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Posted 9/22/2008 by Raina, Project Mgr
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One of my clients, (ISC)2 is dedicated to spreading cyber security awareness through the world. We wrapped up the development of Cyber Exchange recently and let the game begin...winners can win up to $1000 US cash! How exciting!
This worldwide company has just launched their new (ISC)2 Cyber Exchange Web site where their members can upload materials, such as posters, videos, presentations and much more. In an effort to make your community and organization cyber safe check out the Cyber Exchange downloads page. You can even rank materials, view the top five ranked materials and five most recently uploaded materials.
The story behind the Cyber Exchange initiative is interesting as well. Learn more about Cyber Security Awareness and how you can incorporate it with your community and organization. Be cyber safe...
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Posted 7/7/2008 by Raina, Project Mgr
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Each month the Project Managers nominate a client they enjoy working with (keyword in being "enjoy"). The chosen client is then recognized as 352's Client of the Month.
I've been nominating (ISC)2 for a few months now and July is as good of a month as any to be chosen. The development team has made made comments in passing about how "on-the-ball" this client has been and still is (not to mention working with us as a team player).
(ISC)2 has placed their branding of their new Web site and many other projects in our creative hands and I'm excited to brag that we've made quite the impression! Way to go team!
Kim White and her team came to Gainesville a few weeks ago to shoot some top secret video work for the new Web site. Meeting with the (ISC)2 team in-person definitely reinforced what a fabulous client they are (and continue to be) to work with.
As you can see from the photos we're off to a great start but you'll have to wait until the end of the summer to see the end results....AHHH the suspense of Web development!
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Posted 5/7/2008 by Declan, Acct Mgr
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Are you running an Intranet for a thousand people in a large company, organization, or government department?
Hear Gerry McGovern speak live on how you can increase productivity and reduce costs by identifying and better managing your employees' top tasks.
Join the FREE webinar on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 @ 15:00 - 16:00 (GMT +1), 10:00AM-11:00AM EDT.
SIGN UP TODAY: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/909567396
Find out more about Gerry McGovern here
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Posted 9/17/2007 by Raina, Project Mgr
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352 Media just launched this really cool site for UF Genetics. I managed it and want to give mad props to the development team and to the client (she produces the videos herself)!!! Be sure to check it out....you can watch videos about space plants, honey bees, the science of scent and many more!!!!
UF Genetics Web Site
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Posted 8/14/2007 by Raina, Project Mgr
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Here are some content tips I share with my clients; I've had many sites that were "stuck" in development and all that needed to be wrapped up was content. I always try to encourage my clients to provide their content in advance.
Content/Navigation Tips
• Get your point across first. Since 79 percent of all Web users scan a page before actually reading anything, make sure your point is obvious.
•Bold words, bulleted lists, informational graphics and meaningful headlines will be obvious to the user and easy to find.
• Pages and content should be short and concise. Internet users have very short attention spans. Several short pages are better than a few long pages.
• Navigation should be intuitive and simple. Calls–to-action should be prominent. Make it easy for users to take the action you desire (such as buying your products or filling out a contact form).
• Your home page is your customers’ first impression - make it memorable! Put your most important information on your home page to catch users’ attention and draw them further into the site.
• Your organization’s contact information should be prominent and easy to find on your Web site. Nothing is more frustrating (and less effective) than a Web site that makes it difficult to contact the organization that it represents.
• Your content affects your search engine results. Be sure to include the phrases and keywords you want to be found under in your actual content. Also, the more content the better! A lot of keyword-rich content will improve your search engine results and gets visitors to your site.
• Avoid having the navigation for your site as flash since this will not help with SEO.
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Posted 7/13/2007 by Geoff, Pres/CEO
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Over the past several years as we’ve been growing this company we’ve encountered many challenges and frustrations along the way. Undoubtedly, the biggest and the most costly frustration has been runaway projects. Runaway projects are those projects that you estimate will take a certain amount of time and incur a certain amount of cost and they end up going way, way, way over budget. Not only do they end up draining resources, draining time, and causing financial loss, but they also frustrate the client in the process because the client was expecting a much quicker turn around on their project. Over the years, we’ve had our fair share of runaway projects. But that’s part of the learning experience you go through building a business like this.
We’ve had some real killer runaway projects over the years. I remember one from a few years ago where the client came in with around a $20,000 budget. The total time we expended on their project was the equivalent of $200,000. Of course, we incurred that huge loss ourselves because the client was unwilling, and rightfully so, to pay for the crazy overages because frankly we did a sloppy job of understanding and documenting the scope of the project to begin with. This is an extreme but true example, and as you can imagine, you can’t have too many examples like this before your company goes under.
Since we’ve encountered projects like this in the past, we’ve made it a large focus internally to prevent runaway projects in the future. We changed our processes and our work flow to try to ensure these types of overages can’t happen again - at least to this extreme.
So how do you prevent runaway projects? The number one way to do it is to have an extremely clear understanding of the clients’ needs during the sales process and to document them. You must ask very thorough questions to understand how exactly the client expects their website to operate. Walk through every potential piece of functionality with them step-by-step so you fully understand the work flow surrounding any functionality. Ask questions to make sure you haven't missed anything. Integration with third party components and databases is one of the largest areas for time drain, so make sure you have thoroughly researched all third party integration requirements prior to setting your price. Once you have compiled this information, document it thoroughly in the form of a statement of work document so there is a crystal clear understanding between both parties as to exactly what you will be doing for the price listed.
In this statement of work document you need to be sure not to use any vague or loose terminology. For example, don’t use the world etcetera. Wherever there is any vagueness in the statement of work document there is an opportunity for the project to runaway from you - so be vigilant about not leaving anything open ended or vague.
The next step, once a statement of work is agreed to, is to put the project through an internal architecture process to architect out every detail prior to putting starting the design and programming. This architecture process is another opportunity for you to work with the client to ensure that you fully understand the scope of everything the client is trying to do. Through processes like wireframing you are able to give the client a visual representation of how the different pages will look and flow. This serves as another fail-safe point to ensure that your expectations are in line with the clients’ expectations and there are no surprises. Although it’s not good to have any surprises after the statement of work document is signed, at least if you discover these surprises during this architecture process you’re only a little way into the project and you can still make adjustments without it creating too much headache.
If you’ve taken the proper steps to write a thorough statement of work and architecture documents then no surprises should occur in development. However, clients do frequently change their mind about how they want their project to look or function. By having thorough statement of work and architecture documents, you can point out to the client that their new expectations are different from their prior expectations, and you can issue a written change order. This change order process should absolutely be followed anytime the client is changing project objectives or functionality, even if the change is not going to incur additional cost for the client.
There is no absolute way to prevent runaway projects for occurring, but taking the steps above will help to significantly reduce the chances of a project running off course.
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Posted 7/11/2007 by PeterV, VP, Marketing
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My wife and I were just cleaning out some photos off the memory stick yesterday, and we came across this great photo. This was taken on a vacation in Arizona. We currently live in Florida. At first glance, I saw the sign and thought how ridiculous it was. Then I realized they're just being honest. Here in Florida, were always misled in terms of road construction. All that does is set us up for disappointment. At least Arizona can say they come in ahead of schedule!
The same is certainly true in the Web development arena. Sure, it's a lot easier to sell a site design if I say it will be ready in a couple of weeks, but with the kinds of sites we do, that just isn't realistic. Or fair. A good site takes time. You don't want to rush planning or creative. And rushing programming or testing will just lead to more headaches down the road.
So hat's off to Arizona's department of transportation for setting realistic, yet absurd, expectations!
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Posted 7/10/2007 by Raina, Project Mgr
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My second yoga training session is approaching this weekend and I am super stoked! I attend the Prana Vinyasa School of Yoga one/two weekends a month for the next nine months until I become a certified yoga instructor.
To relieve my stress while pounding away at the keyboard, I incorporate yoga with my Project Management daily; such as breathing techniques or spinal twists. Even hanging your head below your heart for a few minutes can relieve stress. There are some easy exercises for the eyes and hands that can rejuvenate strained eyes from starting at a computer screen and typing all day.
Yoga is the calming of the mind and is becoming evermore popular in the workplace. I came across this very informative article in Yoga Journal that talks about the history of yoga in the workplace as well as the proven results that yoga helps employees manage their stress and improve work performance.
There is no competition in yoga which a lot of people don't realize. You don't have to be flexible to do downward dog or triangle pose; you just need to be aware of how your body feels when you're in a pose. The most important part of a yoga pose is breathing and concentrating the mind on the present moment.
Here are some poses that can help relieve your stress.
I've even started my own Yoga Gainesville community for Yoga in the Workplace. Gainesville Yoga Classes for businesses is now one of my speciality services with my newest business venture.
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