Business & Process (Archive)

Page 3 of 5 (45 total articles)
  • November 14, 2007 in Business & Process

    "Company Blog" Sounds Scary and Risky

    Blogging is perhaps the most misunderstood word in my everyday vocabulary. If you are the type of web designer that makes a habit of persuading your clients to start a company blog, then you know exactly what I mean. Some of the reactions I've gotten to this suggestion have been down right comical. "Well, I don't want just anybody adding pages to our web site." "Blog... Yeah, I think I've heard of that. But we really want to stay out of politics." "A company blog would be great! Let me get my tape measure." Okay, that last one may be a little exaggerated but you get the picture. One of the most dangerous enemies of client communication is industry lingo and, Believe it or not, it can be a deal breaker. The more time you spend explaining geeky words and phrases to a prospective client, the less time you have to present the core concepts that will help their business or organization be more successful on the web. The solution to the problem involves a simple retooling of the language we use with our clients. For example, instead of "company blog" I've started saying "company news". With that seemingly insignificant change in wording I've eliminated fifteen minutes of explaining, arguing, and re-explaining. As a result, the meeting goes more smoothly, the client feels more and ease, and the chances of my success are increased dramatically.

  • November 6, 2007 in Business & Process

    Bubbl.us - Online Flowchart Application with Some Much Needed Simplicity

    In the past, admittedly dragging my feet, I've been put a position where I've had to research flowchart applications for clients. I've never really liked flowchart software. In my opinion using complicated flowchart software to plan a project only delays starting actual work and, by the end of the project, show us how arrogant we were to assume we could foresee every possible pitfall. In short, the benefits of planning for two hours tend to be about the same a planning for a week. The efficiency curve drops dramatically somewhere early on in the planning phase. That being said, planning is still very important. We should be looking for tools that make the planning process more efficient (especially for those of us who are planning junkies). Bubbl.us is definitely one of these tools. A Flash based (so passe, I know) free online application, Bubbl.us presents an intuitive set of tools to create fast and easy flowcharts and share them with the world. That's it! No junk features. I definitely recommend it and hope that the creators stick to their original vision as the pressure mounts to complicate the wonderfully simplistic tool.

  • October 15, 2007 in Business & Process

    Remember, the IT Aspect of Web Design is Inconsequential

    This is kind of a follow up to a post I wrote a couple of weeks ago entitled "Don't Send Me Your IT Department". After writing that article, I started becoming more aware of my own attitude about the programming and IT aspect of web design.

  • September 28, 2007 in Business & Process

    Don't Send Me Your IT Department

    "Get to the Point" a daily email newsletter from marketingprofs.com recently had an article entitled "Information Technology is from Mars, Marketing is from Venus". The title immediately struck a chord with me. Many times I've gone to consult with a company about their web site and they sent their IT guys out while their marketing department was AWOL.

  • August 21, 2007 in Business & Process

    Managing Support Issues as You Grow... Enter Helperoo

    No matter what size your new media business is, you will always be dealing with support issues. When you first start out, you can easily mange them with a handwritten to-do list; but as your team grows and your client list grows, it becomes increasingly difficult to effectively manage support issues...

  • August 10, 2007 in Business & Process

    The Ideal New Media Consultant: Confident but Humble

    Confidence and humility are two very important characteristics of a good new media consultant. Your confidence gives your clients confidence about your services and your humility makes you approachable and enjoyable to do business with...

  • August 7, 2007 in Business & Process

    Stop Tweaking Your Projects: The 80/20 Rule

    A huge part of being both efficient and fulfilled in the NewMedia business is the ability to stop tweaking projects. It seems like every time we finish a project, there is always something that we think we can improve. This is a slippery slope that always ends in tears (take it from me). The 80/20 rule is a great way to put an end to unnecessary tweaking. It simply states that 20% of your effort is used to bring a piece of work to 80% perfection. So next time you are tempted to tweak, remember that once you pass that 20% mark, your efficiency drops dramatically. It will take 80% of your effort to bring the project the other 20% to perfection. If you are worried about not “giving 100%” like your high school coach told you to, don’t. You will be helping your clients spend their money more wisely by taking this attitude.

  • July 31, 2007 in Business & Process

    Principle vs. Rule Driven Business

    I have found that creating very strict rules for how I run my business ends up having the opposite effect of what I intend. In fact I think I have actually been pretty arrogant in thinking that my rules could account for every future hurdle I might encounter. On the opposite side of the coin is a business that is run mamby pamby by fleeting whims which is just as bad. Somewhere in the middle is a principle driven business that is both controlled and flexible. It’s actually pretty easy to get into this mindset. First, lay out a very short list of principles by which you would like to run your business. Then whenever you are about to make a business decision, just ask yourself if your decision is in line with the principles that drive you business. Okay, maybe that’s an over simplification of the matter but you get the picture.

  • July 24, 2007 in Business & Process

    Particls: An annoying desktop version of NetVibes

    Particls is an interesting take on the whole NetVibes Phenomenon. It prompts you with real time alerts when changes occur on your favorite sites or RSS feeds. Sounds cool, huh? I don�t think so. I�m going to stick with NetVibes or PageFlakes for the same reason I canceled my Yahoo! IM account and stopped getting email on my cell phone � Sporatic and unpredicatble alerts equal low productivity. On-demand is the way to go.

  • July 6, 2007 in Business & Process

    Try Referring Clients to Your Competition

    I’d like to think that I live my life by the biblical concept that it’s better to give than receive; but when it comes to business that principle can be a hard one to swallow. For example, there is a local designer here in Midland that I send clients to from time to time when I’m too busy or a client’s budget isn’t enough to get the job done. He’s a lot cheaper than I am and he doesn’t do much programming but I know he’s reliable. I’ve never actually met him but this week, to my surprise he sent a client back my way that needed some web functionality that was beyond his skill. Fortunately, we still live in a society that responds to good will (at least in Texas we do. Yeehaw!)

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