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Informal Contract
So it just dawned on me, after having spent yet another weekend on this project, that maybe there should be a cap on the time or the number of revisions allowed within the scope of the bid. Oh wait, we do have a cap in our contract. So (scratching my head), why am I now working on revision #4,536,136? Oh, that’s right, because this is for the one client that we have for whom we did not prepare a formal contract for. This brings to light a fundamental concept… Contracts are for people who think they don’t need contracts.
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Plan. Do. Check. Adjust.
The definition of insanity is to perform the exact same action over and over while expecting different results. Plan. Do. Check. Adjust. I’ve heard it for years. Not a brilliant revolutionary idea. It sounds kind of plain. But, in all honesty, when is that last time we did it? Are you building your business consciously and intentionally, or do you spend each and every day putting out fires at the whim of circumstance?
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Surf Forecasting
Wish you could see the future? So do we. The first night we got our iPhones, Peter decided what the world needed more than anything was a mobile surf predictor. Who could argue with such an impeccable understanding of human nature! After a bunch of research looking for good prediction data, some math and homework, we realized that reporting the current surfing condition is fairly easy. On the other hand, predicting the future is a whole different story. Through his search for quality information, Peter came across a bunch of great public ocean data resources. If you happen to be as surf obsessed as we are and want to play the amateur oceanographer, here is a list of the sites we found with the help of our associate, Ben Porterfield. NOAA | Storm Surf | Storm Surfing | Surfline: Pleasure … Continue reading
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Word of The Day: Vague Deadline
vague dead.line [vÄg dêd'lîn] noun An unclear time limit. Often implemented with the intent of relaxing time boundaries only to produce an impending sense of doom. A clearly stated deadline that has been utterly ignored and therefor requires de-emphasis. Usage: “Yeah, we figured 3pm sharp was a vague deadline and that it would be OK to get it to you at 6pm tomorrow.”
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Contracts: Terms & Conditions
A lot of freelancers have been asking us if we use a standard contract, what issues we address and the verbiage we worked out with our laywer. Since our contract was hard-earned, I thought it would be worth sharing. This is lawyer ratified, but if you choose to use it, neither Peter or I, nor our lawyer will be standing next to you in court when things blow up. Please, please, please sit down with your lawyer and make sure to get the odds and ends in place to fit your business. All our contracts have a cover page, then the revised proposal followed by the terms and conditions and signature. I might be willing to create a template for the entire proposal / contract document if we get enough requests in the comments.
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An Ode to Ted
Inspired talks by the world’s greatest thinkers and doers Sometimes greatness is in my own backyard and I never even know it. I was recently introduced to Ted through a client of ours in Israel. Ted is brilliant, funny, innovative and I can’t believe I missed out. And course happens to be less than 30 minutes away from my back door. So all I need is to figure out is who to knock off the list so I can get invited and then convince my wife that I can spend 6k on one-week orgy of learning, creativity and personal growth. Their website is as addictive as “cocaine” cheese, known to most of you as Tostitos Nacho Cheese.
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How to Market Online: Nike Gets It
Want to push a ton of product to a target demographic? Then follow Nike’s lead. Unwilling to settle for just one award-winning, mind-blowing, heart-thumping flash site, Nike has been assembling an armada of flash-based product demos that all come together in their hub site. What follows is a recipe for marketing success in the changing new media landscape. Let’s say this first: I’m not a Nike rep, I don’t wear Nike shoes, sport Nike golf clubs, or own stock in Nike. I’m just a young, “plugged in” designer who’s been keeping an eye on Nike’s advances into the new media picture via a set of some pretty hot websites. It seems like a month doesn’t go by when I don’t find Nike gathering a new award or developing hype around a new product. It’s not their products that excite me, … Continue reading
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Growing Pains: Managing the Explosion
July was an intense month. I was gone to Spain on business for 2 weeks (pictures soon). While I was gone, Peter was holding down the fort with a lot of new work, new clients and new team members. Some great successes and some unpleasant lessons. The question at hand: how to manage quick growth? It’s a bit of a balancing act. Our recent conclusion (not an answer because we don’t actually know yet): you can’t grow constantly. Sometimes you need to purposefully create a short plateau so that you can regroup and organize the team to handle the next round of challenges. If you don’t, the odds are that some important things will fall through the cracks. I thought I would share a conversation with a very close friend of mine, who is also a CEO running an exploding … Continue reading
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Word of The Day: Permabeta
per.ma.beta [pûr'mÉ™-bÄ'tÉ™] adjective An indefinite state of incompleteness. Often symptomatic of highly humble or insecure engineers or agile development and web 2.0. A state of endless anticipation for advance to a higher level. Usage: “Johny wanted to get to third base with Suzy for years. Realizing his relationship was permabeta, he dumped her for Sally 3.0″
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Should You Take the Gig?
Do you know a good project when you see it? I find that choosing a project is much like dating. You are looking for a project you will enjoy spending time on, that won’t drain all your resources, and will leave you feeling better after the date than you did before it started. When I’m out mixing it up and have my sales hat on though, I tend to chase everything and have to fight the scarcity thinking that often plagues all contractors from time to time. So, as a result, Peter & I put together a new project score card we use to quickly measure whether or not we should pursue an opportunity.
