Planning is essential for most businesses and organizations. Unfortunately, when it comes to websites there is often a failure to plan properly or at all. As a veteran designer, developer and project manager, Ben Seigel has identified a common problem with many web projects: failure to plan. For that reason, Ben has written a guide in order to help other designers, businesses and organizations plan and realize successful websites.
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We’re about to experience a private equity bust, or that VC’s are evil and investment will never work for your startup. Instead, entertain the thought that investment is not a silver bullet and shouldn’t be considered the ultimate goal of your new venture. There are plenty of prudent and diligent investors who can help to make your business a success, and likewise, there are many alternatives to equity capital that could work out better for you. In this article Michael Daniel will look into the chances your business has at rising to the heights of Uber and Airbnb, and explore some alternative avenues for raising capital and building your next brilliant idea.
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The way many of us create content-driven websites isn’t quite optimal, and we need to do something about it. When designing a website, it’s important to focus on better understanding the folks who will visit the website. If you haven’t allowed user feedback to influence the design and content of your website, then it’s probably time you did. Paul Boag explains why.
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As software designers, your work deserves to be protected as much as any other author’s does. Thanks to headlines featuring big companies like Google and Oracle, copyright law is an often-discussed but frequently-misunderstood topic. This article was created specifically with software developers and designers in mind. Though this article Kimberly Bond will provide an overview, perhaps this information will be helpful to those of you who work each day to create and improve the software programs that enrich our lives.
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If you feel that your own confidential business information needs to be protected, a mutual NDA might be a great idea. It’s normal to feel a little intimidated when reviewing a legal document. However, NDAs are a part of life for developers. If you want to work for top clients, you will be asked to sign them. If you’re not sure whether to sign an NDA as a developer, Kimberly Bond will guide you to make an educated decision.
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Success means many things to many people. However you choose to define success, it will require other people’s cooperation. It will involve landing the right job, winning the right kind of work and being able to charge enough money for your services. It would be great if that were all defined by the quality of your work, but it’s not. There is another factor at play here; your reputation. Think of reputation as a currency. A currency that you can spend to advance your career, win new clients or ensure projects run that little bit easier. It a currency that you can spend to achieve your version of success. People should respect ability, not reputation. But most clients don’t know what good looks like and so have to fall back on how other people talk about you.
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Most BFA and MFA programs don’t cover traditional business skills, and companies certainly aren’t investing in cross-functional training for creative professionals. McLean Donnelly shares his personal experience.
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Pricing isn’t a matter of calculating a rate based on hours spent or return generated. It’s your time, and if people are willing to pay, you can charge whatever you like. Paul Boag has read many posts about the pricing of a project. From value-based pricing, to billing around Agile cycles. These are all great approaches, but in this article, he is going to share with you the rather inelegant approach (which has allowed him to run a lucrative business for the last 15 years) he takes to the subject. It begins by knowing the minimum you have to charge per hour.
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Wouldn’t life be so much easier if we didn’t need to get other people to buy-in to our work? Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way, especially in digital. What we do involves so many different disciplines working together. We have to get the support of colleagues, stakeholders and management. In this article, Paul Boag will show you that there are things you can do to make life easier. We begin, by planning ahead.
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Making big changes doesn’t necessarily require big efforts — it’s just a matter of moving in the right direction. In his book User Experience Revolution and in this article, Paul shares just some of the little tricks and techniques to bring around a big UX revolution into your company — with a series of small, effective steps. This is a marathon and not a sprint. It will take time. We need to unite with others around this common aim and vision of the future. We need to work hard to raise the profile of the customer and to approach management with care.
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