Today was an interesting day for debugging. We’ve developed a flash application for a client that didn’t quite work right in IE6. Today the client called and said this is really going to be a problem as most of the people who will be using the application haven’t upgraded to…
Day 1 at SXSW
Yesterday, we had our first day at SXSW Interactive. Each of us had preselected the web/interactive panels that seemd most interesting to us based on the short descriptions listed on the site. Scott seemed to have found several good/great panels that he found interesting, entertaining, and educational. I was a little…
Paying Yourself First
Years ago (that seems kind of funny to say after my seven years in business) when Niall Durham was working with me, we used to talk about spending an afternoon here and there building cool new apps just to test new frameworks, languages, or ideas. But on the planned day,…
Small Victories
With the challenges we have faced with losing key staff members, I’ve had to step up–or perhaps I should say “step back”–and relearn some of the old programming and HTML code that started me off in this business. When I told Scott that I was thrilled with the outcome of…
Getting It Right
Companies strive–and sometimes succeed–in “getting it right”. Think Apple’s Ipod, Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings,” and Converse Chuck Taylors. Campbell’s Soup is the maker of Prego spaghetti sauce, and it seems the company recently had a short violin piece commissioned to go with one of the Prego TV commercials.…
Who’s Next?
January, my 3 year anniversay with TDS. We currently have 2 positions available to join our Austin team — a graphic artist and an applications programmer. As a team, we have been doing a lot of brainstorming on our “ideal” candidates (too much during work time which I have been…
“Burn me once, shame on you.”
In business, we rely on a host of employees, affiliates, partners, consultants, and occasional freelancers to serve our clients and meet our goals. Yesterday, I learned in jaw-dropping fashion that a trusted part of that network has long been engaging in such deceptive practices that I am left reeling from the blow. There are two…
Failure: Not Learning from Mistakes
Earlier this week, I tossed, turned, worked, and worried before finally succumbing to sleep at 5:00 a.m. I had just received a phone call from a client who was terribly unhappy about our work. While I had heard rumblings about this client’s dissatisfaction, I hadn’t realized the scope of the…
Phase Two: Week 1
Well, we wrapped up our first full week (and a day) of Phase Two (post M&M era) with Scott Duff in residence. Scott knows code, understands processes, server issues, and all the geeky stuff that makes him worth his salt. While he’s got a lot of learning to do when…
Onward and Upward
Since I started this business, there has been one absolute that has been our guiding principle: be better today than we were yesterday. I remember the first time I read “Good to Great”. I was thrilled to learn that my business philosophy mirrored that of many standout businesses: avoid being…