A Mighty Lesson

When I switched to the OSX platform as my full-time development environment a year and a half ago, I selected the wireless Apple Mighty Mouse as my pointing device.

I like the look of the device. I like the clutter free wirelessness (real word?) of it. It's comfortable enough. It generally does what I need it to. But then there is that gray pimple right in the middle that wrecks everything.

The track ball is nothing short of absolute, total, complete garbage. I don't know, maybe I have the oiliest fingers in the world - but that scroll ball simply will not work for me. Oh sure, after taking the time to clean it, it works for a while - but then quickly stops.

But this post isn't about the Mighty Mouse. There are plenty of reviews already available. This post is about the lesson to be learned as web craftsmen (craftswomen included!).

Our work might be 90% elegant and successful... but that last 10% is equally important.

As we develop our abilities and deliver our creations (design, code, UI, IA, etc...) as web craftsmen it is important to pay attention to details. Like the Mighty Mouse, our work might be 90% elegant and successful... but that last 10% is equally important. That useless pimple mocks me every time I look at the mouse. Every time I go to scroll, it is a recurring frustration.

After a while, users can't help put focus on the "one thing". The blemish can overshadow the beauty, just as the dot to the right dominates the pure white space.

So before we finalize our next project, perhaps it's best to walk away for a bit. When we return, think about the user and polish up any rough edges that will cause our users pain or discomfort.

Olympics London 2012 Logo: Necessary?

As the conversation continues around the London 2012 logo, I can't help but wonder if a new logo is even necessary for each host city.

The 5 ring logo has been in existence for nearly 100 years and is known universally. The brand is solidly established, why start over? Couldn't the solution to this design problem be as simple as adding the city and year?

Seth Godin had further thoughts on the 2012 London logo debacle today.

The art of picking a logo, even one for the Olympics, has almost nothing to do with taste or back story. A great logo doesn't mean anything until the brand makes it worth something.

As Seth plainly pointed out, a logo is meaningless until the brand has been established. That makes logos for "one time events" tricky things. With one time events, when does the brand become established? On a world-wide scale, probably not until the beginning of the event (at the soonest) - which is rapidly followed by the end of the event. So by the time your logo has real meaning, it represents something which is gone forever.

Why the huge exercise in futility? Merchandising, of course.

Time Inventory: Do you keep track?

Every business sells something.

For many businesses this "something" is a physical object. For instance, when I was 16 I worked at a deli in the North East. We sold things like sandwiches, coffee and soda.

What do you sell?

If you are reading this blog most likely you provide some service. In essence you sell your time.

Back at the deli (or any business that sell physical goods) a regular inventory was kept. This helped to keep track of ordering needs, but also could be used to make sure that product wasn't getting stolen and to otherwise double check sales numbers.

Do you keep an inventory of your time?

To do so you need to keep track of 2 basic things.

1. Time Coming In (X)
   How many hours are you going to work a week? If you have a set 40 hour schedule, then your business "receives" 40 hours every week. If you don't have a set work schedule, then you will need to track how many hours you spend "working" (whether you actually are or not).
   
   
2. Actual Time Sold (Y)
   Simply keep track of your billable hours.

Once you track these two numbers it is beneficial to do a weekly (or at least monthly) "inventory" check.

You had X hours come in, and although all X hours are now gone from your inventory - only Y hours were sold.

At the deli it wasn't expected that every single item would be sold. Some inventory items were required to keep things running: bags, napkins, condiments, straws, etc. Also, the employees were allowed free drinks and food while on the job. That was a perk. As a 16 year old guy free roast beef sandwiches were more important than 401K plans!

Likewise, you shouldn't expect that you will be able to sell every hour of your inventory of time on a weekly basis. You have other non-billable tasks to take care of and the occasional job perk (time you use freely as you please). But by regularly reviewing these numbers it can reveal disturbing trends.

What does your inventory reveal?

Does your inventory analysis show that you are losing an unacceptable amount of time to non-billable activities? Are you being robbed blind? If so, you may need to put forth some serious effort to identify those time thiefs and develop a security measures to protect yourself against them.

Finally by recording these numbers on a long-term basis you can analyze larger trends. Are your billable hours going up, down or staying level over the last 3 to 6 months? By introducing new Product-X or Methodology-Y what was the impact on your billable time?

Technorati Tags: productivity, freelancing, time management, web work

Olympics: London 2012

The beauty you behold at your right is the newly unveiled official Olympics London 2012 logo.

This logo is the result of over a year's work and a rumored budget of nearly US$800,000.

Wow. Just wow.

While the marketing goop claims the logo is "dynamic, modern and flexible", "an invitation to take part and be involved" those not on the payroll seem be generally... unimpressed (to say the least).

Among the blogging community comments such as the following were common:

"Too bad it's horrendous..." - UX Magazine

"Actually, it's just a jaggy picture" - Seth Godin

"London 2012 olympic logo disaster" - David Airey


Comments from the BBC article:

"RIDICULOUS!! [...] It makes me feel depressed and ashamed! " - unbeatableimogen

"they simply must change this appalling logo" - elsieb66

YesIKnowAll compared it to "a 4-year-old using microsoft paint for the first time."


Elsewhere commenters compared it to the work of "a 5 year old kid [...] with crayons".

There is already even an online petition stating: "We, the undersigned, call on the London Olympic committee to scrap and change the ridiculous logo unveiled for the London 2012 Olympics."


To me the real question is "What happened here"?

Is this design by committee gone horribly wrong? Did the designers at Wolff Olins really think this was a good idea?