More lessons like calendar flexibility and projects "scribes"

Lessons learned including "design needs a head start" and variable cycle lengths

It's important to have a basic understanding of psychology when you work with people. To some, that comes naturally from observing and interacting. To me, that means extra work and very deliberate conversations.

Another option for tracking time & accounting.

True. I think.

Agreed.

Running a business isn't easy. No apologies necessary, but it's good to see Garrett comfortable with where he's at.

Aka, "supply and demand."

Agreed. If the client is in a better position, personnel-wise, when you leave, you're doing it wrong. We teach our clients, and they get better.

Thorough discussion of the business implications of various pricing strategies.

"In conclusion: pay $20 if you think you’ll get $20 of use out of the app. That is the only meaningful criterion to use." Yep.

Moving on as the world moves on is a smart strategy if the world is moving to a better place. (That Jobs quote at the end is wonderful. Last time I visited a newspaper, they had old newspapers plastered on every wall and surface. I casually mentioned they ought to burn it all if they really cared about making a profit on the Internet.)

Does design matter? Punchline: yes, if you're selling good design.

"Is your product a Vitamin (nice to have) or a painkiller (got to have it)?"

Nathan Bowers nails it. I hope 37signals drops the spammy tweet requirement. It's an unfortunate blemish on an otherwise exceptional company's reputation.

Terrific article, as always, by Rands. Understanding people is hard work.

All of Jeff's excellent quotes are from people who sell products. At Full Stop, we work with clients who in turn are responsible for generating their own profits, which means we must work all the harder to not only remember ourselves that execution is all that matters but to convince each and every client to adopt that mantra.

The hits keep rolling in from Jeffrey Zeldman. Tardiness is inexcusable. Plan to be there early so at worst you arrive on time.

Kind of a big deal. And more proof Google is betting the company (if that were possible) on advancing open web technologies.

Splitting into teams and breaking the schedule into cycles

Just listen to Seth.

Couldn't agree more. Application development is not merely a handy skill to have, but an essential skill moving forward. (NB: that goes double for mobile development.)

Just subscribe to this man's feed. P.S. I'm always blue too.

Marketing advice from Eric Karjaluoto. In short, be real.

Right or wrong, David Sherwin has a gift for the anecdotal. This time it's all about planning and maintaining flow. That said, he's right — as usual.

Process for sending contracts and receiving them in return with a valid digital signature

Righteous-sounding corporate mottos and promises are easy. Daily ethical decisions are hard.

It's incredible how frequently clients mistake wireframes for polished designs. Andy's right, there must be a better way.

Seth nails it, as usual.

«You’re in a new business meeting, a closing situation with a late-stage client-to-be, and he is enthusiastic. “Great,” he says after listening to your pitch. “I’d like to do this. Get me a proposal.” You write up your proposal, send it over and follow up by telephone. Voicemail. You leave a message and promise to follow-up the next day. Again, voicemail. You send an enthusiastic, can’t wait to get started email. Nothing. Days slip by. Then weeks. What was once a highly responsive, easy to reach client-to-be has turned into a ghost. What happened?»

«But, and it's a huge but, you define yourself by the work you do, and perhaps you need to redefine what you're willing to take and where you're looking for it.»

«Clients want every activity they pay for to lead to a tangible result—a website that fulfills their business goals and satisfies their customers. But it’s our job to help clients understand that their proposed website’s overall success depends on the quality of input throughout the site design and development process, not the quantity of input.»

"Against almost every expectation, nearly half of all people watching delayed shows are still slouching on their couches watching messages about movies, cars and beer. According to Nielsen, 46 percent of viewers 18 to 49 years old for all four networks taken together are watching the commercials during playback, up slightly from last year."

"And while each of these disruptions are impressive in their own right, when I read this week that Google was including free turn-by-turn navigation directions with each and every Android mobile OS, I had an immediate feeling that I was witnessing a disruptive play of a magnitude heretofore unseen."

"And while each of these disruptions are impressive in their own right, when I read this week that Google was including free turn-by-turn navigation directions with each and every Android mobile OS, I had an immediate feeling that I was witnessing a disruptive play of a magnitude heretofore unseen."

«What people wished they'd paid more attention to when choosing cofounders was character and commitment, not ability. This was particularly true with startups that failed. The lesson: don't pick cofounders who will flake.» # You here that, Jay?

«The Internet is a copy machine. At its most foundational level, it copies every action, every character, and every thought we make while we ride upon it. In order to send a message from one corner of the internet to another, the protocols of communication demand that the whole message be copied along the way several times. Yet the previous round of wealth in this economy was built on selling precious copies, so the free flow of free copies tends to undermine the established order. If reproductions of our best efforts are free, how can we keep going? To put it simply, how does one make money selling free copies?»

«Well, here’s a reason: the people you employ create your success and they’re not always satisfied to sit on the sidelines when they see innovation occurring in their industry. If you’re not going to let them participate in the innovations and improvements they’re seeing almost every day, they’re going to leave you in order to do so.»

«Just stop treating the live broadcast as being sacred: it is merely one showing after the content has been made available. Instead, provide your own episode downloads at the same time as the TV broadcast. Make it attractive with additional extras for your hungry audience, like director commentary or deleted scenes. By all means offer a free ad-supported plan like Hulu for those who don't mind having their shows and brains invaded by rabid commercialism.»

«The business of doom and gloom is booming these days and there are a lot of doomsayers peddling their wares. If you are paying attention to them you’re doing yourself and your family a grave disservice. If you are going so far as to seek out the doomsayers in their pessimistic publications, you are inviting your own failure and you’re an embarrassment to your generation. In that case you clearly deserve every bit of misfortune that will inevitably befall you; it is only fair. That is how nature works and nature is always fair. The future and viability of your design practice is not determined by where you take it in good times. It is determined by where you take it or where, by giving up, you let it go. Period.»

«How can you apply Getting Real-ish ideas inside a big company? Here’s an idea: Go rogue. Pick something and do it under the radar. Create something in a few weeks that normally takes a few months. Do something in a way that works better than the status quo (or shows the promise of working better), Then you won’t need to convince anyone with words — the results will speak for themselves.»

«As companies grow they invariably get more such checks, either in response to disasters they've suffered, or (probably more often) by hiring people from bigger companies who bring with them customs for protecting against new types of disasters. It's natural for organizations to learn from mistakes. The problem is, people who propose new checks almost never consider that the check itself has a cost.»

«A couple weeks ago on Twitter I said: “I still maintain the Drudge Report is one of the best designed sites on the web. Has been for years.” A few people agreed, but most didn’t. Some thought it was a joke. I wasn’t kidding.»

«At Microsoft, he says, there must be a shift from the traditional model of software to what he calls software plus services. As slogans go, it's not particularly catchy. But the sentiment is clear: Just packaging software, collecting the money, and then producing a new version a few years later (whether people want one or not) is no longer a sustainable business plan.»

«Whatever you’re doing to market your company, I ask you to press “pause.” As I noted earlier, it’s beautiful out there today. Go for an espresso—perhaps even treat yourself to a double-shot. Lean back in your chair and ask yourself if you’re actually saying something that people care about. If not, I ask you to start looking for a wave. You never know; you might just find some gnarly surf out there.»

Be fearless regarding understanding the competition. It's hard for you to focus on your strengths, in the eyes of a prospective client, without knowing the competitive landscape. "So, are you talking to any other designers/agencies for this project." Don't be afraid to say this. And don't be afraid to take it further. "May I ask which ones?" Guarded reply follows. "Oh, I don't need to know their names. I'm just looking for a clear understanding of what different options you are considering." Get any details that you can: size, type of work, and so forth. You can usually extrapolate names from that data, and have a rough idea of how to position your experience.

"Ask as many challenging questions as possible, and use those as the basis of your initial proposal and design discoveries. If there isn't a signed contract, you should be teasing out as much information as possible, not providing it in spades. (Unless you're showing relevant case studies.)"

"Include in your overall cost of work common overhead costs, such as rent, phone, archiving your work, entering contests, and the cost of marketing and closing new business for your agency. If you don't, the time and cost you expend in closing new clients will go right out the window or be applied against the client project budget, which puts you in an even more slender box for doing the project profitably."

"Here is an outline of the steps you need to follow in order to form an LLC in Pennsylvania. You should also read the general section on forming an LLC for information that is applicable in any state."

"In this post we’ll look at 15 online tools and services that can offer freelancers some help in the area of finances and billing. Most of these tools are paid, but limited free plans or free trials are available in most cases."

"28 of my favorite freelance/business articles that have helped me over the years in developing and improving my freelance design business."

"Our approach is uncompromising and consistent, and core values drive our culture. We are a cohesive unit in service to vital professional responsibilities and we keep this in mind at every step while working in partnership with our valued clients."

"Somebody contacts you out of the blue, possibly through a friend or from an advert you posted on a dating site, interested in meeting up for a drink and possibly more. They like what they’ve seen so far, but before telling you about themselves, they want a little more information. It’s noting big and perfectly normal. They just want a copy of your passport, your last quarter bank statement and the phone numbers of your past couple of dates. Oh, and could you sign this contract agreeing with my standard date conditions assuming I chose to go out with you."

"The pitch-based approach is dysfunctional, and even the best practices within it are still, largely, bad practices. The most lucrative firms have a smaller client base and very selectively add a small number of high quality new clients in a year. There’s less frantic activity and more measured evaluation of the opportunities at hand. They say no a lot more."

"The invasion of design has begun, fueled by an army of talented newcomers and low-cost offshore services. This new breed trades methodology for mimicry and by doing so radically undercuts pricing, sometimes even working for free. Like it or not, supply and demand in the design industry is undergoing upheaval. Worse yet, for design buyers it’s getting harder to differentiate between good and bad design."

"The emergence of mobile operating systems, the ability to install and run third-party apps, and the wide availability of multimedia features (camera phones, video phones, and MP3-playing phones abound) have all been game-changing developments in the mobile field, but they are quickly becoming commonplace."

"Short version: Don't be selfish. You're not in charge. Make promises and keep them. It's like dating. It's an asset, it's expensive and it's worth it."

"Consultants can help you accomplish in lot, usually in less time than it would take you to do it internally. While the instititution may pay a premium, sometimes that’s the best way to get the work done quickly."

"But you aren't the CEO. You aren't the Chairman of the Board. You control your domain, and unless you're the honcho who's dealing with the shareholders and making the tough decisions on critical business issues, you're SOL."

"If you're looking to be professional and be clear about IP ownership in the midst of a mid- to long-term design engagement, you should see if you include these kinds of terms in your standard design contract."

"Discovering how a creative agency fails to make profit on a project usually boils down to a series of in-process decisions that, while intended to be good, lead to cost overruns and errors. Isolating and clarifying those agency decisions role by role can be painful and time-consuming if done incorrectly -- but if carried out in the right manner and in a group setting, a post-future meeting can galvanize a team and bring them closer together. By being aware of how they've behaved in the past, they'll be able to see repeated patterns and anticipate ways to stop them from happening again."

"Time Warner Cable is pulling the plug on its plan to charge its broadband customers by the byte in four U.S. cities, ending a controversial experiment that critics said would harm internet innovation and customer pocketbooks."

Innovation rather than stagnation — what's the music world coming to?

"But there’s a world of difference between truly standing for something and having a mission statement that says you stand for something."

"To engage prospects and turn them into customers, web copy needs to appeal to the visitor’s self-interest."

«"I think the actual market clearing price of 90 percent of the inventory is free, and that they could do a better job of bundling packages of 100-200 songs for $5 to $10," said Ashcroft.»

"It's kind of a modern day horror story, isn't it? Web 2.0's potential benefit for humanity tragically sold short by social media because it fell under a fog of marketing software. Would-be short-form conversationalists jumping in with CRM-tinted glasses secured to their faces."

"So maybe instead of getting your company on twitter, paying marketers to mention you are on twitter, and paying people to blog about your company, forget all that and just make awesome stuff that gets people excited about your products, hire people that represent the company well, and when your stuff is so awesome that friends share it with other friends, you may not even need "social media marketing" after all."

"As we've long known, what people say they want is one thing. How they actually behave when they're on websites is another."

"You have to make your site memorable. Your site has to speak clearly. Otherwise it may just end up as a web monument awaiting for another beautiful site to take its place."