Daniel Wood, Author at ProdSens.live

Lidando com exceções: como fazer erros práticos e elegantes no Express js

Daniel Wood — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 00:24:38 +0000

Para você, desenvolvedor(a) que esta construindo sua API no Express e se questiona sobre maneiras de aprimorar o tratamento de erros, este artigo promete demonstrar práticas comuns adotadas por muitos e os desafios que podem surgir. Mas a história não para por aí! Vou te apresentar uma abordagem para melhorar a qualidade e personalizar o tratamento de erros na sua aplicação.

Entendendo o que é uma exceção
Try catch em ação
Quando o try catch se torna um obstáculo
Middleware de manipulação de erros
Middleware como solução elegante
Personalizando os erros
Personalizando o middleware de erros
Erros assíncronos
Recomendações
Conclusão

Entendendo o que é uma exceção

Na programação, uma exceção é um evento ou condição que acontece durante a execução de um programa e que pode parar o fluxo da aplicação. O objetivo de lidar com exceções é garantir que o programa possa reagir da melhor maneira a esses eventos anormais, em vez de simplesmente quebrar ou encerrar com seu programa.

import express, { NextFunction, Request, Response } from "express";
import fs from "fs";

const app = express();

app.use(express.json());

app.use("/", (req: Request, res: Response) => {
  const file = fs.readFileSync("naoExiste.txt");
  return res.json(file.toString());
});

Temos um código simples que tenta ler um arquivo txt quando o usuário acessa a rota /, você sabe o que acontece quando o usuário acessa essa rota sendo que o arquivo não existe? Isso mesmo, um erro e dos feios, o usuário recebe:

Não para por aí, para piorar sua situação a aplicação para de funcionar e nenhum usuário vai conseguir acessar ela porque seu código não tem tratamento de erro:

No seu console o erro vai se maior que isso…

Entender e lidar com exceções é crucial para garantir a estabilidade do programa. No exemplo acima, a falta de tratamento de exceções resulta em mensagens de erro desagradáveis para o usuário e na interrupção da aplicação.

Try catch em ação

No JavaScript, try catch é uma estrutura usada para lidar com exceções (erros) durante a execução do código. O bloco try envolve o código que pode gerar uma exceção, enquanto o bloco catch é usado para lidar com a exceção se ela ocorrer. Vamos por o try catch em ação:

app.use("/", (req: Request, res: Response) => {
  try {
    const file = fs.readFileSync("naoExiste.txt");
    return res.json(file.toString());
  } catch (error) {
    return res.status(404).json("Arquivo não encontrado");
  }
});

O usuário vai receber:

Bom, agora podemos tratar nossos erros, e note que nossa aplicação não caiu, isso é um avanço. Usar try catch é uma prática comum para tornar o código mais robusto e controlar erros de maneira elegante, em vez de permitir que o programa pare de funcionar quando ocorre uma exceção.

Quando o try catch se torna um obstáculo

O problema que quero destacar neste momento está relacionada à quantidade de vezes que é necessário usar a estrutura try-catch em uma simples aplicação. A implementação apresentada mostra a repetição do bloco try-catch em cada endpoint, o que pode tornar o código menos eficiente e mais suscetível a erros de manutenção quando sua aplicação for crescer.

//No mundo real essa variável 'livros' provavelmente seria uma interação com banco de dados
const livros = [
  { id: 1, titulo: "Livro 1", autor: "Autor 1" },
  { id: 2, titulo: "Livro 2", autor: "Autor 2" },
];

app.get("/livros", (req: Request, res: Response) => {
  try {
      if(!livros){
          throw new Error("Nenhum Livro encontrado");
      }
    res.status(200).json(livros);
  } catch (error) {
        res.status(404).json(error.message);
  }
});

app.get("/livros/:id", (req: Request, res: Response) => {
  try {
      const livroId = parseInt(req.params.id);
      if(!livroId){
          throw new Error("ID Invalido");
      }
      const livro = livros.find((l) => l.id === livroId);
      if (!livro) {
        throw new Error("Livro não encontrado");
      }
      res.status(200).json(livro);
  } catch (error) {
      res.status(404).json(error.message);
  }
});

app.post("/livros", (req: Request, res: Response) => {
    try {
        const novoLivro = req.body;
        if(!novoLivro){
            throw new Error("Informações invalida");
        }
        livros.push(novoLivro);
        res.status(201).json("Livro adicionado com sucesso");
    } catch (error) {
        res.status(500).json(error.menssage);
    }
});

Podemos ver a repetição que é usar essa estrutura para lidar com as exceções, mas não é só isso, existem momentos em que é necessário lidar com peculiaridades dessa estrutura, por exemplo, no exemplo anterior existe uma rota que pode gerar 3 tipos de status:

Status Code 400 (Bad Request):

if(!livroId){
  throw new Error("ID Invalido");
}

Status Code 404 (Not Found):

if (!livro) {
    throw new Error("Livro não encontrado");
}

Até daria para fazer um amontoado de if e else como podemos ver em:

catch (error) { 
    if (error.message === "ID Inválido") {
        res.status(400).json(error.message);
    } else if (error.message === "Livro não encontrado"){
        res.status(404).json(error.message);
    } else { 
        res.status(500).json("Erro interno do servidor"); 
    } 
}

Mas convenhamos que isso deixa o código um pouco poluído e dificulta consequentemente a leitura e futuras manutenções. É importante considerar alternativas que permitam manter a manipulação de erros de forma eficaz, sem a sobrecarga de código.

Middleware de manipulação de erros

Vamos explorar uma solução para o nosso problema em específico, visando simplificar a estrutura, melhorar a legibilidade e facilitar futuras modificações na API.

Deixa eu te apresentar nosso amigo Middleware, ele tem acesso ao objeto de solicitação (req), o objeto de resposta (res) e com isso podemos solucionar os problemas que foram citados anteriormente, esse colega é atua entre o usuário e sua aplicação, podemos usar ele em situações diversas, no nosso caso vamos usá-lo na manipulação de erros.

app.use((error: Error, req: Request, res: Response, next: NextFunction)=> {
    //aqui que entra a magica =D
    return res.json(error.message);
});

Sempre defina os middlewares de manipulação de erros por último, após outros app.use() e camadas de rota.

Middlewares de manipulação de erros sempre levam quatro argumentos. Você deve fornecer quatro argumentos para identificá-lo como uma função de middleware de manipulação de erros. Mesmo se você não precisar usar o objeto next, você deve especificá-lo para manter a assinatura. Caso contrário, o objeto next será interpretado como um middleware comum e a manipulação de erros falhará.

Essa é a estrutura básica de um Middleware no Express especificamente para manipulação de erros.

Como ilustrado acima, o Middleware de erro atua entre o usuário e as rotas. Tente ver ele como o responsável por lidar com problemas. Qualquer exceção ocorrida em qualquer camada da aplicação pode ser interceptada por esse middleware. Ele desempenha um papel crucial ao capturar e tratar erros, garantindo uma resposta apropriada ao usuário e facilitando a identificação e resolução de problemas na aplicação.

Middleware como solução elegante

Agora que você compreendeu o funcionamento do middleware e reconheceu sua importância na prevenção de falhas, surge a pergunta: “Devo deixar de usar o try-catch?”

Calma, pequeno Padawan. O try-catch tem seus problemas como foi citado ao decorrer desse conteúdo, essa estrutura é bastante útil em aplicações de pequeno porte, é necessário cogitar a retirada dessa estrutura quando sua aplicação começa a crescer e ter um aumento no nível de complexidade, é aqui que nosso aliado, o Middleware, entra em cena para simplificar e aprimorar a manipulação de erros.

Padawan significa aprendiz , iniciante , e é um termo utilizado nos filmes Star Wars.

No exemplo a seguir apresentado, utilizamos o Middleware para lidar com erros de forma centralizada. Ao invés de repetir a estrutura try-catch em cada rota, delegamos essa responsabilidade ao Middleware de erros.

app.get("/livros", (req: Request, res: Response) => {
  if(!livros){
      throw new Error("Não existe nenhum livro");
  }
      res.status(200).json(livros);
});

app.get("/livros/:id", (req: Request, res: Response) => {
  const livroId = parseInt(req.params.id);
  if (!livroId) {
    throw new Error("ID invalido")
  }
  const livro = livros.find((l) => l.id === livroId);
  if (!livro) {
    throw new Error("O livro que você procura não existe")
  }
  res.status(200).json(livro);
});

app.post("/livros", (req: Request, res: Response) => {
  const novoLivro = req.body; 
  if(!novoLivro){
      throw new Error("Informe um livro valido");
  }
   livros.push(novoLivro);
   res.status(201).json("Livro adicionado com sucesso");
});

app.use((error: Error, req: Request, res: Response, next: NextFunction) => {
    //aqui que entra a magica =D
    return res.status(400).json(error.message);
});

O resultado é notável, o middleware intercepta esses erros, evitando a necessidade de try-catch em cada rota. Além disso, conseguimos personalizar as respostas de erro de maneira mais controlada e esteticamente agradável.

Você deve ter notado que não conseguimos mudar o status code, mas não se preocupe ainda vamos aprimorar esse código, ajustando os códigos de status e refinando as respostas de erro. O importante é que sua aplicação não falha catastroficamente, e agora, estamos trilhando um caminho mais elegante na gestão de exceções.

Personalizando os erros

Você deve saber que a quantidade de status code é limitada, e isso pode diminuir muito mais ao depender da sua aplicação, tendo isso em mente, vamos usar o principio Princípio da responsabilidade única do SOLID para melhorar a legibilidade do nosso código e consequente deixando mais organizado.

export class ApiError extends Error {
  public readonly statusCode: number;

  constructor(message: string, statusCode: number) {
    super(message);
    this.statusCode = statusCode;
  }
}

export class BadRequestError extends ApiError {
  constructor(message: string) {
    super(message, 400);
  }
}

export class NotFoundError extends ApiError {
  constructor(message: string) {
    super(message, 404);
  }
}

export class UnauthorizedError extends ApiError {
  constructor(message: string) {
    super(message, 401);
  }
}

Vamos usar a classe ApiError como classe base que estende a classe nativa Error e adicionar statusCode. No tópico acima, ao falar do middleware foi dito que não dava para mudar o status code do erro ao usar throw new Error(), mas com essa implementação podemos ver que esse problema foi solucionado.

throw new BadRequestError("ID Invalido");

throw new NotFoundError("Livro não encontrado");

throw new UnauthorizedError("Não autorizado!");

Personalizando o middleware de erros

Ao implementar as melhorias no lançamento de erros é necessário melhorar o responsável por lidar com esses erros, confesso que não tem muito segredo.

import { NextFunction, Request, Response } from "express";
import { ApiError } from "./helpers/api-errors";

export const errorMiddleware = (
  error: Error & Partial<ApiError>,
  request: Request,
  response: Response,
  next: NextFunction
) => {
  const statusCode = error.statusCode ?? 500;
  const message = error.statusCode ? error.message : "Internal Server Error";

  return response.status(statusCode).json({ message });
};

Acredito que a parte que você precisa ter cuidado para não se esquecer é em relação ao type do parâmetro error que é Error & Partial lembre-se que statusCode não existe no type nativo Error, sendo necessário fazer essa intersecção e o uso do Partial<> do Typescript porque nem sempre o erro lançado vai ser gerado pelo seu código, às vezes pode ser algo relacionado ao baco de dados ou algum outro problema.

Erros assíncronos

Legal, já melhoramos nosso código e estamos preparados para todo erro que aparecer, será mesmo? Todos os exemplos utilizados até agora foram códigos síncronos e nenhum nenhum assíncrono.

app.get("/livros", async (req: Request, res: Response) => { 
    const livros = await buscarLivrosDoBancoDeDados(); 
    if (!livros) { 
     throw new NotFoundError("Livro não encontrado"); 
    } 
    res.status(200).json(livros); 
}

Se ocorrer algum problema no banco de dados no exemplo acima, seu middleware seria incapaz de capturar o erro, resultando na quebra da aplicação.

app.get("/livros", async (req: Request, res: Response, next: NextFunction) => { 
    try { 
        const livros = await buscarLivrosDoBancoDeDados(); 
        if (!livros) { 
            throw new NotFoundError("Livro não encontrado"); 
        } 
        res.status(200).json(livros); 
        } catch (error) { 
            next(error); 
        } 
});

Para que nosso middleware funcionasse teríamos que voltar a usar o try catch em conjunto do next(error) e só assim o Express conseguiria ter acesso a esse erro, mas não se preocupe que existe uma solução para isso.

A lib express-async-errors oferece um suporte simples e eficaz para lidar com funções assíncronas utilizando ES6 async/await no Express. O principal objetivo é simplificar a manipulação de erros em funções assíncronas, eliminando a necessidade de chamar manualmente a função next para propagar erros.

npm i express-async-errors

Em seguida, adicione no topo do seu arquivo index.ts:

import "express-async-errors";

Pronto, agora podemos voltar a lançar os erros sem o uso do try catch. Essencialmente, a lib express-async-errors simplifica a manipulação de erros em funções assíncronas no Express, permitindo que você use exceções para tratar erros sem a necessidade de chamar explicitamente next.

Recomendações

Todos os links que foram utilizados nesse artigo são bastante uteis para sua compreensão, não pule nenhum. Fora isso eu tenho algumas recomendações:

Daniel Reis com sua didática excepcional fez o artigo Criando Exceptions para impressionar no Teste Técnico a abordagem dele é parecida com a usada nesse artigo, provavelmente você vai conseguir melhorar ainda mais seu código ao ler esse artigo.

Miguel Barbosa tem um artigo muito maneiro com tratamento de erro, Como tratar erros http no Spring Boot , eu nunca fiz algo em Java, mas a explicação é tão legal e com uma abordagem super compreensível que chega a ser impossível você não entender, recomendo.

Erick Wendel tem um vídeo muito maneiro sobre erros no Javascript Sistemas feitos em JavaScript não são confiáveis?! Error Handling lá ele fala um pouco sobre o try catch e muito mais.

Conclusão

Esse conteúdo foi mais complicado do que imaginei, espero que você leitor tenha entendido e aprendido algo novo. No casso de algum erro no código ou falha na explicação eu ficarei grato com seu feedback, você consegue me encontrar no twitter ou no Discord da He4rt.

Obrigado por ler até aqui.

The post Lidando com exceções: como fazer erros práticos e elegantes no Express js appeared first on ProdSens.live.

What is Jamstack in 2024?

Daniel Wood — Mon, 15 Jan 2024 21:24:45 +0000

This is my fourth year doing this update. Some of you may be wondering, “But Brian, didn’t you already proclaim Jamstack dead?” Back in July, I did write a post titled “Goodbye Jamstack” in response to the end of the Jamstack Discord Community.

My argument was that, if last year’s update proclaimed “Jamstack has become more of a “community” than a set of architectural rules,” what happens when there is no longer a place for the community? What happens when everyone filters off into their tool/framework-specific Discord/Slack and there’s no longer opportunities to gather and communicate?

But there was nuance to my conclusion that I felt many follow ups missed (emphasis added).

The term seems to be dead but the tools and technologies it encompassed are still very much alive.

Entering 2024, it still feels like the term is on life support, though there may be a tinge of remorse about that. However, the tools that fell under the Jamstack umbrella continue to grow in adoption.

Interested in the tools and technologies of Jamstack? Don’t miss TheJam.dev on January 24-25 featuring speakers including Alex Russell, Cassidy Williams, James Q Quick, Matt Biilmann, Zach Leatherman, Salma Alam-Naylor and many more. It’s free!

A Brief 2023 Timeline

First, here’s a (very incomplete) list of some of the big announcements in 2023:

January

February

Netlify acquires Gatsby

March

Eleventy 2.0

May

June

July

August

Astro announces Starlight for documentation

September

October

Netlify updates to Functions 2.0

November

December

The Community Held a Funeral for Jamstack…

In retrospect, trying to convey the nuance between a term being dead and the category of technology it described being dead was always going to be difficult. If it was possible, it appears my post didn’t accomplish it because it was shortly followed by a long list of tweets declaring Jamstack dead.

Many folks didn’t really seem to see this as a big loss. Tyler from UI.dev declared:

Even though the term was non-prescriptive and imprecise (and thus mostly unhelpful) from the start, Jamstack did help kickstart a movement around modern static sites in the late 2010s. But it was also clearly a marketing term that Netlify overextended to the point where it eventually lost all its original meaning — however nebulous that was to begin with.

Swyx argued that the community was ambivalent about the term, at best, anyway:

The rebrand from JAMstack to Jamstack felt like a distinction without a difference (which is why I continue to capitalize the old way). When the frontend metaframework metagame moved from 100% static rendering to mostly-static to mostly-serverless-and-sometimes-edge, JAMstack’s advocates pivoted adroitly, claiming this fit JAMstack all along, which means it fit nearly everything, which means it stood for nearly nothing. When even a VP is saying ”Jamstack is a feeling”, what he doesn’t say is that feeling is most often ambivalence.

Jared White agrees, arguing that Jamstack’s downfall began when it lost sight of the simplicity it offered in favor of complexity that sold services:

Along with this “second generation” Jamstack mindset shift came an order of magnitude more build complexity. Instead of a straightforward CLI kicking off simple transformations to go from Markdown -> HTML plus concatenate some (S)CSS files together or whatever, you’d get multi-minute long builds and GBs of node_modules…

Publicly, Netlify and its employees (summed up nicely here) responded with a refrain that argued that Jamstack isn’t dead, the term is just not necessary anymore because it won. They compared it to terms like Responsive Web Design that are rarely used anymore because they are so ubiquitous that the term becomes pointless. Here’s how Matt Biilmann put it:

I would actually argue that Jamstack has won to the point of basically just being “Modern Web Development” by now.

He also clarified to The New Stack:

Very much not dropping the term or declaring the architecture gone!

But, while Jamstack.org still exists, the term has seen a dramatic decline in usage in the community, and is no longer part of Netlify’s core messaging.

…But Is the Term Actually Dead?

The term still has strong defenders though, most notably, Zach Leatherman, creator of Eleventy. He started by gathering a number of folks with strong opinions on the topic to discuss it in what he called a Zhuzh and then followed it up with a post on what the future of Jamstack could look like. His goal?

To refocus the definition and pull it back from post-pivot silver-bullet marketing, which was arguably an overstep attempt to pull dynamic/SSR/on-request frameworks like (non-static export) Next.js, Remix, Fresh (et al) under the umbrella.

To that end, he and his colleagues at CloudCannon even launched a new site called The Future of Jamstack. The general idea seems that maybe Jamstack doesn’t have to be the solution to everything. Maybe a narrower term closer to its origins can make the distinction of Jamstack versus traditional web development clearer and could revive the community, albeit on a smaller scale.

So Where Does That Leave Us?

Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone

Joni Mitchell, Big Yellow Taxi

I am fortunate that my job gives me the opportunity to talk to a lot of developers and, when it comes to the Jamstack, I could summarize many recent discussions with: “Maybe Jamstack did describe something after all?”

Web development describes an incredibly and increasingly broad spectrum of tools, techniques and technologies. It could mean building full stack applications in a language like Ruby and Rails. Or full stack JavaScript using a tool like Next.js deployed to Vercel (and AWS, Cloudflare, etc. under the covers). Or maybe it’s a static site using Eleventy or Hugo that focuses on content but adds some services for dynamic functionality. Or even a simple marketing site built with Squarespace or Wix.

Sometimes these distinctions aren’t relevant but most of the time they are. I don’t want to go to a conference, join a community, purchase training, buy a book, etc. only to find out that none of it is relevant to me. Web development is just too big an umbrella.

I also prefer that we all don’t just further divide off into ultra-niche communities largely run by for-profit companies to support their framework/tools but, unfortunately, that is where I feel that we are right now. It turns out the term, as amorphous as it was, was a nice shortcut for a range of tools and technologies that spanned companies and projects. Trying to reach to a Jamstack audience without it is just laundry-listing a range of things, as I’ve largely done when promoting TheJam.dev or my Jamstacked newsletter.

Every single data point indicates that everything that arguably sat under the Jamstack umbrella continues to grow is adoption and popularity, but I don’t foresee anyone turning back the tide for the term itself. So barring dramatic changes in 2024, this will likely be the last of these updates (note that the event and the newsletter will continue, focusing on that laundry list of topics that are still relevant). Perhaps 2024 will bring us new ways (or terms) to talk about how we build web sites.

The post What is Jamstack in 2024? appeared first on ProdSens.live.

How to Send JSON Data in Postman

Daniel Wood — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 09:25:15 +0000

Postman is a powerful API development and testing tool widely used by developers, testers, and API engineers in their daily workflows. It offers a user-friendly interface and rich features, making testing and debugging APIs efficient and straightforward.

This article aims to provide beginners with a step-by-step guide, enabling them to successfully send JSON requests in Postman. By mastering these fundamental steps, you will gain a better understanding of the API request process, enhancing their efficiency in API testing and development.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Install and Set Up Postman

Firstly, ensure that you have Postman installed. You can download and install the Postman application from the official website (https://www.postman.com). Once installed, open Postman and either create a new account or log in to your existing account.

Step 2: Create a New Request

On the main interface of Postman, you’ll find a “+ New” button. Click on this button and select “Request” to create a new request. Give your request a meaningful name for easy identification in subsequent operations.

Step 3: Set Request Type to POST

In the request settings, you will find a dropdown menu. Select this menu and set the request type to “POST.” This is because we will be sending JSON-formatted data to the server, and POST requests are commonly used for such data transmission.

Step 4: Fill in the Request URL

In the request settings, there is a text box for entering the URL. Based on the documentation of the API you want to access, input the correct URL. Ensure the correctness of the URL to prevent the request from being sent to the wrong endpoint.

Step 5: Add JSON Data to the Request Body

In the Postman interface, you’ll see a tab labeled “Body.” Click on this tab, select the “raw” format, and choose “JSON (application/json)” as the data type from the dropdown menu. Enter the JSON data you want to send in the text box.

Here’s an example:

{
"name": "Add your name in the body"
}

Step 6: Send the Request and View the Response

Click the “Send” button on the Postman interface. Postman will send a POST request to the specified API, and the server’s response will be displayed below the interface. You can view information such as the status code and response body in the response.

Notes

When sending JSON requests in Postman, some common issues may arise. Here are some suggestions and solutions:

URL Errors: Ensure the entered URL is correct, including the protocol (http/https), domain, and path.

JSON Format Errors: Validate your JSON data for compliance. Use online JSON validation tools to check for syntax errors.

Request Type Errors: If the API documentation specifies using GET instead of POST, make sure to correctly set the request type.

Permission Issues: Check if your Postman account has the necessary permissions to access the required API.

Conclusion

Mastering the skill of sending JSON requests in Postman is crucial for effective API testing and development. Through the step-by-step guide provided in this article, readers should now be able to effortlessly create and send JSON requests, gaining a better understanding of the API interaction process.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I import and export requests in Postman?

You can use Postman’s import and export features to share requests in different environments. In Postman, click on the “Import” or “Export” button in the upper-left corner and follow the prompts.

2. What HTTP methods does Postman support?

Postman supports common HTTP methods such as GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc. When creating a request, you can choose the appropriate HTTP method.

References

Learn more:

Share more interesting programming and AI knowledge.

The post How to Send JSON Data in Postman appeared first on ProdSens.live.

How to Make a Gantt Chart In Google Sheets (Template Included)

Daniel Wood — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 18:24:30 +0000

A Gantt chart is a visual tool that helps project managers plan and schedule projects. It’s basically a stacked bar chart that breaks down the project’s tasks and places them on a timeline in chronological order.

There are several tools that can be used to create a Gantt chart, such as Excel, Google Sheets and project management software. In this blog, we’ll explore the pros and cons of creating a Gantt chart in Google Sheets.

We’ll also show you how to make a Gantt Chart in Google Sheets in six simple steps or, if you prefer, you can simply use our free Google Sheets Gantt chart template.

Why Make a Gantt Chart in Google Sheets?

Google Sheets is Google’s version of a spreadsheet which makes it a competitor of Microsoft Excel. The major difference between the two is that Google’s software is a cloud-based free tool that’s much better suited for team collaboration.

While Excel Gantt chart templates are popular, sharing them among your team members is time consuming as Excel files must be downloaded and shared every time someone makes changes to the Gantt chart.

Google Sheet Gantt charts on the other hand, allow team members to collaborate in real-time without having to download any files. This means all your team members can access the same Gantt chart, leave comments and make changes to it at the same time.

However, while a Google Sheets Gantt chart is better than Excel when it comes to collaboration, it still falls short when compared to project management software like ProjectManager. ProjectManager offers fully featured Gantt charts that allow you to allocate resources, track projects in real-time, find the critical path and much more.

ProjectManager has more powerful Gantt charts than Google. Learn More.

Having said that, let’s explore the pros and cons of making a Gantt chart In Google Sheets in more depth.

Google Sheet Gantt Chart: Pros & Cons

Making a Gantt chart in Google Sheets is a great free alternative to Excel or more robust project management software. There are some downsides, however, which can possibly make Google Sheets a less-than-ideal solution for your needs.

Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of creating a Gantt chart in Google Sheets:

Pros of Making a Gantt Chart In Google Sheets

It’s a free offering.
The software is easy to use and can learn quickly.
Your work is easily shareable through links. There’s no need to download files.
A Google Sheet Gantt chart is fully integrated with other Google products.
Your team members can collaborate in real time, which isn’t possible with an Excel Gantt chart.

Cons of Making a Gantt Chart In Google Sheets

Google Sheets is not a Gantt chart maker or a project management tool.
It’s not great with complex projects.
You can’t set milestones on a Gantt chart in Google sheets.
You’re not able to link dependent tasks on your Gantt chart.
A Google sheet won’t let you manage resources and costs.
You won’t be able to assign tasks on a central platform.
You have to manually update your sheet to show progress.

Making a Gantt chart on Google Sheets is fine if you’re managing a simple project and already using other Google tools. However, if you’re managing a more complicated project or just want to have integrated features to track, monitor and report on your progress and performance, you’ll have to use a real Gantt chart tool.

Gantt Chart Template for Google Sheets

We’ve created a free Gantt chart template for Google Sheets to help you plan and schedule projects with your team. Once you click on the link, you’ll access the template in a view-only mode.

Then, you’ll need to make a copy of your own so you can edit and share. You can then select who to share the Gantt chart Google Sheets template with and the permissions for each team member. You can share it as a view-only or as an editable Google Sheets spreadsheet.

How to Make a Gantt Chart In Google Sheets

Like any other Gantt chart, a Google Sheets Gantt chart has two main parts: a table in which you’ll list your tasks, their duration, due dates and a stacked bar chart, which is a visual representation of the project schedule.

Here are the steps you’ll need to follow to make a Gantt chart in Google Sheets. The final result should look like the free Google Sheets Gantt chart template referenced above.

1. List Your Tasks & Due Dates

The first thing that you’ll need to do to create your Gantt chart in Google Sheets is to create three columns. Start by listing your project tasks in the first column along with their start date and end date to define your project timeline. Make sure to follow the format below (month/day/year).

2. Create a “Start on Day” Column

Now, type “start on day” as the title for the column that will go beside the end (date) column as shown below. Then, enter the formula “=B2-$B$2”. This column will be necessary when creating the stacked bar chart of your Gantt chart.

Once you enter the formula on the first row, Google Sheets will suggest you to autofill the rest of the column.

3. Calculate the Duration of Each Task

Create a column to calculate the duration of each task. To do so, repeat the process from step two, type duration as the column title and then enter the formula “=C2-B2”.

Google Sheets will again suggest you to use the autofill feature to populate the rest of the column. This is the last column you’ll need to make your Gantt chart in Google Sheets.

4. Insert a Chart

Now, select all the values in column “A”. Then hold the “Control” key on your Windows PC keyboard or the “Command” key if you’re using a Mac. While you press on that key, select all values in columns “D” and “E” as well.

Then, while the columns are selected, click “Insert” at the top of your screen as shown below, and then click “Chart”.

5. Select the Stacked Bar Chart

Once you complete step four, a chart will appear on your Google Sheets spreadsheet. However, this is not the right type of chart you’ll need to create a Google Sheets Gantt chart. Now click on the “Chart type” dropdown menu at the right side of your screen.

Scroll down through the chart options and select the stacked bar chart. This is the type of chart used for creating a Google Sheets Gantt chart.

6. Format the Stacked Bar Chart

Once you complete step five, your chart should look like the image below.

You may want to keep the chart title and legend, but for this Google Sheets Gantt chart, we’ve decided to remove the title and legend. If you wish to do so, simply double-click them and then once they’re selected press the “delete” key on your keyboard.

Now double-click your stacked bar chart, and click customize on the right side of your screen. Then select “Gridlines and ticks” to format the horizontal axis values.

These values measure your project timeline in days. Set up your Gantt chart as shown below to set a scale that works for you. In this case, we’ve selected “step” as the “major spacing type” and an interval of five days for the horizontal axis.

Now, double-click the blue bars. Once they’re all selected, a menu will appear on the right. On that menu, click fill color and select theme color white as shown in the image below. This will make the blue bars disappear to make your stacked bar chart look like a Gantt chart.

Congratulations! You’ve created a Google Sheets Gantt chart.

Now, you might want to change the color of each individual bar of your Gantt chart to better distinguish each task. If you wish to do so, simply double-click a red bar. This will select all your Google Sheets Gantt chart bars. Then click once again to select an individual bar and choose a unique fill color for each.

ProjectManager’s Gantt View Is Better than Google Sheets Gantt Charts

Google Sheets is not a Gantt chart software and will only get you so far. You can’t link dependencies, set milestones, assign your team from the Gantt, monitor their progress, easily share and collaborate to the extent that you can with ProjectManager.

If you find that you’ve run into a wall, it’s time to try ProjectManager and see what a Gantt chart tool can do without giving you a headache. Our award-winning project management software organizes all your tasks, your team and your project for greater efficiency.

Our project management software offers a powerful Gantt chart maker that was designed for project managers and has features that make it a much superior alternative to Excel and Google Gantt chart templates.

Opening Your Gantt Charts for Google Sheets In ProjectManager

Google spreadsheets were not designed for making Gantt charts. If you’re looking for a Gantt chart that’s easy to make, update and works with all the features you need to manage your project, you need project management software. ProjectManager is an award-winning project management software that has interactive Gantt charts to help you plan and schedule your project.

Creating a Gantt chart in our tool is simple and free for 30 days, and far more dynamic than what a Google spreadsheet offers. To follow along, try ProjectManager for free by clicking here, and if you like it, there are three tiers to subscribe to after your 30-day trial is over.

Let’s learn how to create a Gantt chart with ProjectManager step by step.

1. Import Your Google Sheet Gantt Chart

Export your Google Sheet Gantt chart as an Excel spreadsheet, and import it into our tool. You can also use one of our industry-specific templates, or just add tasks to the Gantt chart tool manually. These features make it easy to make a Gantt chart in minutes.

2. Add Task Duration to the Gantt Chart

Set the start and end dates for each of the tasks and they’ll populate the Gantt timeline. The start and end dates are connected by a color-coded duration bar, which indicates progress by its shading. The percent complete column allows team members to update their task status and allows project managers to track progress with the bar graph in real time.

3. Link Task Dependencies & Set Milestones on the Timeline

Connect project tasks that are dependent on other tasks to start or end to avoid bottlenecks. Then break the project into more manageable phases, or note important dates by setting milestones.

Start assigning tasks to your team so they know exactly what they need to work on. Plus, as they complete their tasks, progress is updated in real time on the percent complete column so you can track your schedule. Save your Gantt as a PDF and email it to project stakeholders to keep them in the loop or you can print out a copy to use in presentations. You now have a fully functioning Gantt Chart!

Join the tens of thousands of teams that already succeed with our tool. See why NASA, Bank of America and Ralph Lauren have chosen to use us when managing their projects. Don’t bother with Google or Excel, upload that file and get productive. Take our free 30-day trial today.

The post How to Make a Gantt Chart In Google Sheets (Template Included) appeared first on ProjectManager.

The post How to Make a Gantt Chart In Google Sheets (Template Included) appeared first on ProdSens.live.

SQLite vs. Chroma: A Comparative Analysis for Managing Vector Embeddings

Daniel Wood — Sat, 07 Oct 2023 21:24:30 +0000

Vector embeddings play a crucial role in enhancing the capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs), enabling them to understand and generate text with nuanced intelligence from your data.

However, managing these embeddings effectively requires a robust database.

Whether you’re navigating through well-known options like SQLite, enriched with the sqlite-vss extension, or exploring other avenues like Chroma, an open-source vector database, selecting the right tool is paramount. This article compares these two choices, guiding you through the pros and cons of each, helping you choose the right tool for storing and querying vector embeddings for your project.

SQLite with `sqlite-vss` Extension

sqlite-vss extends SQLite databases with vector similarity search capabilities. It allows performing k-nearest neighbors searches on vector columns stored in SQLite tables, enabling use cases like semantic search, recommendations, and question answering.

My blog post “How to use SQLite to store and query vector embeddings” provides a tutorial on how to leverage SQLite to manage vector embeddings. The approach hinges on the sqlite-vss extension and TensorFlow’s Universal Sentence Encoder for vector creation.

Let’s talk about some advantages that SQLite with sqlite-vss has over Chroma:

SQLite Advantages

Privacy and Data Control: SQLite allows data to be stored locally, ensuring privacy and complete control over the data.
Portability: Known for portability, SQLite’s single-file database can be easily transferred or backed up, providing a convenient and compact solution for storing and moving vector embeddings.
Simplicity: SQLite offers a straightforward, lightweight solution for developers familiar with SQL.

SQLite however has some drawbacks in comparison to Chroma:

SQLite Challenges

Scalability: SQLite may not be the best fit for managing very large datasets or high-throughput applications.
Complexity: Manual handling of vector storage and search logic might get complex with evolving requirements.
Dependency: Relies on multiple dependencies (SQLite3, TensorFlow, TypeScript) which might be cumbersome to manage.

Chroma for Vector Embeddings

Chroma is an open-source embedding database, supported by the company of the same name, Chroma. You have the option to self-host it, and the company behind it has plans to offer hosted versions of Chroma in the near future.

I have also written about Chroma, “How to use Chroma to store and query vector embeddings” that introduces you to Chroma, with a short guide on the process of integrating vector embeddings with it.

And here’s some advantages that Chroma has over SQLite with sqlite-vss:

Chroma Advantages

Dedicated Solution: Chroma is built specifically for managing vector embeddings, ensuring optimized storage and retrieval.
Ease of Use: Chroma provides a simple interface for adding and querying documents without needing to manage the underlying complexity.
Scalability: Being a dedicated vector database, Chroma is designed to handle large-scale data and queries efficiently.

Naturally, some challenges as well:

Chroma Challenges

Setup Overhead: Running Chroma requires more infrastructure setup than SQLite, even with the future hosted version.
Learning Curve: Developers unfamiliar with Chroma might require some time to get acquainted with its functionalities and setup.

Comparative Insights

1. Ease and Flexibility vs. Specialization

SQLite with the sqlite-vss extension presents a solution that can be integrated into applications with relative ease, particularly those already using SQLite. However, Chroma, while potentially presenting a steeper learning curve, offers a specialized environment tailored to handle vector data, natively, and at a larger scale.

2. Dependency Management

SQLite requires managing several dependencies and ensuring their compatibility, potentially making it less straightforward than Chroma in terms of dependency management, where most complexities are abstracted away within Docker containers. And this will further be true for Chroma once the hosted version is available.

3. Scalability and Performance

For projects that demand high performance and scalability, Chroma’s dedicated nature might offer advantages over SQLite, potentially providing faster query times and more efficient storage for large-scale applications.

4. Use Case Alignment

Developers might gravitate towards SQLite for smaller, lightweight projects or where embedding management is a small part of the application. In contrast, Chroma could be the go-to for applications heavily relying on semantic search or managing large collections of embeddings.

5. Community and Support

Considering the community and support around these tools is also pivotal. While SQLite has a broad user base and extensive documentation, Chroma’s niche focus on embedding management might offer more targeted resources and community expertise in this specific domain.

Conclusion

Both SQLite with the sqlite-vss extension and Chroma offer viable pathways to managing vector embeddings, albeit with distinct advantages and potential challenges. Developers might opt for SQLite for its simplicity, familiarity, and fit for smaller-scale applications. Conversely, those dealing with extensive embedding data and requiring a dedicated, scalable solution might find Chroma to be a fitting choice.

In essence, the selection between SQLite and Chroma depends on aligning the tool with project requirements, scalability needs, and the team’s familiarity with the technology. As innovations in managing vector embeddings continue to evolve, exploring and understanding various tools like these will undeniably fortify developers’ capabilities in building intelligent, semantically-aware applications.

Stay tuned for future posts, as I dive deeper into exploring and working with vector embeddings!

The post SQLite vs. Chroma: A Comparative Analysis for Managing Vector Embeddings appeared first on ProdSens.live.

Journey Through the Digital Highway🛣️🗺️: How Data📑 Travels From Your Laptop💻 to Your Friend’s Laptop🙋‍♂️: Deep Dive.

Daniel Wood — Sat, 22 Jul 2023 14:24:40 +0000

Just read this part (first paragraph) once, below you will understand in deep.

Imagine that the internet is like a vast highway system, and internet backbones are the main highways that connect major cities and towns. These highways (backbones) are essential for fast and efficient communication between different regions.

Example: (Note: Just read it once, you will get it below)

Highway System (Internet): The internet is like a network of highways that allows data (traffic) to flow between various locations (websites, servers, computers, etc.).

Main Highways (Internet Backbones): Internet backbones are like the main highways in this system. They are large, high-capacity data transmission lines made of fiber-optic cables that connect major cities and data centers worldwide.

Data Transmission (Internet Traffic): Data, such as emails, web pages, videos, and more, travels along these main highways (backbones) to reach its destination quickly and efficiently.

Regional Roads (Internet Service Providers – ISPs): The data leaves the internet backbone at certain points and enters the networks of Internet Service Providers (ISPs). These ISPs are like the regional roads that connect smaller towns and communities to the main highways. They serve as the gateways for users to access the internet.

Local Streets (End Users): From the ISPs, the data is further distributed to end users (like you and your friend). These end users are like local streets where the data reaches its final destination.

Here’s the explaination of the data transfer:

Your Laptop: You send data from your laptop.
Airtel Network (Airtel Tower – T): The data is transmitted wirelessly from your laptop using electromagnetic waves to the nearest Airtel tower (T). The tower serves as an access point for your laptop to connect to the Airtel cellular network.
Regional Area (Local Network – T -> T -> R -> R -> R): From the Airtel tower (T), the data may be transmitted wirelessly to the next nearby Airtel tower (T). This process can involve several tower-to-tower hops (T -> T) within the regional area, extending the coverage of the Airtel network (There can be n number of T’s and R’s).
Airtel Router (R): Once the data reaches the last tower in the regional area, it is handed off to an Airtel router (R). Airtel routers are typically located at central facilities, network exchanges, or data centers.
Internet Gateway (Airtel – R): From the Airtel router (R), the data is then forwarded to the Airtel internet gateway. The internet gateway serves as the connection point between Airtel's local network and the broader internet (main highway).(Regional Area of Airtel ISP ends here !!!.)`
Internet Backbone (Main Highway): After passing through Airtel's internet gateway, the data enters the internet backbone (main highway). It travels through high-capacity data transmission lines (e.g., fiber-optic cables) operated by various companies like Tata Communications, Google, Level 3 Communications, and others. These backbones form the core infrastructure of the global internet.
Internet Routers (Various Providers): As the data travels through the internet backbone(main highway), it encounters internet routers operated by various ISPs and network providers, including those mentioned above(like Tata Communications, Google, Level 3 Communications). These routers direct the data packets toward their intended destination, guiding them through the complex network of interconnected pathways.
Jio Network (Regional Area – Destination Area): As the data approaches its destination area (e.g., your friend’s location served by Jio), it will leave the internet backbone and enter Jio’s network (regional area). This transition involves routers and other network components to guide the data closer to its final destination.
Jio Tower (Jio Access Point): From the network, the data may be transmitted wirelessly through the air via Jio’s tower, which acts as an access point for mobile devices to connect to the Jio network.
Your Friend’s Laptop: Finally, the data reaches your friend’s laptop, where it is received and processed by their computer or device, enabling them to read the email or interact with the data you sent.

Here’s a demonstration of undersea Internet Backbone(main highway).In similar way, there are also Internet Backbone on land.

In summary, data is transferred through electromagnetic waves between the towers (T) within the regional area. Once it reaches the last tower, it is then passed to an Airtel router (R) before being forwarded to the internet gateway and entering the main internet backbone. From there, it goes through a network of internet routers and eventually reaches the destination, your friend’s laptop.
Until next time. Happy Learning !!!.
If you liked the article, do hit like.

The post Journey Through the Digital Highway🛣️🗺️: How Data📑 Travels From Your Laptop💻 to Your Friend’s Laptop🙋‍♂️: Deep Dive. appeared first on ProdSens.live.

Best 25 Project Manager Interview Questions and Answers (2023)

Daniel Wood — Fri, 30 Jun 2023 19:25:11 +0000

Finding the right project manager, who has the skill sets, experience and proper corporate cultural fit for your organization is not as easy as just posting a job listing. You need to meet the potential candidate and figure if they’re suited for the job. That’s where having the right project manager interview questions comes in.

Project management interview questions will guide your decision-making process. Hire a leader, with the project management and communication skills that will lead your projects to success by using these project manager interview questions.

Types of Project Manager Interview Questions

There are two main types of project management interview questions, behavioral and scenario-based questions. These two different approaches help interviewers get as much information as possible from project managers.

Scenario-Based Project Manager Interview Questions

The purpose of scenario-based interview questions is to ask project manager candidates how they would respond to hypothetical project management scenarios. Here you can understand the thinking process of your project managers and look into their problem-solving skills, leadership style, knowledge of project management methods and tools, etc.

Behavioral Project Manager Interview Questions

This type of interview question asks for events that happened in the past. The purpose of these project manager interview questions is to get an idea of how the project manager has acted in the past, and how has he applied his project management skills and knowledge to solve real-life problems.

The 25 project management interview questions below will include these two types of questions. We hope they help you prepare for your pm interview.

Interview Questions for Project Managers About Team Management

Projects are a team effort, so any project management interview will likely include questions about how you manage teams. Make sure you highlight team management skills such as leadership, communication skills, conflict resolution and interpersonal skills. The main purpose of these project management interview questions is that interviewers want to understand how well you can work with others, including project teams and stakeholders.

11. What’s your leadership style?

Talking about managing a project will inevitably lead to a discussion of leadership style. There are many ways to lead, and all have their pluses and minuses. Depending on the project, a project manager might have to pick and choose how they lead, ranging from a top-down approach to servant leadership. See how well-versed they are on leadership techniques and how they apply them to project management.

12. What’s your communication style?

This is another classic project management interview question that directly stems from asking about managing projects and leadership. A project manager is nothing if he has poor communication skills. They need to be able to speak to team members, stakeholders, vendors, etc. Each group will need a slightly different approach. Stakeholders want the broad strokes of the project management plan, while team members will need more detail. If a project manager can’t clearly communicate, the project is doomed before it has begun.

Being a good communicator is only the start. Project management software helps you better target that communication with your team and stakeholders. ProjectManager has project management tools like Gantt charts, kanban boards and project calendars to clearly communicate your project plan. Our cloud-based software allows you and your team to collaborate in real-time. If someone has a question, they only need to tag another person on the team to get them into the conversation. Our email and in-app notifications make sure you’re never late for a meeting or an important stakeholder presentation. Try our tool for free today.

ProjectManager lets you plan, schedule and track projects while communicating with your team.

13. How Do you seek help outside of the project team?

This project manager interview question gives you information about the leadership and communication skills of your project manager candidate. Some project managers are going to think you want a person who is wholly independent and pulls from an inner reservoir. Fair enough. But more resourceful is the project manager who knows when they’re over their head and asks for help from a mentor or a network of professionals.

14. How do you gain agreement with teams?

Where there are people, there are conflicts, and even the best projects have people’s problems. Good teams collaborate and trust one another. If there’s a problem between two or more project team members, it must be resolved quickly. But this can also apply to stakeholders, vendors, etc. A project manager is a bit of a psychologist who must know how to resolve conflicts quickly.

15. Do you delegate?

They are better! The last thing you want is a project manager who carries everything on their shoulders. That’s nuts. But this is a bit of a trick question or at least one that has an implicit question embedded in it. What you really want to know is not whether they delegate, but how they delegate work to their team members. This is a great way to weed out the micromanagers.

That doesn’t mean a project manager is absent from the process. Project management software has features to keep them aware of what their team is doing but not in the way. For example, ProjectManager has a board view that visualizes the workflow. The kanban allows managers to oversee their team as they work and make sure things are moving forward. Even better, if a potential block is spotted in the production, the manager can reallocate resources to keep the work moving forward.

16. How do you manage team members that are not working to their full potential?

Sometimes, no matter how much due diligence you put into assembling a skilled and experienced project team, someone underperforms or creates conflicts. While the project is rolling, you don’t have time to stop and tweak your team. Rather, the project manager must use problem-solving techniques and communication skills to deal with the problem. This comes up with even the best project team, so any capable project manager would know how to nip underperformance in the bud.

Interview Questions for Project Managers About Work Experience

Work experience is always important on any type of interview, and that’s also true for project management interviews. Employers make these project manager interview questions because they need to make sure you have the necessary hands-on experience that’s required to be a good fit for their type of projects and that you have the capabilities to excel in their industry.

17. How do you deal when you’re overwhelmed or underperforming?

It’s easy to forget that project managers are people, too. They are hired to perform project management processes and lead a project to success, but they can suffer the same setbacks as anyone on the team over the course of the project life cycle. The difference between a good and great project manager is the ability to monitor oneself and respond proactively to any drop-offs in performance.

18. How do you work with customers, sponsors and stakeholders?

Even project managers have to answer to someone. Responding to executives, project sponsors and stakeholders requires a different approach than the one they would use with teams and vendors. Part of their duties includes managing stakeholders who hold a position of authority over the project manager. That takes a subtle touch.

19. If the project is not adhering to schedule, how do you get it back on track?

Knowing that a project is not keeping to its schedule is only as important as being able to get the project back on track. Once a project manager is aware of the discrepancy between the actual project schedule and the schedule baseline estimated in the project plan, they need to take action, such as project crashing or fast-tracking. Any project manager worth hiring will be able to answer this with practical specifics. On these types of questions, it’s best to answer with the STAR method.

20. Do you have budget management experience?

It helps to drill down into specific aspects of the project management experience of your candidates. Naturally, if the candidate has specific skills they’ll be briefly sketched in the resume, but here’s your opportunity to get a deeper sense of where they stand in terms of their experience with project management processes such as budget management. Project managers are known as planners. They create a project schedule and lead teams to success. But there’s often money involved, so they better know how to handle a project budget.

21. How do you know the project is off-track?

Every project hits a snag along the way, but not every project manager is aware of that delay until the project budget or project schedule is affected. The ability to monitor and track the progress of a project and tell immediately when it’s not meeting the benchmarks you set in the project planning phase is perhaps the most important duty of a project manager. Then it’s also important to see if the project manager candidates have experience implementing a risk management plan to mitigate risks and keep projects on budget and schedule. ProjectManager has project dashboards to help project managers spot issues before they become serious problems.

22. What project management software do you prefer?

A project manager needs project management tools to plan, monitor and report on the project. There are many, from simple to more complex. This question reveals first how up-to-date the candidate is regarding software and project management tools. Additionally, it provides a picture of what tools and processes they use to manage a project.

Most project managers heavily rely on Gantt charts when it comes to project planning and scheduling. ProjectManager has award-winning online Gantt charts that allow project managers to plan every phase of their projects. Managers can create dependencies, add milestones, assign tasks, manage workload and more—all from one screen. Any project manager you hire would appreciate the power of our planning tools.

ProjectManager has interactive Gantt charts that link dependencies, set baselines and more. Learn More!

23. What’s your preferred project management methodology?

There are almost as many ways to manage a project as there are projects. From traditional methods like waterfall to hybrid methodologies, you want a project manager who understands the many ways to work. And more importantly, can they use the project management methodology that best suits the work at hand?

Out-of-the-box Project Manager Interview Questions

Lastly, employers will often make out-of-the-box questions to relieve the tension of the interview and be able to get a better idea of what the candidate’s personality is like.

24. How tall are the pyramids in Egypt?

Talk about not being prepared. Who is going into a job interview with this information in their head? You don’t really want an accurate answer to this question, but you do want to see how the project manager deals critically and seriously with the question. Because during the project they will be sidelined with unexpected challenges and questions.

25. What’s something you don’t want us to know?

Ouch. Yes, you need to go there and make the candidate uncomfortable. It’s not that you want to learn some secret or catch them in an unethical act. Less important than the content of their answer is the way they deal with the question. You’ll get a better picture of the person instead of the persona they’re presenting. It also shows their communication skills while under pressure. It might seem cruel, but it’ll help you get to the heart of the person that you’re going to trust with the management of your project.

Tips for Preparing for a Project Manager Interview

One tip for preparing for your project manager interview is to get familiar with the above questions to give you a sense of confidence when in the interview. This will go a long way. People want to hire people that they can trust.

Other than that, you should do your homework. Research about the organization you’re interviewing at, know their history and what they do. Also, study the job description and make sure you understand what will be expected of you.

If you know who the hiring manager is, you can also do a bit of research on them. You don’t want to come across as a stalker, but it could help you feel more comfortable having a bit of background on the person.

Finally, practice. Ask a friend you trust to be honest with you and ask them to act as the interviewer. They can ask the questions above. It’ll help you get comfortable answering them. Take constructive feedback from your friend and hone your answers and mannerisms to be the best applicant ever.

How ProjectManager Helps Project Managers

If you are a project manager or are looking for one, then you’ve got projects. Projects need more than a good project manager to lead them, they need project management tools, too. ProjectManager is a cloud-based project management software that helps project managers plan, monitor and report on the project, while team members collaborate on tasks online. It’s ideal for the whole organization.

Dashboards to Track Your Projects

Monitoring a project is the only way to make sure your team is aligned with the project plan. Online Gantt charts measure the progress of each task, but project managers want a bird’s-eye view. ProjectManager has a real-time dashboard that tracks six project metrics to help project managers monitor the overall progress of the project. The dashboard also helps project managers keep their stakeholders in the loop.

Track projects in real time with online dashboards that you can configure.

Generate Reports for Stakeholders

Stakeholders usually ask for broad strokes to make sure the project is going well, but sometimes they want more detail. ProjectManager has one-click reports that can be filtered to show just the information stakeholders or project managers need to keep tabs on the progress of the project.

Generate customizable and filterable reports for your stakeholders in just a few clicks.

Teams are a project’s most valuable resource. ProjectManager keeps team morale high by giving project managers the tools they need to manage their workload and make sure no one is given too many tasks while others are idle. ProjectManager also streamlines project timesheets and has features that manage project resources, so projects can deliver on stakeholder expectations.

One you’ve gotten through the project manager interview process and a job offer has been made, then it’s up to you to provide them with the best tools to manage the project. ProjectManager is a cloud-based project management software with real-time dashboards, online Gantt charts and a collaborative platform for your team. There’s no question, this is what your project manager will want. Try our award-winning software for free with this 30-day trial.

The post Best 25 Project Manager Interview Questions and Answers (2023) appeared first on ProjectManager.

The post Best 25 Project Manager Interview Questions and Answers (2023) appeared first on ProdSens.live.

What Are Analytical Metrics and How Can SaaS Companies Analyze Them?

Daniel Wood — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 07:02:27 +0000

What are analytical metrics? And, how are they different from product analytics?

These are the first two questions that we answer in this article. We also discuss their significance, and more importantly, look at different metrics you should be tracking at various stages of the customer journey.

We finish with practical advice on how to collect and analyze data to improve user engagement.

Ready to dive in?

TL;DR

Analytical metrics, aka analytics metrics, are quantifiable measures used by teams to evaluate the performance of their products and to make informed decisions about their future development.
Product analytics is the process of collecting data and analyzing it to obtain actionable insights into user behavior and product usage.
Without tracking and analyzing metrics, teams wouldn’t be able to identify technical problems and friction points, understand user problems or add value to the product.
The two important metrics at the acquisition stage are Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and free trial or demo sign-ups. They give you insights into the effectiveness of your marketing and sales strategy.
Activation metrics to track include the activation rate and number of active users (DAUs and MAUs). The first one tells you how many users have experienced the product value while the latter shows how regularly they engage with the product.
Trial to paid conversion rate tells you how effective your user onboarding is and helps you predict your revenue. Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) is a more reliable way to forecast future income.
A high churn rate is a reason to worry because it means users don’t see enough value in the product or are not happy with the user experience. It negatively affects the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and reduces profits.
Product usage tracking and microsurveys are the two most common data collection methods.
Tracking user behavior of different segments helps you identify the most valuable features and best practices.
Funnel analysis enables teams to find friction points at different stages in the user journey.
Heatmaps are an intuitive method of tracking and analyzing feature engagement.
Want to see how Userpilot helps teams collect data and analyze various metrics to drive product growth? Book the demo!

What are analytical metrics?

In product management, analytical metrics are quantifiable measures used to track and assess the performance of digital products.

Product managers leverage analytical metrics to make informed product decisions, evaluate and improve user experience, and drive product adoption.

Analytical metrics vs product analytics

Analytical metrics and product analytics are often confused because they’re used to achieve the same ends. However, the two are distinct concepts.

As mentioned, metrics are the data points product managers can use to guide their decision-making process.

Product analytics, on the other hand, is the process of collecting, storing, and processing data to gain insights into how customers behave, as well as their problems, needs, and wants.

Why is it important for SaaS companies to have an analytics system in place?

Analytics are essential for companies to build valuable products that delight users. They help them to:

Evaluate the performance and success of their products
Identify technical problems and bugs
Remove unnecessary friction from the user experience
Understand user pain points and preferences
Identify successful user behaviors
Reduce user churn
Drive product activation and adoption
Take advantage of account expansion opportunities
Drive product and business objectives

Specific metrics for analyzing your SaaS product

Which metrics you should track depends on the stage of the customer journey that you’re trying to optimize.

Acquisition stage metrics

At the acquisition stage, the metrics we’re interested in are Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and free trial or demo sign-ups.

Customer acquisition cost

This metric measures the average cost of acquiring one customer.

You can calculate it by dividing all sales and marketing expenses over a certain period by the number of newly acquired customers during that time.

This metric is essential for product-led companies as it’s an indication of how successful their product is at driving growth organically. We can say that the lower the cost, the higher its perceived value in the eyes of potential customers.

Naturally, SaaS businesses aspire to reduce the CAC as it allows them to increase their profit margins and invest more in product development.

Customer acquisition cost.

Free trial signups or demos

Both are key performance indicators used to assess the effectiveness of marketing efforts.

At a high level, you can use them to calculate the ROI of your marketing campaigns and forecast the revenue it generates. That’s if you know their conversion rates, of course.

On a more granular level, you can use them to determine which acquisition channels or marketing assets are more effective at attracting new customers.

Free trial signups and demo bookings.

Activation stage metrics

At this stage, new users experience product value and start using the product consistently to achieve their goals. The metrics you may want to track at this stage are the activation rate and the number of active users.

Activation rate

The user activation rate, aka product activation rate, tells you how many users that signed up reached the activation stage.

You calculate the activation rate by dividing the number of activated users by the number of signups and multiplying it by 100. So if 23 users out of 100 reached the activation milestone, the activation rate is 23%.

The activation rate helps teams evaluate the effectiveness of their onboarding process.

For the metrics to be of any use, you need to make sure that you first identify the relevant activation points for each user persona and calculate them separately for each user cohort.

Activation rate.

Number of active users

This number can give you an idea of how sticky your product is.

What’s product stickiness? In short, it’s the tendency of users to come back to use the product again regularly. This is an indication of its value.

To calculate stickiness, divide the number of Daily Active Users (DAUs) by the number of Monthly Active Users (MAUs).

Product stickiness.

Retention stage metrics

Customer retention has a massive impact on product profitability. That’s because it’s 5 times cheaper to retain users than acquire new ones.

The retention metrics to track include trial to paid conversion rate, churn rate, Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), and Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR).

Trial to paid conversion rate

This is important to monitor because it directly affects your SaaS business revenue and tells you how effective your new user onboarding is.

To calculate the trial-to-paid conversion rate, simply divide the number of converted users by those on the free trial, and multiply it by 100. A typical free trial conversion rate is 15-25% for a B2B business.

Trial to paid conversion rate.

Churn rate

Churn is the opposite of retention. It’s the existing customers leaving your business, so not a great thing to have.

To calculate the churn rate, divide the number of customers lost over a period of time by the number of users at the beginning of that period, and multiply it by 100. An average churn rate in SaaS is around 5% while 3% is an excellent result.

A high churn rate could be caused by friction, technical issues, poor customer support, and wrong product-market fit or customer fit.

Churn rate.

Customer lifetime value

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV or LTV) is the total revenue an average user brings over the duration of their business relationship.

We calculate it by dividing the average revenue per account (ARPA) by the churn rate.

Naturally, the higher the LTV, the better. This metric is also meaningful in the context of customer acquisition cost. You want it to be at least 3x higher than CAC.

If it’s lower, look for ways either to decrease CAC or drive more revenue, for example, through cross- and upsells.

Customer lifetime value.

Monthly recurring revenue

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) is a metric used to measure predictable revenue the product generates.

To calculate it, multiply the number of customers in a month by the average revenue per account. So, if you have 100 customers and each pays $249 a month, the MRR is $24,900.

The metrics help SaaS businesses predict their future revenue which is essential for budgeting and making strategic product and business decisions.

As it is determined by the number of paying customers, tracking changes in MRR also gives you insights into the effectiveness of your acquisition and retention strategies.

Monthly recurring revenue.

Apart from the above, there are a lot of other metrics that product teams track, like the NPS or CSAT scores.

How to collect data for analyzing important metrics?

Let’s now look at a few ways you can use a product adoption tool to collect the data that you want to track.

Track product usage analytics

Monitoring product usage is the obvious way to obtain data about your product performance and user behavior.

At a high level, your analytics tool should allow you to track relevant metrics like demo bookings or active daily/monthly users.

For more granular analysis, for example, to calculate the conversion or activation rates, you will need to track specific events your users complete in the product.

Even better if you can create custom events. They enable you to bundle up a number of events and track them as if they were one. For example, three events could be linked with activation, not just one.

Custom events in Userpilot.

Send microsurveys for collecting customer feedback

Microsurveys are an effective user feedback data collection method.

The most relevant metrics that you could track in this way are:

NPS– Net Promoter Score – it’s an indication of how loyal your users are.
CSAT– Customer Satisfaction Score – tells you how happy the users are with the value the product delivers.
CES– Customer Engagement Score – shows how engaged your users are.

With Userpilot, you can design and customize in-app surveys and trigger them for specific user segments.

In-app NPS survey created in Userpilot.

How to analyze the right metrics for increasing user engagement?

Collecting the data points is just one part of the job. Let’s see how you can analyze the same data to increase customer engagement.

Monitor in-app behavior of different customer segments

Monitoring the in-app behavior and comparing interaction patterns of various segments can provide lots of valuable insights. This will help you devise relevant strategies to improve the user experience for all users.

For example, you could compare the interactions of your most loyal users and the churned ones. In this way, you can identify successful user behaviors that other users with similar JTBDs could later replicate.

Features & Events dashboard in Userpilot.

Perform funnel analysis to identify drop-offs in the customer journey

A funnel is a sequence of steps leading up to a specific event. Funnel analysis is often used to track user progress along the customer journey toward activation and adoption.

For example, to activate a dating app you need to:

Sign up,
Complete your profile,
Upload a photo,
Start swiping,
Match with another user,
And start having a chat conversation.

Each of the actions represents one stage in the funnel. By analyzing how many users progress from one stage to another and how quickly it takes, you can identify unnecessary friction points.

Goals dashboard in Userpilot.

Use heatmaps to track feature engagement

A heatmap is a multi-color layer imposed on the product dashboard showing you how popular different UI elements are.

They are excellent for tracking feature engagement because one look is enough to see which features customers use and which they don’t. The warmer the color, the higher the user engagement.

How can you use the insights?

Let’s imagine, you’ve used funnel analysis to identify a user segment that fails to advance to the next stage. You can then use the heatmap to analyze in detail what users from this group do at this stage.

For example, they may not be able to find a relevant feature while persistently clicking on a non-clickable UI element.

Heatmap analysis in Userpilot.

Conclusion

Analytical metrics are the quantifiable measures that product teams use to analyze and optimize product performance.

Some analytical metrics for product-led companies include customer acquisition cost, free trial or demo sign-ups, activation rate, MAUs and DAUs, trial-to-paid conversion rate, churn rate, CLV, and MRR.

If you want to see how Userpilot can help you track and analyze the metrics important for your SaaS, book the demo!

The post What Are Analytical Metrics and How Can SaaS Companies Analyze Them? appeared first on Thoughts about Product Adoption, User Onboarding and Good UX | Userpilot Blog.

The post What Are Analytical Metrics and How Can SaaS Companies Analyze Them? appeared first on ProdSens.live.

Javascript Object #3

Daniel Wood — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 05:03:59 +0000

From the last Post We have seen what is Object and How to access the properties inside of them.while we went through the chapter two about Object we have discussed about two methods of accessing the Object Properties and we also concluded with what is best on my opinion.Well,most of you may like easy and non-tricky method Dot-Notation but we have a drawback with that method.we can’t completely nullify the issue,but we can do something to Prevent the error occuring while accessing them.

In the Post we are going to see,how to check wheater the Property is present in the Object or not.

JavaScript provides you with three common ways to check if a property exists in an object:

Use the hasOwnProperty() method.
Use the in operator.
Compare property with undefined.

hasOwnProperty()

The Javascript Object.Prototype has a method called hasOwnProperty() that returns true if the Property we are looking for exist,otherwise it will return False.

The Basic Syntax is,

let result = targetObject.hasOwnProperty(propertyName);

here targetObject is our Object and PropertyName is the specific Property name we are searching for,

let’s see this with an example

`let person = {
   firstName: 'Sam',
   lastName: 'r'
};`

we can check it by,

`let result = person.hasOwnProperty('firstName');
console.log(result); // true`

`let result = person.hasOwnProperty('age');
console.log(result); // false`

Note that the hasOwnProperty() looks for the property in the own properties of the object.

All Object Inherit a Property called toString of the Object,the hasOwnProperty() will not detact it as a property,

`let result = person.hasOwnProperty('toString'); 
console.log(result); // false`

2.the in operator

The in operator returns true if a property exists in an object. If a property does not exist in the object, it returns false.

The Syntax is,

propertyName in targetObject

let’s have an example using the in operator.

`let person = {
   firstName: 'Sam',
   lastName: 'r'
};

let result = 'firstName' in person; 
console.log(result); // true

result = 'age' in person;
console.log(result); // false`

Both in operator and the hasOwnProperty() looks similar,but there is a key difference in it.that was,while checking for Object inherited method ‘toString’ in Object hasOwnProperty() will not detect that but in operator will detatct that,

`let person = {
   firstName: 'Sam',
   lastName: 'Rachael'
};

let result = 'toString' in person;
console.log(result); // true`

3.Comparing the property with undefined

When you access a non-existing property of an object, you will get undefined. Therefore, you can compare the property with the undefined to check if a property exists in an object.

`let person = {
   firstName: 'Sam',
   lastName: 'Rachael'
};

let result = person.firstName !== undefined;
console.log(result); // true`

uphere,we have checked for the ‘not equal to undefined’.And in our Case yes firstName Property do exist and it’s not equal to Undefined and retured True.

But there’s an another problem in these method,

If an object has a property whose value is undefined, then comparing the property with undefined will return an incorrect result. For example

`let person = {
   firstName: 'Sam',
   lastName: 'Rachael',
   age: undefined
};

let result = person.age !== undefined;
console.log(result); // false`

In this example, the age property does exist in the person object. However, its initial value is undefined. Therefore, comparing the person.age with undefined returns false , which is not expected.
Yes,That’s for now.

In the meantime, thanks for your time …
Sam

The post Javascript Object #3 appeared first on ProdSens.live.

Chat Indexing with Chatsindex.com

Daniel Wood — Tue, 21 Mar 2023 11:02:04 +0000

Would you like to grow your chat community? Chatsindex.com indexes chat messages and make them searchable for search engines like Google. Well, will be as this is still a prototype! Through SEO (Search Engine Optimization) it is ensured that the entries appear as high as possible in the search results. This way new users can be attracted to your Discord server or any other chat you prefer.

Below you can see an example of how a Discord channel and the search results can look like:

The Google page is only mocked (Chatsindex.com/search) because it is still a prototype.

How does it work?

A Discord bot writes the messages into a database. The database gets queried by a NextJS server and rendered into search-engine-optimized (SEO) pages. Google crawls the page and the entries are discoverable.

The prototype is built using the T3-Stack. The T3-stack is a NextJS stack with TailwindCSS, tRPC, and Prisma. The database is currently SQLite and is queried with tRPC and Prisma. The page is rendered using NextJS and TailwindCSS.

Participants

Does this idea sound interesting to you? Then feel free to contact me https://MartinMueller.dev. I am looking for volunteers with Discord servers to test the idea.

Outlook

If the idea is well received, I would like to index other private chat systems like WhatsApp groups, Telegram groups, Slack, etc.

Another idea of mine is to implement an overall search for private chats like Discord, WhatsApp groups, Telegram groups, and Slack. With certain keywords or categories, private chats with certain topic content can then be found. For example, if I’m interested in financial education, I can then simply enter finance in the search and I’ll be presented with Discord servers, WhatsApp/Telegram groups, etc. with a focus on finance. If you like the idea, feel free to contact me.

Conclusion

I think the combination of SEO and private chats like Discord servers is an exciting idea. For now, I want to test the idea and see if there is any demand for it. If you are interested, feel free to contact me.

Using the T3-Stack was super fun and it took me just like a weekend to sketch out this little prototype. If you need help with your idea or project reach out to me as well!

Thanks to the DeepL translater (free version) for helping with translating to English and saving me tons of time :).

I love to work on Open Source projects. A lot of my stuff you can already use on https://github.com/mmuller88 . If you like my work there and my blog posts, please consider supporting me on the:

And don’t forget to visit my site

The post Chat Indexing with Chatsindex.com appeared first on ProdSens.live.

Daniel Wood, Author at ProdSens.live

Lidando com exceções: como fazer erros práticos e elegantes no Express js

Entendendo o que é uma exceção

Try catch em ação

Quando o try catch se torna um obstáculo

Middleware de manipulação de erros

Middleware como solução elegante

Personalizando os erros

Personalizando o middleware de erros

Erros assíncronos

Recomendações

Conclusão

What is Jamstack in 2024?

A Brief 2023 Timeline

The Community Held a Funeral for Jamstack…

…But Is the Term Actually Dead?

So Where Does That Leave Us?

How to Send JSON Data in Postman

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Install and Set Up Postman

Step 2: Create a New Request

Step 3: Set Request Type to POST

Step 4: Fill in the Request URL

Step 5: Add JSON Data to the Request Body

Step 6: Send the Request and View the Response

Notes

Conclusion

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I import and export requests in Postman?

2. What HTTP methods does Postman support?

References

How to Make a Gantt Chart In Google Sheets (Template Included)

Why Make a Gantt Chart in Google Sheets?

Google Sheet Gantt Chart: Pros & Cons

Pros of Making a Gantt Chart In Google Sheets

Cons of Making a Gantt Chart In Google Sheets

Gantt Chart Template for Google Sheets

How to Make a Gantt Chart In Google Sheets

1. List Your Tasks & Due Dates

2. Create a “Start on Day” Column

3. Calculate the Duration of Each Task

4. Insert a Chart

5. Select the Stacked Bar Chart

6. Format the Stacked Bar Chart

ProjectManager’s Gantt View Is Better than Google Sheets Gantt Charts

Opening Your Gantt Charts for Google Sheets In ProjectManager

1. Import Your Google Sheet Gantt Chart

2. Add Task Duration to the Gantt Chart

3. Link Task Dependencies & Set Milestones on the Timeline

4. Assign Work and Share With Stakeholders

SQLite vs. Chroma: A Comparative Analysis for Managing Vector Embeddings

SQLite with sqlite-vss Extension

SQLite Advantages

SQLite Challenges

Chroma for Vector Embeddings

Chroma Advantages

Chroma Challenges

Comparative Insights

1. Ease and Flexibility vs. Specialization

2. Dependency Management

3. Scalability and Performance

4. Use Case Alignment

5. Community and Support

Conclusion

Journey Through the Digital Highway🛣️🗺️: How Data📑 Travels From Your Laptop💻 to Your Friend’s Laptop🙋‍♂️: Deep Dive.

Here’s the explaination of the data transfer:

Best 25 Project Manager Interview Questions and Answers (2023)

Types of Project Manager Interview Questions

Scenario-Based Project Manager Interview Questions

Behavioral Project Manager Interview Questions

Top Project Manager Interview Questions and Answers

1. Tell Me About Yourself

2. What’s your background, personally and professionally?

3. What’s your ideal project?

4. Have you worked in this industry before?

Project Budget Template

5. Have you managed remote teams?

6. How did your last project end?

7. How do you prioritize tasks on a project?

8. How do you foster team collaboration?

SQLite with `sqlite-vss` Extension