Zach Holman explains why textual mediums like chat and e-mail are often better ways to communicate and collaborate than real-time mediums like conference calls and face-to-face meetings, but also recognizes that there are a few situations where the opposite is true. Just one more reason why I strongly prefer working remotely.
Category Archives: Project Management
Do All Websites Need to be Responsive Right Now?
I agree with the principles behind responsive web design, but I think this is a good thing to keep in mind when talking to clients: Timing is everything. For businesses that are trying to turn a profit, their return on investment (ROI) matters. Although mobile is important, it still amounts to a very small percentage of […]
Getting Pricing Right
Code Poet just released a free eBook called Getting Pricing Right that interviews Mark Jaquith, Remkus de Vries and Shane Pearlman on setting consulting rates and miscellaneous related topics. It’s short and contains a lot of good advice, as well as links to a lot of resources.
What Really Motivates Us
Dan Pink’s talk at RSA presents some really interesting ideas about what really motivates people to work. Contrary to popular opinion among management, mainstream studies reveal that people don’t really care about making more money, as long as they have enough to meet their basic needs. What really drives us is mastering our craft, having autonomy […]
Visualizing Project Schedules
I’ve been tracking projects on a spreadsheet for awhile in order to make sure I’m on time/budget, but I also recently started using a timeline application to help visualize the scheduling, and that’s been a huge improvement. You get a much better picture of what’s going on at any given point when you’re looking at […]
The Necessity of Contracts
Mike Monteiro and Gabe Levine gave a great presentation for Creative Mornings on the necessity of contracts when doing client work. I never really liked using them because 95% of projects go smoothly and it seems kind of impersonal, but after a recent experience and talking to other developers, I’m beginning to see the need for them, and […]
Tracking Project Hours/Deadlines
Lately I’ve been trying to work out a good process for quoting projects and tracking the billable hours and deadlines. I’ve had a couple large projects go over budget/deadline, and I think two of the main reasons are that I wasn’t realistic enough in the quote, and that I just wasn’t being intentional about monitoring […]
The Design Curve
“10 Absolute ‘Nos!’ for Freelancers”
WakeUpLater.com has some good tips for freelance web designers/developers.