Growth Patterns: Building a foundation for expansion — Driving, or being driven, to grow in order...

transcript

Welcome to Atlantic BT

Growth Patterns: Building a foundation for expansion

Driving, or being driven, to grow in order to meet demand.

We Now Have 50 EmployeesOpen hiring positions for another 5 (10%)

We Have 2 New Dedicated TeamsCopywritingQuality Assurance

Expanded Our Management Team to AccommodateProduction ManagerSales DirectorHR/Recruiting ManagerSoftware Dev Manager

pattern: The Bottleneck

pattern: S&M / Ying & yang

pattern: Chicken & the egg

pattern: feed the beast

It’s a numbers game

Itʼs risky... You have to consider the numbers.How will you meter the pace of your growth?Growth has impact across an organization

Ripple EffectGrowth can be contained:

Rate ChangesFiring ClientsTurning Down New Business

Growth should be deterministicIs it taking you where you want to go?

Design that scales

Methods and best practices to grow gracefully.

I am Eileen Allen

Super Mom, Photographer, Designer & Creative Director @ AtlanticBT

@eileenallen

Drink the kool aid

Process... Weʼre talking about process?! (Allen Iversonʼs voice)

You have to buy into your process, but donʼt let it handcuff you.

productBRIEF research ideas solution production

the setup

The days of starting your project on a blank Photoshop canvas are done. It requires too much wasted time and energy.

BRIEF research ideas

Whether you are a team of one, a small shop looking to expand, or a massive force, you can benefit from thorough planning.

Client Brief / WorksheetCreative BriefIdea BriefCo-DesignStyleboard

This collection of “setup” methods is meant to help us do one thing... Think Before We Do.

Our creative arsenal

This is usually the first interaction a client has with our design team.It allows clients to share their hopes and dreams.The worksheet is meant to help clients self-evaluate, organize their thoughts, and share their preferences.

Client Brief

Example Question

How involved do you want to be in the design process of your site?I trust your expertise and leave the design decisions up to you.I would like to have a say in the design of my site.I know exactly what I want and would like you to follow my instructions.

Visit Atlantic BTʼs Actual Worksheet http://www.atlanticbt.com/client-worksheet.php

This is NOT your grandmaʼs brief. Instead, we ask a series of five questions during the client kick off meeting.

creative brief

Define purpose. Why do you feel like you need a site?Define sales process. How do you communicate who you are to clients?Define the users. Who is the site for?Define the end user goal (for each class if more than one). What is the desired action?Define the look and feel. Confirmation of client brief (theme, colourway, risk factor)

creative brief

idea brief

“An idea brief is a sentence, or two, that sums up the project and frames it as a problem statement. A question that needs an answer.”

- Mark Boulton

Source http://www.alistapart.com/articles/savingthespark/

Actual examples of our previous brief briefs include:This client needs to distinguish themselves from the competition by making a complex process easy for customers to understand. This client needs the site to reflect the innovation in their technology, communicate how they are ahead of the curve in their industry, and highlight their credibility.This client needs a site design that better reflects their reputation and attract high-end clientele.

idea brief

Co-Design is a brainstorming session where the project team collaborates and share their perspective on the common goals.

Use the idea brief to springboard into the co-design workshop.

Co-Design can happen:You and a clientYou and another designerYou and UXYou and UX and marketing and PMYou and all of the above

co-design

The concept was adopted from Leah Buley, formerly of Adaptive Path.

The benefits of co-design sessions include:

No one comes in empty handed.Helps to prioritize elements and features.We identify/solve the layout through ideation.Everyone has a voice, because all ideas are good ideas.Bada-bing: Wireframe!

co-design

Itʼs like if a style guide and a mood board had a baby!Have you ever had a client:

Be surprised by your design choices? Ever point out that you used the wrong kind of camo for the background of their military equipment catalog site?

To prevent these surprises and potentially embarrassing mistakes, we start with style boards to help the client visualize our direction before we begin designing.

style board

The key benefits of a style board include:Eliminates surprises.Designers are better prepared.Avoids designing in a vacuum.

style board

sharing is caring

DevelopmentFundamentals

Adventures in abnormal growth.

I am daryl hemeon

Pipe Smoking Systems Astronaut & Manager of Programmers at AtlanticBT

Developer for 12+ Years Mostly .NetPreviously a Systems Consultant at UnumFavorite Droid App = RadioParadise

@darylhemeon

Our development team has almost doubled in size within the last two years.

More Employees More ClientsMore CodeMore BugsMore Site Launches

you can look back

In order to sustain growth, you must excel at the fundamentals.

The Joel TestFail Fast & FuriousThe Light is Green (Unit Testing)Low-Spark High Heeled ImpersonationDiagnose like House MDDon't Listen to the Astronauts

The Joel Test

Do you use source control? Yes.Can you make a build in one step? Not Completely.Do you make daily builds? Working on it.Do you have a bug database? Yes.Do you fix bugs before you write new code? No.Do you have an up to date schedule? Yes.Do you have a spec? Sort of.Do programmers/designers have quiet working conditions? Yes, sometimes.Do you have the best tools money can buy? Yes.Do you have testers? Yes.Do new candidates write code during their interview? Yes.Do you do hallway usability testing? Yes.

Source http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/

Fail Fast Part Uno

public static void ValidateObjectParameterNotNull(object parameter, string parameterName){ throw new ArguementNullException(string.Format("{0} cannot be null.", parameterName)); }

Fail Fast Part deux

"Failing fast doesn’t just save us money. The cold reality is that people don’t like working on failing projects. When a project is failing, people generally can smell it in the air. Employee engagement goes down, turnover goes up, and things just generally get worse.

The best thing to do — for your people, for your company — is to learn to fail, and create a culture that learns from failure."

- Aaron Erickson

Source http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1748768

Test Driven Development Unit tests

"Test is a verb meaning 'to evaluate'. No software engineers release even the tiniest change without testing, except the very confident and the very sloppy...Although you may test your changes, testing changes is not the same has having tests."

- Kent Beck

Read This Book Test Driven Development by Example http://books.google.com/books/about/Test_driven_development.html?

Low-Fi Spark of High Heeled Impersonation

Admin functionality on your site... Keep it Simple.

Search for a UserIf (AppUser.IsInRole("Admin), Then Set a CookieIf Cookie Exists, Load User

Diagnose like house

Build a Diagnostics Page that is accessible by IT support so that they can help troubleshoot production issues.Dump your data as XML.Use built-in tracing features of Frameworks.

Don’t Listen to the astronauts

What's Microsoft Live Mesh?Hmm, let's see..."Imagine all your devices—PCs, and soon Macs and mobile phones—working together to give you anywhere access to the information you care about."Wait a minute. Something smells fishy here. Isn't that exactly what Hailstorm was supposed to be?

I smell an architecture astronaut.

Source http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2008/05/01.html

!"ghtsby

Daryl Hemeon

in closing...

Growth makes you look back at the fundamentals.Fail FastUnit TestingUser ImpersonationProduction DiagnosticsDon't Listen to AstronautsLeaders Bring People Together

THank You

photo credits

http://images2.fanpop.com/image/photos/8900000/Ying-yang-firefox-8967278-1600-1200.jpg

http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/b/bottleneck.asp

http://jamieansweringtheunanswerable.blogspot.com/2010/08/first-question.html

http://icanhascheezburger.com/?s=chipmunk

http://designingfortheweb.co.uk/

http://manpacks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/underwear_icon-200x150.png

http://tinawatkins.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/care-bears.jpg

http://www.moviegoods.com/movie_poster/dont_look_back_1967.htm

http://lh5.ggpht.com/-4v21NrOytmQ/TGuOHqzzNaI/AAAAAAAAICM/3KH2Cpb2pcE/vin-diesel_fastfurious.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Traffic_-_The_Low_Spark_of_High_Heeled_Boys.png

http://funver.com/images/stories/people/celebrities/dr.house/dr.house11.jpg

http://www.e-beautywallpaper.com/files/landscape24.jpg

Growth Patterns: Building a foundation for expansion — Driving, or being driven, to grow in order...

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