Stop Jon: the writings and ramblings of Jon Pederson

Social Networking and the Necessity of Real-World Relationships

Most of you reading this post are using twitter, facebook, friendfeed or any number of other socializing services on the Webernet.  Social apps are a great way to keep in touch with people, and build relationships with people you’ve never met face-to-face, but how many of you have been focusing too much time on using these services?

As great as it may be to have short (140 character) instances of communication with many people, don’t think that it even comes close to building real-world relationships.  Getting away from your desk and interacting with another person is where awesome things happen.  The popularity of tweetups are becoming rampant, and for good reason.  It’s pretty easy to know about a lot of people, take Guy Kawasaki, Gary Vaynerchuk, Jason Calacanis or Loic Le Meur for example, but to know someone takes more levels of communication than what can be accomplished on the Internet.  When it’s time to get serious work done, it’s not happening on facebook.  It’s happening at a table.

So, take the opportunity to get to know some of these people you currently only know about.  Organize a tweetup, grab coffee or lunch, and start making your time spent with social networking worth something by creating real-world relationships.

Being a Smart Business

In my previous post I wrote about not being emotional over the current economic situation, and making good decisions now so you can be around to help others later.  I wanted to give some practical things that you might be able to apply to your Web business.

• Cut what doesn’t count: Your team, people around you, and networking are NOT things that don’t count.  Companies will do layoffs to cut cost, but remember it’s your team, the people around you that will make your company great.  Layoffs are extremely shortsighted, but admittedly sometimes necessary as a last resort to saving the company.
• Stay proactive: Although the bills have to get paid now, keep your focus on the future.  Create a plan for how you will stay ahead of competition, and on top of the challenges.  You’ll have to revise your plan daily sometimes as new, unpredictable things come up, but don’t stop planning.
• Be positive: I’m not talking about being overly optimistic, and unrealistic.  I’m talking about where your mind dwells.  What do you think, talk about, tweet, and dream?  When a lame client keeps pushing your buttons do you waste time complaining about it?  If you do, DON’T!
• Put a jar out in the office, write the word “BEER” on it, and every time someone starts complaining about another person, or client, make them put some cash in it.  You’ll curb the negative conversation in the office, and get to drink more beer (which always makes everyone feel better).
• Be the leader: Don’t wait for everyone else to fix the problems we have.  Get off your ass and do whatever you can to help each other along.  As much as you wish someone would come along side your company and say, “what can I do to help you guys out? No strings attached.” Do it for another company.

I am currently positioning my company to be in a place to better serve our clients though this time.  Do the same.

Pushing Through for Web Strategy

So there’s been (and still is) a lot of doom-and-gloom writing going on throughout all the main stream media, as well as the blogging world.  A lot of emotion is erupting from frustrated individuals, and the fear of “what will happen next?” is steering many decisions in this economic situation we are in.  This is causing a cyclical issue that will not go away quickly.  By nature, people tighten up quickly but release slowly, and so they have been with their pocketbooks, ideas, plans, dreams, hopes and most anything they can control immediately.

I’d like to reposition our focus though.

I know things look, and are bad, but we need to stop thinking emotionally about the “now” and think practically and logically about the “future.”  Jason Calacanis wrote in a recent email about reading your instruments like a pilot, instead of going strictly by sight when you can’t see anything in front of you anyway.  The point is there are too many choices being made based on emotion, and not purposeful  intent.  We need to start trusting what our instruments say, and make rational decisions based on them.  This is what will help us push through this economic crisis, and find new opportunities.

I am confident that after the forth quarter of this year we will begin to see more companies scrutinizing their expenditures and looking for innovative ways to gain new/more business through the Web.  If we, as Web professionals, keep our levelheaded, rationalistic view of the future, we will be able to provide these companies with new ideas that are truly valuable to them.  But, if we are all moaning and groaning about how bad things suck “now” we will be of no help when these companies need us most.

My point is simply this: work hard at make good decisions now so you can be around to help others when they need your services most.  Then everyone succeeds.

Understanding Web Standards for Business

Lately I’ve been noticing many designers and developers understand the necessity of creating Web sites according to standards, but that is not being communicated to whom it is most important – the client.  As people building Web sites we know that the standards set forth aid in creating sites that will be easier to access, maintain and support in the future.  We know the technical aspects of why standards-based design is best.

Somehow, the people we are building Web sites for still don’t understand the importance of Web standards though.  Their reasoning for standards vs. non-standards is often ungrounded.  For some it is the cost; it’s easier to find a “Web Guy” that will slap together a quick, image-heavy, table-based-layout Web site for cheep, than it is to find a team that will put together a well thought out, efficient, accessible and scalable Web site.  Then for others it’s ignorance; just simply not knowing the benefits of a site built correctly.

So here’s a few main things to point out about complying with W3C standards:

• Following standards ensure your site will work in the future, not just today.
• More browsers and devices will display your site correctly, all the time.
• Your site will perform faster when complying with the W3C Standards.
• People with disabilities will be able to access the content on your site easier.

It is our responsibility as professional Web designers and developers to educate our clients, and help them understand the importance of having their site done right.

Prioritizing for Design, Development and Feature Creep

In a previous post I wrote about how I would be speaking at Refresh Seattle.  The talk went well, and there was great discussion afterward.  There were many questions about handling different challenges with clients before and during a project.  It gave me a lot to think about for the future, and how to help guide clients, project managers, designers and developers into and through the production process.

The presentation is on slideshare.com.