A few years ago, I was asked by an account manager whether there was a formula he could apply to calculate the cost of “a website”. He was looking for a spreadsheet he could take to client meetings to provide costs on the fly without getting project managers and developers involved. You can imagine the sort of thing – a picking list with functionality and prices next to each one.
I remember thinking it was a reasonable enough request. But very naive.
Or are you a bit of both? Someone who likes to think they have a sense of social responsibility but is far from devoid of materialistic tendencies. You go on anti-capitalist demonstrations, but you take an EasyJet flight. Are you going to vote Labour or Tory? Or is neither quite right? There’s a cigarette paper between the policies these days. Maybe you’d like a cross-party government?
Formula 1: to many it’s just a bunch of cars going round in circles. To the more enthusiastic amongst us, it’s just a bunch of very fast, technology laden cars…going round in circles.
One of the frequent complaints we hear from clients about previous digital projects is that “the delivery was late”.
No question, delivering a digital project on time is a complicated task – whether it’s a seemingly straightforward banner or a global content managed site. However, that’s no excuse – there are a number of key factors, that if considered from the outset, should help to ensure that a project is delivered on time.
In this article we’ve put together a list of 10 common reasons for late delivery and tactics that should be used to overcome them… Read more »
In my case it was thanks to the book Bad Science by Ben Goldacre. Anyone who’s spent any time with me over the last few months will know this book really clicked with me – it’s a great read and I became a bit of a bore with it all.
It’s been described as “illusory superiority”. In short, it’s an idea that describes that the ability to judge whether you’re very good at something is inextricably linked to whether you are very good at it.
So Christmas is now over, the January sales are in full swing, the twelve drummers are drumming and we’re all left to contemplate our expanded waistlines (or is that just me?). Even more significantly, 2010 marks the end of the first decade of the Millennium. It was a big one historically (how many wars can you cram in a decade?) and particularly for the Internet.
The question on our minds is whether the next decade can possibly be as significant for the Internet as the last one?
Sure, there’s plenty of life left in the old dog, but it’s amazing how many of the things we consider part of everyday life now weren’t even a twinkle on a programmer’s keyboard 10 years ago.
The turn of the Millennium saw the “dotcom crash” – even that seems like an archaic term now! The naysayers were convinced this was the end of the Internet. The rest of us were just wondering how anyone ever thought a company like Boo.com could ever be valued skywards of $100m+. A lot of corporate fingers got burnt badly. Thankfully, for most, reality soon dawned. People realised that the Internet could indeed be exploited for commercial gain – providing traditional business rules and models were applied.
Here’s a list of things that have only come into being in the last decade. Feel free to comment on any I’ve missed out…
A group of account and project managers were sat around a table discussing a recent project. The project had been a success – launched on time and a happy client. However, a lot of the design and development work had come in over the original time budgets. There was a bit of a witch hunt going on to try to get to the bottom of the situation and I sensed momentum starting to build behind the argument that “these pesky developers have underquoted…again!”.
Christmas parties are booked in; “celebrities” are being rallied to every small town in the country for the light switching on ceremony; consumption of cheap chocolates begins next week when the first door of the advent calendar is prised open; everyone becomes a part-time electrician with the inevitable failure of the tree lights; lists are compiled whilst the tat from last year is cleared out; offices are decorated (7dots HQ, The Kopshop is already bedecked – check out the 7dots Flikr gallery); websites take on a festive theme…
…or do they?!? We’ve spotted a few “Xmasized” sites already and suspect a load more will appear next week:
Let us know what you think using the poll on the right. We’ll go with the consensus!
I’m sure many of you have been lucky enough to attend a management training session. One of the exercises they often roll out is where they ask you to draw nine dots in a grid. You’re then asked to try and connect the dots using four connected straight lines. Usually only a handful of people manage, because the only way to complete the task is by the lines going beyond the grid and back in again:
On my phone you understand. On my own. It’s not like I whip out a green cloth and some chips. I’m not even worried about wearing sunglasses to hide my tells.
A few years ago, I was asked by an account manager whether there was a formula he could apply to calculate the cost of "a website". He was looking for a spreadsheet he could take to client meetings to provide costs on the fly without getting project managers and developers involved. You can imagine the sort of thing - a picking list with functionality and prices next to each one.
I remember thinking it was a reasonable enough request. But very naive.
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Socialist or capitalist – which one are you?
Or are you a bit of both? Someone who likes to think they have a sense of social responsibility but is far from devoid of materialistic tendencies. You go on anti-capitalist demonstrations, but you take an EasyJet flight. Are you going to vote Labour or Tory? Or is [...]
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Arcade Fire and Google create a stunning website using HTML5 and various web technologies (use Chrome browser) - http://bit.ly/9ejgCw
Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:58
A look at why trivial change testing can be more beneficial than radical change testing - http://bit.ly/9m2SPc
Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:37
We're very proud to announce the successful launch of CultureLabel.com - http://bit.ly/cgGQLR
Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:15
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