, etc. A majority of our work over the past year or so has been geared toward migrating FileMaker solutions to the web, which I completely dig. It's great that FMPug has provided exposure on that level as well. What amazes me is how many jobs have been word of mouth recommendations from other companies. Again, like the Excellence Awards, it's fantastic to be respected enough in your community to garner recommendations, it's a sincere honor.

What's even more incredible is to discover what our work at DevCon has opened up in the past few months. We are now working with several FileMaker third party vendors on their marketing campaigns. It would seem that through the promotion and success of FMPug, we've been able to further expand the list of services DnG provides. We've now opened the door on another passion of mine, graphic design. I'm really excited to see where this avenue may lead.


What do you like least about your job?
The late nights, the blur between days (Monday and Saturday are EXACTLY the same) and having very little free time to pursue my penchant for the game of cricket. (Smirk)

Oh, and those occasional chimney jobs not a huge fan of those either.


What do you think of FileMaker 9? What are your favorite new features?
Overall I'm pretty impressed. As with any release there will be teething problems and it is the measure of how the company deals with those inevitable issues. We have been prepped and ready to move FMPug.com to the new FileMaker 9 server. Unfortunately, gremlins with the web publishing interface have kept us from doing so. A new update has recently been released and we're closely monitoring the boards to see if the issues have been fixed. Like most sites, we can't afford to have the site crashing on our members. It's just bad business isn't it?

On a more positive note, the new feature set of FileMaker 9 is bloody fantastic! Personal favorites: I love conditional formatting and append to PDF. The latter of which has saved my bum on a couple of projects as of late. As for conditional formatting, well, it's a nifty little feature isn't it? It has really helped to reduce the amount of extra calculated fields required to make the user aware of certain conditions. Past that, it can be a really useful tool for enhancing the user interaction with the fields/ items such as highlighting the active field, highlighting required fields and the like. Andy LeCates really brought focus to this feature at this year's Developer Conference.

And who doesn't love the Self() function? I'll tell you one person who loves it me. It makes calculations truly portable and dynamic. Fantastic!

Admittedly, I have yet to really monkey around with ESS but hope to remedy that in short order.


If you could add a few features to FileMaker, what would they be?
Hmm, let me think about that for a moment... yeah, I've got one or maybe five. Event triggers, folders for layouts like ScriptMaker, make a single dialog box to access all edits for an object, copy and paste value lists and custom functions. How's that for a start?

All kidding aside, like any developer I have visions of where I want to see the product development head. But a company like FileMaker has to compile those into a manageable top-whatever number to focus on and work with. That's precisely why we've allowed members and visitors alike to help in doing just that visit http://www.fmpug.com/filemaker_feature_requests.php and you'll see a huge "future version wish list" put together by developers around the globe. Heck, you can even vote on them.

(Shhh... but I know for a fact that FileMaker corporate takes the poll into account when working toward future versions.)


What's your favorite tool, plugin, or technique for developing FileMaker databases?

My favorite tool for doing any kind of development has to be pencil and paper. I know it lacks glamour but it's how I begin every project and idea. From there, I take a great deal of my graphic and web ideas into Photoshop or Illustrator using my favorite toy (a Xmas gift), the Wacom Tablet, to translate my ideas from paper to screen in style!

When it comes to developing FileMaker, I have a couple of never-live-without tools in my arsenal: 1) BaseElements by Nick Orr of Goya in Australia. It has to be one of the best database analysis tools bar-none! From a developer's standpoint... I just get it. I can find any element in the system and "see" its dependencies -- from relationships to scripts. 2) OmniGraffle Professional. Though it isn't FileMaker related, it allows me to draw process flows, mind maps and many other diagrams quickly and easily. Process flows are an invaluable tool not only for me, the developer, but for the client as well. Diagrams enable clients to visually understand the design concept. The entire process can lead to some pretty worthwhile conversations and changes regarding the overall process BEFORE you're too far down the development highway (so to speak).


Are you a FileMaker 8 certified developer? If so, how has being certified helped you, your career, and your business?
Short answer... no. I could list all my excuses, which are ridiculously long and sorted, but I'll just stick to my old standby of failing to find the time.

(Once I clone Andy #5, I'll be down-right certifiable!)


What advice would you give to someone that is just starting to do FileMaker development?

Read books, tap into the collective of FileMaker users and developers by attending a user group, read and join the forums and list serves. Most importantly, if you can scrape the resources together, attend a professional training course. That hands-on experience can save you days if not weeks of time! So many people, myself included, placed training on the bottom of the pile, when it should be at the top. I learned the hard way, a couple of days of training breathed new life into my development career. Yes, it costs money, but honestly when you weigh the time and effort spent otherwise, it's worth every penny.

And I wouldn't be me if I didn't mention joining FMPug is an excellent place to start! FMPug offer benefits to help FileMaker users and developers at any level, including the aforementioned books, training, list serves and user groups! (Yes, I am Mr "FM-Plug"! It's shameless isn't it?!)

Bottom line, if developing is what you want to do and you're passionate about it go for it!


What significant changes have you seen take place in the FileMaker world over the years?
Interesting question. The change in the application when it moved to the new FP7 format was I believe the most significant hurdle to-date. I believe the addition of External SQL Sources is certainly a whole new direction that will in my estimation blow the development community wide-open. The anticipation of that whole new crop of FileMaker "converts" is very exciting.


What did you think of DevCon 2007?
I loved it. FMPug was an exhibitor for the second year and one of the primary sponsors this year. We sponsored the Tuesday night FileMaker Fest party. It was quite apropos for me, seeing as there was a fantastic Beatles tribute band lined-up as well as Austin Powers as the emcee. The whole night was totally "Shagalistic baby!" (Yeah, I just wrote that.)

In addition to the Everything Reference giveaway, we also raffled-off a brand new ShagBook... I mean MacBook, wrapped in shagalistic italian leather as well as a Drobo storage robot unit (http://www.drobo.com). If you are unfamiliar with Drobo, check it out! It's truly a worthwhile addition to anyone who uses technology and requires constant, consistent and upgradeable storage which is everyone right?! I also had great fun with Austin during the prize drawing. If anyone is interested in seeing pictures, they can check out photos and videos of both myself and Austin, etc, etc at http://gallery.mac.com/andygaunt.fmpug.

FMPug was also pleased to provide the iPhone DevCon scheduler for all attendees to access. We put together a FileMaker database and PHP site for anyone to access online. While it was designed for the iPhone specifically, it did work on any web browser. And of course our members could actually log-in and keep their own schedule on line to help them know which session they should be attending next. It was a pretty big hit and was featured in the keynote.pretty amazing feat!


What changes would you like to see at DevCon 2008?
From an exhibitor standpoint I would love to have access to the attendee list and a few more minutes for lunch and dinner. I would swear they are the fastest 20mins in history. It's unfortunate, but manning the booth has left me no time to attend sessions. I rely on visitors (to the booth) to provide feedback on the various sessions, which for the most part has been very positive. But obviously I cannot speak to the sessions or speakers directly.

On a completely different note, it would be nice to go somewhere slightly cooler -- perhaps somewhere where the average temperature is below 95F?!!


What technology has most changed your life?
I would have to say technology itself has most changed my life; one may say technology has created my life. Let's be honest, how many of us "geeks" would know our profession if technology weren't a factor? Personally, I wouldn't have a clue what the heck I would be doing if it weren't for technology it is far more than my bread and butter, it's my passion. Maybe I'd be a full-time chimney sweep. (Oh, that would be awful and certainly not very successful in Florida.)

Pieces of technology? Obviously depending on the year you asked me, my answer would be completely different. A decade ago, I would have said being introduced to FileMaker. Eight or so years ago, it would have been being introduced to user groups and message boards (forums). Six or seven years ago it would have been graphics packages PhotoShop, Illustrator, Fireworks and the like and the all too important graphics tablet. As for today, I would have to say the web camera and the iPhone. Web cameras have helped me to see my daughter even though she lives thousands of miles away and the iPhone simply because it is one of the coolest pieces of technology to hit the streets in a long-long time.


What are your favorite things to do that don't involve work?
I've mentioned cricket a couple of times but the truth is I haven't played cricket since my days in Secondary school (that would be high school to you Americans). I have two real hobbies outside anything that revolves around technology golfing and biking. I try to take some time every day (though some days the hours go by too quickly) to get outside, breath-in the humid Florida air (choke) and gain a much needed sojourn from work. It gives me a bit of time for myself and sets my brain free for an hour or two. I have found the times on my bike or the infrequent times I find the time to hit the links, a retreat that quite often brings resolution to problems I might be struggling with.


What, or who, inspires you?
Without question, my daughter and my partner, Heather, are the greatest sources of inspiration for me personally and professionally. Even though my daughter stills lives in the UK, I do my very best to not only stay in touch but be "present" and active in her life. We speak three times a week and truthfully I believe I know more about her than my parents did of me -- and I lived under the same roof. I am certainly not touting my situation is ideal, far from it, but I downplay the distance and emphasize the time we are able to spend together. Her innocence and energy is incredibly renewing.

My better half, Heather, is an unparalleled source of inspiration for me. She's there through thick and thin, so giving of herself and her time I could never do this without her. She continually helps me see the light through the trees, uncovering the hidden potential in myself and things around me. I couldn't ask for a better partner in life or business.

Last but never least, I would have to say the community. It is the community that drives the direction of FMPug and it is the community that continues to help me raise the bar in what we offer.

It is my goal to never let any of them down (at least never intentionally).


What's next for you and/or your business?
Truthfully, only time will tell. What I can promise you is as long as my name is tied to FMPug, it will remain fresh, new and exciting. You have my word.

As far as the details are concerned, keep an eye on the FMPug website we have some surprises to unveil before the New Year!


Thanks Andy!


To learn more about Andy and FMPUg, visit the FMPug Web site located at http://www.fmpug.com/ and seriously consider joining! To learn more about DnG (Andy's FileMaker consulting firm), keep an eye on: http://www.dng-inc.com/

Micah Woods Founder and President Scodigo , Inc.

This week's interview is with Micah Woods, the Founder and President of Kalamazoo, Michigan-based Scodigo. Scodigo is a professional software development firm that focuses on the development of client-server applications using FileMaker and web applications using PHP and MySQL. But Scodigo is perhaps best known as the developer of SmartPill PHP Edition™, a FileMaker plug-in that gives developers access to PHP functions from within their FileMaker-based applications. (See our June blog post for more on SmartPill.) Read on to learn more about Micah, Scodigo, and more!


How did you get started in IT?
When I was in college, I ran a small printing company and needed an invoicing solution, which is how I got started with programming. I also setup one of the first online services in the area that allowed clients to send printing jobs directly to our laser printer (this was back in the days of the Mac SE/30 and 9600 baud modem!).


How long have you been using FileMaker Pro, and how did you get started with it?
I got started with FileMaker 2.1 when I was running a laser cutting business. I was doing estimates manually, which was a very time consuming task so I built an estimating system. I eventually added a job management system as well and we ran most of the business on FileMaker. I later took a position as an in-house FileMaker developer.


Tell us about your company, Scodigo.
Scodigo started as Woods/IT, which was founded in Nov. 2000. The name change was made at the beginning of 2006 as we planned to enter the products business. The name comes from the "S" in Source plus "codigo" which is Spanish for code. Our daughter "Izzy" was born in Guatemala so that's where the Spanish comes from.

Although we may be best known for our SmartPill plug-in, our primary business is FileMaker development. We've been working on a very large project for over 6 years and we're currently in the process of doing a complete re-write. SmartPill was actually developed to meet the needs of this project but we realized it would be useful to the developer community, so we launched it as our first commercial product.

At DevCon, we received the 2007 FileMaker Excellence Award for New Solution of the Year for SmartPill. This was a real surprise and a great honor.


Besides using FileMaker to develop solutions for your clients, what role does FileMaker play in the operations of your own business?
We use FileMaker internally for estimating, time tracking, project management and invoicing. As a small business, we've really benefited from the automation that FileMaker enables.


Tell us about your flagship product, the FileMaker plugin called "SmartPill PHP Edition™." Where did you come up with the idea for the plug-in? How are you using it for your own solutions? And what can we expect to see from it in the future?
A couple of years ago we developed an LDAP plug-in for one of our clients. It worked great and I started thinking about other plug-ins that we could develop. As I was thinking about all the various things that I'd like to be able to do, I realized that if I just had PHP inside of FileMaker, I could do just about anything. Being able to execute PHP opens the door to over 3,000 functions and an amazing wealth of open source code.

We use SmartPill for a wide variety of functions including sending email, reading and writing to the file system, encryption, URL requests, web service interaction, shell commands, Active Directory integration, XML and XSLT functions.

In regards to the future, we're just about ready to release the beta for our 1.5 version, the function list for our 2.0 version is just about complete and we're also working on a "Code Exchange" area for our site that will allow people to share their SmartPill code. We get a lot of requests for example code so we hope to use this as a way to share the many examples that we have and also allow others to contribute.


What do you like best about your job?
I love a challenge. The system we're currently working on is installed on 30+ servers around the world and is used by over 3,000 people. It's a great challenge and very rewarding. We developed an architecture named "SOFA" (service oriented FileMaker architecture) for this project, which is one of my other favorite things (besides SmartPill).


What do you like least about your job?
Because we're a small business, I get to wear many hats. Admin tasks like invoicing and paying taxes aren't my favorites but I have to say that QuickBooks is a big help.


In talking with other FileMaker developers, and reading what many have had to say online, it seems that reactions to the latest version of FileMaker (version 9) are mixed. Some (including myself) think that it is one of the most exciting releases in years. Others are disappointed. What's your take on FileMaker 9?
I'm very happy with FileMaker 9, although we're taking a cautious approach and have not yet started using it for development. The ESS functionality seems like it's off to a very good start and we look forward to using it. I agree that there are some rough edges but it's a great release and shows that FileMaker is working hard to keep up with the fast pace of technology while still delivering a product that's easy to use. I do think it raises the bar for FileMaker developers but that's good for business!


What are your favorite new features of FileMaker 9?
For us, developer features, especially those that help with multi-developer projects are big. Conditional formatting is also a great way to further separate data from presentation. I realize that many people may have no need for ESS, but for those of us that do, it makes life so much easier and will allow FileMaker to make further inroads with enterprise solutions.


If you could add some features to FileMaker, what would they be?
We've used the Troi dialog plug-in for years and it's great but I'd like to see FileMaker take this on and do it right. Custom dialogs are very limited.

We had to tackle localization for our big re-write project and we were able to localize everything except tab control labels. It'd be great to be able to calculate the labels, and not just for localization but for other places where the label needs to be dynamic. While I'm wishing, I'd like to be able to calculate their visibility as well. We sometimes have to create duplicate layouts just because certain people aren't allowed to see certain tabs.

I'd love to see a super high performance thin client with a server based licensing model.


What's your favorite tool, plugin, or technique for developing FileMaker databases?
I really enjoy SmartPill and I especially like working on new ways that it can be applied. I'm also very happy with the "SOFA" architecture we developed. I hope to do a white paper on it someday or perhaps a DevCon session. In a nutshell, we use the concepts of SOA (service oriented architecture) in FileMaker. Scripts are treated like "services" that take a request and return a response. When we work on a new script, we start by developing request and response schemas. The request defines the parameters expected by the script and the response defines what will be returned.


How has being a FileMaker 8 certified developer helped you, your career, and your business?
I think certification was important for FileMaker as a step toward making it a more mainstream technology. As an employer, certification provides a benchmark for hiring and as a business, certification provides us with a way to distinguish our company. Personally, I was impressed with the difficulty of the test and think it's a decent measure.


Scodigo is a member of the FileMaker Business Alliance. What benefits are you seeing from being a member?
We receive many of our new leads from our FBA listing. We also benefit from the various communications we receive including advanced release notices and we have a good relationship with our local FMI salesperson for help with client relations. I also enjoy being part of the FileMaker community.


What advice would you give to someone that is just starting to do FileMaker development?
It depends on where they want to go with FileMaker. For the more casual developer, I highly recommend a training course. I took a course from Rich Columbre at The Support Group when I was first getting started and it was very helpful. For the more serious developer, I also recommend training, but in addition, I think it's helpful to learn a programming language. The biggest advancement in my programming skill came when I learned PHP; it gave me a whole new perspective that you don't get from FileMaker alone.


What significant changes have you seen take place in the FileMaker world over the years?
I think FileMaker continues to succeed at making the complex as simple as possible but the bar for FileMaker developers is rising. As FileMaker continues to tap into technologies like ESS and PHP, I think the bar will continue to rise. I guess the most significant change I've seen is FileMaker's reach into other technologies and the skills required to really make these technologies work. It will be very interesting to see how FileMaker balances power and simplicity in future versions.


What did you think of DevCon 2007?
I always pick up some good new techniques at DevCon and it's great to see everyone. Dawn (Heady, Scodigo's VP of FileMaker Development) had a chance to speak and her session and workshop were well received. I also really liked Jason Mundok's session on Agile development. (Editor's Note: For information on FMAgile, the Agile project management methodology for FileMaker development projects that Micah mentioned, see http://www.fmagile.com/. And look for an interview with Jason in the weeks ahead!)


What technology has most changed your life?
Being able to work remotely. It's a blessing and I suppose a bit of a curse but it's really great to be able to work effectively with people around the world and provide support wherever it's needed.


What are your favorite things to do that don't involve work?
We have two children, ages 4 and 8 and I enjoy spending time with them. I used to do a lot of canoeing and camping and my son and I have just gotten into this recently. I also like to cycle (just before my son was born, I rode Lands End to John O'Groats which is from the bottom of England to the top of Scotland). For relaxation, I like buying TV shows on iTunes although I've found it can be a bit addicting when you have access to a whole season, just sitting there on your hard drive waiting to be watched!


What inspires you?
I continue to be amazed by Apple. I'm a long time Mac fan but I still find myself excited to see what's next. OSX is such a joy and the hardware is a work of art.

I'm also inspired by other developers. It's great to see what others are doing with FileMaker, PHP and other technologies. When trying to solve a problem, I will often try to find similar examples to see how others have approached the issue or look to other programming languages for solutions that can be applied to FileMaker (this is how I came up with the idea for "SOFA").


What's next for you and/or your business?
The beta for our next version of SmartPill will be released shortly which will be followed by the 1.5 release (a free upgrade). This version has some really great new features including the ability to execute SQL, write directly to container fields, store global variables and create user-defined errors. It's also a single ".fmx" file for Windows, so it can be used with FileMaker's auto-update function and installation is now just like any other plug-in.

We've also started working on SmartPill 2.0. I can't get into details, but I think one of the new functions will be reasonably "mind blowing".

Thanks Micah!


To learn more about Micah and Scodigo, please visit Scodigo's Web site, located at
http://www.scodigo.com/. To learn more about SmartPill, visit: http://www.scodigo.com/products/smartpill-php