Planning and Working on Projects

In this episode we dive deep on how to tackle projects, whether they be something for the company, or something for a client. We take a look at the tools we use to organize it all, and how we stay on top of working in a small team.

Segment 1 - Idea Filtering

• Brainstorming and how to track it all
  • Jot down informal notes, even if ideas are obviously bad
  • Sleep on your ideas - don't develop them too much too quickly or you'll get ahead of yourself
  • Sometimes you get a "packed idea" that needs attention immediately
• Bouncing ideas off of technical and non-technical people
• Live prototyping of easy to try ideas
• Having meetings to filter the good from the bad
• Grilling each others ideas - will the product make it in the market?

Segment 2 - Planning With and Using Tools

• Using a variety of tools for communication and organization
  • Examples: Slack, Twist, Monday.com, Asana, Git (gitlab, github, bitbucket), email/contacts/calendar, trello, etc.
• Our procedure on handling projects that we do for ourselves (for Digital Dynasty Design)
• Day to day tools including things like: Google Hangouts, Git, OneDrive, Trello, Asana

Segment 3 - Client Work vs Personal Projects

• Matt works on small business client work as well as any projects that Digital Dyansty Design has running
• Mike focuses on client works and assists with Digital Dynasty Design projects whenver he can
• We treat client projecs differently than our own projects
  • Get client objectives written down crystal clear
  • Cost analysis
  • Deadlines
  • Design suggestions and comparative materials
  • Daily Meetings
• Dealing with client and personal schedule needs

Segment 4 - Completion and Accountability

• Accountability is difficult when you're your own boss
• Need dicipline and hard deadlines that you need to keep
• Sometimes deadlines need to be changed due to project changes or other issues, but don't make a habit of it
• Fill out a log book to keep track of the work you do on a daily basis

Web News - Stress When Deploying to Production 

• Even senior developers get stress when they are pushing to production
• Make backups, make an easy recovery path if possible
• Test everything you can to prepare

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