Aug 29
Aug 28
Mar 20
In this fast moving world, several things I’ve grown quite accustomed to. Being able to easily measure progress is one of those things. Unfortunately, we are at the stage where measurable progress for Code Eight is hard to… measure. I like to see things checked off, finished, working, and ready. However, I’ve learned recently that with programming sometimes those things aren’t as easily stated.
Set something measurable
Ask any programmer and they’ll tell you that they know what needs done. Each programmed element is made up of tiny elements (those things that designers like me don’t know). They may be 90% done with one task and it’s taken them all week because of the 100 mini todo’s that make up that task. Don’t misunderstand me, designers don’t need to know all the minute details. What I am suggesting though is use some project management software to track tasks, projects, milestones, and the like. With this you’ll always be able to see some progress.
Stay on top of it
Of course, you’re going to want to frequently check in with your designers and programmers to check their progress (even if you can see it in your project management software). Not to bug them, but to stay informed. At least at this point that’s what I’ve found to be the most effective.
Don’t be afraid when you don’t see progress, because the chances are things are getting done without you knowing it. Marc Amos stated that “even immeasurable progress is progress.” He is absolutely right!
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Mar 04
One thing I’ve been pushing pretty hard since we started is setting up a good timeline for Code Eight. I think it is important to stay on task as much as possible. Does this mean we won’t get behind? Ha, if only that were true. It just aids us in not get too far behind.
Why bother?
It would make sense to not even worry about time lines, deadlines, or goals if you know that you’re going to fall behind. True, but how many people plan on falling behind. That sounds stupid.
Plans are nothing! Planning is everything.
Dwight Eisenhower stated that plans are nothing, planning is everything. He is quite right, the plans themselves aren’t as important as sitting down and planning. If you don’t know where you’re going, you can’t really get there.
The Best of Intentions
Even with the best of intentions, we’ve already fallen behind of my illustrious launch goal. No matter! I am sure there will parts of our plan where we can make up some time. The beauty of working on Code Eight is that we’re in charge. No pesky client is telling us when it’s due, and we’re not holding up the launch of a product/website. It is a wonderful change.
With that said, you NEED to treat yourself as a client as much as possible. If not, you’ll abuse and take advantage of yourself.
Time to go harp on my developer to get back on track…
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Feb 20
We’ve broken up the project into two distinct areas: design and development. I’m sure that sounds elementary, however there are other ways to break down an applications development (more to come on why we choose the path we did). Being charged with the design aspect and with the business end of things in my head, I tend to look at things differently. Here is how we came up with our application’s name.
What limitations did we apply and why?
With every logo, company name, or product name one has certain limitations or guidelines to follow. Since this is an internal project and not a client project we had no initial constraints. I on the other hand had several in mind. The name had to:
- be marketable. (meaning could easily design a campaign around it.)
- be memorable.
- be catchy.
- be fun.
- be short in syllables (so it wouldn’t take an hour to say)
- have the domain name available. (preferably the dot com, but a dot net would suffice)
- have an association with the application. (preferred, but not required)
How did we start?
I always stress about coming up with a name, mainly as a designer because I’d like some idea as to what direction to start designing. So where to start coming up with a name? We started with the obvious, what did the application do. I did a web search and jotted down some interesting words. Then we listed play on words based on it and we added words that were complimentary to them that we liked. Still more lists of some words in reverse. As desperation was setting in (not really it just felt like it to me), we tried using the Top Level Domain as part of the name. At this point we didn’t really have a name we immediately felt was perfect. We had several worth keeping on the list, and exploring further.
BINGO! (almost)
This entire process took a few days of searching, making a list, bouncing ideas back & forth and off friends. Then it hit us — the perfect name was on our original list. We liked the name, the fun-ness of it, the marketability. One by one our criteria was met…. until we came to the dot com. It wasn’t available. Wouldn’t you know!
I like seeing who owns the domains I want, so I took a peak and got angry. It’s a SEDO page someone is sitting on. The dot net was available so we bought it just in case I couldn’t work out a deal for the domain. I emailed the owner of the domain to see if he’d be interested in selling it. He replied with what I expected: “sure, make me an offer.” So I made a very modest offer, expecting a counter. What I got shocked me! “Take your offer and multiply it by 30, and I might be interested,” was the reply I received. I countered with double my original offer and left the ball in their court. I was happy with the dot net domain so if we got the dot com domain - it would be icing on the cake.
And the winner is…
We’ve selected Code Eight. I know you’re thinking what on earth does this have to do with our application. The application we’re building is an innovative web-based backup utility. Code Eight is the police code for “requesting backup,” so it’s a perfect fit!
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