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September 16, 2005
The 80:20 rule
If you are putting out a print or televised communication it's got to be right, once it's out there is no turning back, can you imagine the joy of spotting the typo as the national print campaign hits the streets? But this approach doesn't serve as well online.
If you are putting out a print or televised communication it's got to be right, once it's out there is no turning back, can you imagine the joy of spotting the typo as the national print campaign hits the streets? But this approach doesn't serve as well online.
With the web you can adjust tweak, revise. If you have built in the tools to measure, test and respond to feedback putting the site or application live when you're 80% of the way there means you can tidy up the 20% of the fiddly bits with real testers and feedbacks, learn from mistakes and roll that learning into the next release.
Build, release, evaluate and learn for the next time.
Posted by harryp at 02:37 PM | Comments (0)
September 15, 2005
Travelling Light
August was a quiet month for work but a busy one for going up mountains. Twelve days of wandering along the Haute Route with a 14Kg rucksack gave me plenty of time to think about travelling light, and what not to take the next time.
August was a quiet month for work but a busy one for going up mountains. Twelve days of wandering along the Haute Route with a 14Kg rucksack gave me plenty of time to think about travelling light, and what not to take the next time.
Some golden rules for hiking in the hills:
- Every gram counts - carry nothing unless you need it, don't buy anything unless you weight it
- Wash and go - 1 spare t-shirt, socks etc, just wash as you get in the shower (it's better to be little bit smelly than a lot knackered)
- Never leave home without a deck of cards and ear-plugs
Here's the revised kit list (everything minus the kitchen scales used to weigh it all with). With no camping equip just 19lb, inc. camping just under 28lbs, also includes a version for alpine ski touring.
Posted by harryp at 02:40 PM | Comments (0)
September 05, 2005
Soft launch or hard landing?
Google seems to like the Beta phase, Gmail has been a Beta for nearly a year now, and one begins to wonder when it will be out? But there’s a lesson in this.
Google seems to like the Beta phase, Gmail has been a Beta for nearly a year now, and one begins to wonder when it will be out? But there’s a lesson in this.
I can’t count the number of times a client has given a public release date for a website project without consulting the developers the “we have to go live by X-date because we put out a press release” line is one that is guaranteed to bring a groan from the design and technical teams.
Soft launches and beta releases aren’t always possible, we can live with that but the reality is you never know how well a site is working until it actually starts working. Letting it out slowly or letting a selected group of ‘friends’ have access and starting using the site is the best way of seeing if the thousands of decisions and assumptions that went into the build actually stack up.
This isn’t an excuse for missed deadlines or for a lackadaisical approach to project management, they need to be spot on, but building in a beta phase before announcing to the world that the new site is live one of the best ways of making sure that when you turn up the volume the speakers aren’t going to blow.
But it doesn’t stop there. The customer isn’t the only audience the site needs promoting to, it needs to be promoted to an explained to employees and agents as well. If sales or customer service don’t know what the site does how does it help them? Launch the site internally, make the effort to get buy in from your staff, show them how it can help make their lives, and those of their customers, easier.
Posted by harryp at 12:28 AM | Comments (0)