Isaac & Noah as babies. (Cute, huh?)

I’m the father of twin boys with autism. I’m also an entrepreneur. April was autism awareness month, so I spent time reflecting on my family’s journey. It struck me that parenting children with autism has taught me many lessons; the lessons helped me grow as a person and also allowed me to become a better entrepreneur.

Before I dive into each lesson, let me set the stage. My twin sons, Isaac and Noah, received their autism diagnosis in 2003 at the age of 22 months. Our life was changed forever – mostly for the better. I won’t spend too much time on my family background, but we’re a prolific crew, so there are several places online where you can learn more about us. My wife, Tyann, has a blog and so does my son Noah. We were also featured in an article in our local newspaper in 2006.

Here are six lessons I have learned from my journey with autism that have made me a better entrepreneur. They just happen to spell the word autism – how lucky is that?

Ask

Unite

Tenacity

Instinct

Stockdale Paradox

Miracles

1.)    Ask

One thing we quickly learned after the twins’ diagnosis is people are not going to flock to your door offering help. If it does happen, it’s usually temporary or, often, not the type of help you really need. We learned you have to ask for help – from friends, family, people you don’t know, doctors, etc. However, asking is different from begging, whining, or threatening. Asking means stating exactly what you need. You may have to ask multiple times.

This lesson applies for entrepreneurs. Starting a business is tough, so suck up your pride and ask for help. I have learned people are generous with their time, ideas, and resources. Just remember—no one owes you anything, don’t keep score, and return or pay the favor forward whenever you can.

2.)    Unite

Soon after Isaac and Noah received their diagnosis, a team of professionals from the local Area Education Agency descended on our home to evaluate the boys and help form a plan. The group collectively came up with solutions for all kinds of problems that no single person could have solved. My wife and I attended our local autism support group. We met some great families and made some life-long friends from being part of this group. Each family had their own challenges, but we could help each other in some way.

During my years at Far Reach we have also seen the huge value in being part of different groups. My partner, Kate Washut, was integral in helping start TechBrew Cedar Valley. Another partner, Chad Feldmann, has helped get Startup Drinks and Barcamp started in the Cedar Valley. We also attend conferences such as Big Omaha and Big Des Moines.  Find groups or events that allow you to talk to other entrepreneurs. We all have our own challenges, but often we can learn from each another.

3.)    Tenacity

Being a parent of kids on the autism spectrum means you need to be the advocate for your child. Being an advocate implies tenacity, persistence, and perseverance. Learning and implementing this has been challenging. I grew up wanting to please everyone and wanting most everyone to like me. I quickly learned to stop caring so much about what other people thought about me. We did what was right for our kids – we stood up for them and our family. We didn’t let people push us into decisions we didn’t think were right.

If you’re running a startup or established company, you have to be tenacious. Be tenacious in all parts of your business.

• Marketing:  Stay in front of people. Let them know about you and the value you provide.

• Learning:  Don’t ever stop learning. Know everything you can about your industry.

• Hiring: Fight to bring on good people and work like crazy to hang on to them.

You will need to share your story repeatedly. Run the marathon instead of the sprint.

4.)    Instinct

One thing we have learned over the years with our kids is to trust your gut when making decisions. Research, talk to other parents, and then use your instinct to make the best decision possible for your child. Not every decision will be right, but if you trust your instinct you’ll end up with the right one more often than not.

As an entrepreneur, you’re faced with decisions every day. My advice is to research, talk to others, draw upon past experiences, and then make the best decision for you and your company. You will never have all of the information you need, so trust your gut.

5.)    Stockdale Paradox

In the book Good to Great, author Jim Collins describes something called the Stockdale Paradox. Click one of the links below to learn more, but the gist of the Stockdale Paradox is:

You must retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties.

AND at the same time…

You must confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.

My three guys, last fall, watching go-karts. From left - Henry, Noah, and Isaac.

My wife and I faced the brutal facts about our journey with autism. My kids have autism and always will (to some extent). We faced countless meltdowns, sleepless nights, and other things that really stunk.  In the early days, each day was challenging. The goal was to get the kids the help they needed and retain our sanity. We took them to school, speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, the chiropractor, and doctor appointments. It was relentless. Despite the daily struggles, my wife and I had a long term vision for our kids. We knew the work we put in each day would pay off in the end. After many years, our kids have improved immensely. Noah has started his own blog, which you should check out. (I’m a proud dad.) Isaac is functionally non-verbal, but is a rock star at his school.

Starting and running a company is not easy. Many days, weeks, and months are difficult. There are periods where you have to suck it up and get the work done or face whatever challenge is in front of you at the moment. The key lesson is whatever you are doing each day should move you towards your long term goals. As I said before, running a company is not a sprint; it’s a marathon–although sometimes it feels as if we are sprinting the marathon.

Links:

http://www.jimcollins.com/media_topics/brutal-facts.html

http://www.ndoherty.com/stockdale-paradox/

James Stockdale:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stockdale

6.)    Miracles

Our family will always be living with autism. It is part of who we are. We deal with it every day and it is not going away anytime soon. It is easy to get discouraged when thinking about what life might be like 10 or 30 years from now for your child. We have always celebrated the little miracles in our family. Don’t wait for the cure before you can celebrate. There are opportunities every day to celebrate. In our family we have celebrated many milestones, including:

• Your child sleeps through the night – every night.
• You receive a great report from the teacher.
• Your functionally non-verbal son says “Mom” – with both “M” sounds.
• Your family can go to a park and have a picnic.
• Your child is discharged from special education.
• Your son was chosen by his class for a quiz bowl and kicks butt.

Running a business should be no different. Don’t wait for a round of funding, a product launch, or a new client to celebrate, although these are definitely reasons for celebration.  Find little miracles each day that keep you and your staff moving forward. At Far Reach we do our best to celebrate, including:

At Far Reach, we post images of our finished projects on the Done Wall. (It's gotten more crowded since we took this photo!)

• Team lunch for employee birthdays and anniversaries.
• Completion of a project – adding the project to our “done wall“.
• A compliment or thank you from a client.

My wife and I always say if given the opportunity, we would not change the fact that our sons have autism. Our kids are great teachers and seem to have a positive impact on most people they meet.

I am blessed to be part of two great families that teach me lessons every day.

iTracking’s slogan, helping you see what they see, sums up their work quite well. The company uses state-of-the-art technology to interpret eye movements as an expression of brain function, allowing you to understand what people look at, for how long, and the route their eye gaze takes. Their research offers valuable insight on media and marketing, usability, scientific research, product and packaging design, and software. I sat down with Bill and Mike to learn a little more about the company and the cutting-edge work they do.

FR:  In a couple of sentences (I know how much you guys love to talk), what exactly is eye tracking research?

M: We’re able to precisely track where a person looks by measuring the characteristics of their eye and being able to save and quantify that.

B:  (joking) Oh, Mike had to go for the nerd answer. This is my simple answer. We can track and follow what your eyes are looking at. From that info – what you look at, how long you look at it, in what order—we can determine what you’re really paying attention to, and what you’re confused by.  And with solid data, we can determine how you are responding to what you are looking at.  

FR:  How did you guys begin working together?  What made you decide to start your own company?

M: We’re neighbors and happened to both be at a summer get-together. Bill mentioned some research he was working on and that he needed some help. I offered to help before I even really knew it was eye tracking.

B: You were in school and needed a research project. So, we thought this might work great.  We ended up working together on an eye tracking project studying how people use visual data to solve chemistry problems–wonderfully nerdy stuff.

Through this project we began to realize that if we could learn all sorts of things by studying how people look at molecules, we could really look at anything. We could draw statistically clear conclusions about individuals and groups.  We could probably apply this in lots of places—media, product development, scientific research.

We became aware of the Grow Iowa fund that could help fund some of our work. It was small, but enough to get us started. We then took on a local bank as a free project, and analyzed their websites. The study was successful and we were on our way.

M: We discovered some surprising finds. That was our “ah-ha” moment. A few people at the bank really felt they really understood their website well. They were surprised that how they worded things or where they put things impacted how people behaved on the site. This is when we realized we could really offer a service; really help people.

FR:  So, we’ve talked some about the types of things you can learn from eye tracking.  Do people ever come to you hoping to learn about something that eye tracking cannot teach you?

M: You can’t do everything with eye tracking. We can tell you how much someone looked at something. But we can’t tell you how much they liked something.

B: If we just ask someone to look at something, we can only track what they did – what they looked at, how long.  But, we can use other research tools along with it to dig deeper. We can combine the quantitative research with qualitative.

M: The eye tracking industry has sort of a snake oil reputation right now – there are agencies adding it as an adjunct without a strong statistical, theoretical background or any knowledge of the neuroscience behind it.  That’s not how we do things – we have the research experience, and we validate everything.

B:  Eye tracking is the newer thing. People tend to stick to the tried and true even if the new could do a better job.  For example, focus groups have issues, but people keep using them. Participants feed off of each other—how real is that? We do our studies on individuals that we can then pull together into subgroups that fit a profile. We can get a sense of how a group will behave, but we’re building it on impartial individual studies. It’s far more accurate.

Depending on what clients want to know, we can have a set of questions available to probe on the “why” of a study participant’s behavior. I have a lot of experience in both qualitative and quantitative research and Mike is extremely good at statistics.

M:  Eye tracking definitely has the strongest results when we combine the quantitative with the qualitative.

FR:  What’s the most interesting or surprising discovery you made in a study? 

M: I can’t think of one individual thing, but overall I really find it surprising how little people perceive what they do or don’t look at.  For example, with a typical web page, people are only looking at about 30% of what’s there. But, they’ll insist they’re looking at everything. We have the data that shows otherwise. This information really puts into question focus groups or interviews that rely on self-reporting.

B: I offer a different aspect of the same thing – people don’t really remember what they do. When I’m going through a task, the actual path I take isn’t that important to me. I’m going to leave things out of the story. Eye tracking fills in those gaps.

FR: Where do you think iTracking Research will be five years from now?

M: (laughing) It will be interesting to see how each of us answers this.

B: In five years, we should be a fairly substantial company. Our goal is to have gross revenues in the millions. We’re preparing to launch a new effort in Parkinson’s and neuropathy research, which we fully expect to take off.  We’ll also continue to grow the media research arm.

M: The tricky thing with this business is we aren’t like a bait shop. We don’t just order inventory and sell it. We’ve spent more time than I’ve expected on developing our theories and formulas and models and processes to get off the ground.

In five years, we’ll have two strong arcs: Neurodegenerative research – we plan to have a product out there that will detect and predict these diseases. And, we’ll have our media research.  We’ll be a mature company and will have established ourselves as strong leaders in this industry.

B: We’ve been very careful to take our time in putting together our intellectual property. We want to do things right.  We’re purposely doing a lot of our work quietly in this first year.

FR: Do you see any major changes on the horizon in the technology you use to complete your studies?

M: The technology is moving really fast.  At a recent conference, a company introduced an eye tracker that serves as a mouse. Instead of moving a computer mouse with your hand, you’re controlling everything with your eyes.

I see the industry splitting into two – research and consumer use like the mouse I just mentioned. In a few years, you’re going to have a choice of whether you want eye tracking with your new iPad or laptop or phone.

B: Regardless of the technology and whether it’s more available to the average person, you’re still going to need people who do what we do; people who develop the methodology, interpret all of the data and make the right conclusions. 

Bill and Mike have agreed to complete a study on the Far Reach site to see what we can learn. In the coming weeks, iTracking will implement our study. We’ll fill you in on the process and its findings once the study is complete.  We’re hoping this might be the start of a new partnership, with the opportunity to offer our clients even more value via our web design and development projects.

Stay tuned.

AdWords can be an important part of a successful marketing strategy, but it’s not necessarily the right tool for everyone. Using AdWords makes the most sense…

…when your website offers a deliberate means of generating revenue. If site visitors don’t have the ability to purchase something on your site, or any incentive to give you their contact information for follow-up (lead capture), then there’s not much sense laying out cash to drive people to your site. Get your website in order before investing in AdWords.

…when you’re just starting out with search engine optimization (SEO) and aren’t yet ranking well with your most important keyword terms. AdWords can put you on the first page as you’re implementing your long-term SEO strategies.

…when your highest converting keyword terms are also highly competitive. AdWords can put your name at the top of the page for competitive terms for which ranking well is a long shot. Keep in mind you’ll pay more per click for these terms.

If you decide an AdWords campaign makes sense for you, we have a couple of tips before you start:

Google AdWords is just one piece of a successful search engine marketing strategy. We recommend you also make the investment in an organic search strategy by optimizing your website for search engines, using social media, and generating quality content. These tactics will help you in your quest for higher rankings while at the same time providing your customers value. We wrote more about this in a previous blog post on SEO.

While AdWords campaign performance is highly trackable, consider more than just the initial stats. It’s easy to look at the cost per conversion in your AdWords campaign and worry you’re paying too much for each new customer. B2B campaign conversions can be particularly costly. However, it’s important to consider your average lifetime value of a customer, not just the value of the single purchase made during the visit initiated via your ad.

It’s also critical to realize most online searchers are shopping around. While a person clicking on an ad to reach your site may not make an immediate purchase, she could return to do so after reviewing competitor sites. Check your overall conversion stats—how does the daily average prior to your campaign compare to what’s happening during your campaign?

Setting up your first AdWords campaign can be a daunting task. However, if managed correctly, AdWords can help you achieve your search engine marketing goals and have a positive impact on your bottom line.  Let us know if we can help you out.

We believe our work shouldn’t be measured by the time we spend doing it, but rather by the results we achieve.

Far Reach Core Value #8 – Work Smarter, Do More, Kick Ass – encourages us to care less about punching a time clock, and a whole lot more about getting important work done.

There are countless articles and posts on productivity. We’re all looking for a magic cure to add a few more hours to our day. No single productivity strategy works for everyone, but the key issues our team offered up in discussion are these:

Get enough rest – Needing rest doesn’t mean you’re weak. Being a martyr isn’t going to move you forward. Get plenty of sleep every night. Take a break from your work when you need one – you’ll do better work, which we believe is the real definition of being productive.

Work when and where it suits you best – We don’t require employees to be in the office 9-5. Some work better at night, some are early birds. We encourage employees to manage their own schedules. If the work is getting done, we don’t micromanage office hours. We encourage employees to work at home or at a coffee shop if a change of scenery inspires them.

Most important things first - We all agreed many distractions compete for our focus if we let them. Several employees have had success turning off email and instant messaging for set periods of time during the day, allowing them to focus on their most important tasks. Some suggest doing this first thing in the morning to start the day off by accomplishing something significant. This video from 99U supports this strategy:

Scott Belsky also stresses the importance of not “hoarding urgent items.” Don’t let immediate distractions (that are maybe less important in the long run) keep you from making progress on your most important goals. Let others help you out if possible, or set these distractions aside for just a bit. Preserve windows of time as sacred to ensure you keep chipping away at your bigger goals.

Pick one task and get going!

We encourage you to choose one task that will move you forward today and get on it. No excuses. Punch today in the face.

• There are 6.8 billion people in the world – 5.1 billion of them now own a cell phone.  (2013, Search Engine Watch)
• 28% of Internet usage comes from a mobile phone – it is projected to take over desktop usage by 2014. (2012, Pew Research Center)
• 50% of all local searches (e.g., Cedar Falls bank) are performed on mobile devices (2012, Google)
• 62% of companies that designed a website specifically for mobile had increased sales. (2012, Econsultancy)
• Thousands of screen sizes exist for mobile devices, and the number continues to grow.

So, these statistics aside, how do you decide if you should go for it with a mobile site? Take a look at your current site analytics—what percentage of your site visits are made via a mobile device? If it’s more than 10% (and that number will continue to increase) and your site is not mobile friendly, it’s worth serious consideration, depending on your goals. Compare the percentage of mobile visits to where they were year a year ago – given what you see, where do you think it will be a year from now?

We recommend all of our clients consider responsive design for any new website we build. With responsive design, your site detects the type of device each site visitor is using. Flexible images and fluid grids then size correctly to fit the screen.

To get a feel for how responsive design works, check out the following sites on your desktop machine. As you view the site, continually make your browser window narrower and narrower and watch how the site content shifts according to your window size:

Boston Globe website
Starbucks website
Smashing Magazine website

The main advantages of responsive design are:

• Your site is easily accessible on any type of device.
• You only have one set of content to manage.
• Responsive design is better for SEO than a separate, forked mobile site.

We build our mobile-friendly sites using the Sitefinity content management system. The Sitefinity system is designed to make responsive development more efficient for our team, while its intuitive interface makes it incredibly easy for to clients to manage their site content.

We believe if you’re considering a new website, implementing responsive design is a smart investment. What do you think? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

For us, being a team is about supporting and trusting each other. It’s about having the backs of the people around us as we work together to create great things.

Far Reach Core Value #7 – We’re a Team – defines teamwork as more than just sheer numbers. It’s about sharing a journey together in which we all give something of ourselves in support of the people around us.

At our Huddle focused on Core Value #7, we completed a team-building exercise called the Marshmallow Challenge. In this exercise, competing teams are given the goal of building the tallest free-standing structure that will support a jumbo marshmallow, with limited time and supplies.

This particular challenge has been studied with a variety of participants. Surprisingly (or maybe not), these studies have shown recent business school graduates perform significantly worse on the marshmallow challenge than recent kindergarten graduates.  Why? First of all, kindergartners don’t spend time trying to jockey for power.  Second, business graduates are trained to find the single best answer–they spend most of their time trying to plan the perfect structure.  They’re left with little time to execute and have to build in crisis mode. Kindergartners, on the other hand, dig in and get to work.  They prototype, they fail, they adjust.  They’re fearless.

After completing the challenge, we discussed the qualities of successful teams:

• Harmony (no jockeying for power)
• Cooperation
• Open mindedness
• Willingness to both give and receive constructive criticism
• Offering and being open to ideas

Take a look at the video that inspired our Marshmallow Challenge:

We also discussed the team at  IDEO, a design firm that helps organizations innovate and grow. IDEO has an incredibly eclectic team, with the only common thread being creativity and expertise in how to design things. The organization is very flat, giving every team member an equal stake in success.

Check out this video from ABC’s Nightline on IDEO.

“Enlightened trial and error succeeds over the planning of the lone genius.” is the perfect summation of IDEO’s philosophy. A couple of key takeaways from the video regarding successful teamwork and innovation are:

• Imposing time constraints, in a flexible environment like IDEO’s, drives innovation.
• Diverse teams are the most innovative.  Don’t be afraid to make unconventional choices when building your team.

What are your favorite team-building exercises?  What qualities do you think make a team stronger?   Please let us know in the comments below.

As we mentioned last time, we begin with a high-level estimate.  If a client decides to move forward based on this estimate, we then ask to be paid a reasonable sum to complete a thorough analysis of the project requirements.   Here’s a break-down of our entire custom software development process, beginning with the analysis:

1.       Analysis

During the analysis phase, we develop a more accurate (but not exact) estimate of the effort required to complete the project.  We do this by developing user stories – brief statements describing the functionality the software needs to provide.  User stories are written using this formula:

“As a <role>, I want <goal/desire> so that <benefit>”

Working with the client to develop these user stories, we also create the user acceptance tests tied to each user story.  These tests tell the designer and developer how the client will confirm whether each individual user story has been implemented correctly once development is complete.

During analysis, the project may be broken down into phases (releases).   We work with the client to help prioritize what functionality should be included in each release.  The project team also goes through each and every user story together to ensure as many questions as possible are answered up front.  It’s from these elaborated user stories that our estimates are derived.

At the end of the analysis phase, the project team has a good picture of what the project entails and the client has clear documentation of the scope of work and a better estimate of resource requirements, timeline, and cost.   At this point, we proceed with the project or (although we’ve never had this happen) the client is free to take the analysis documentation and move forward with another vendor.

2.        Design

The design phase of the project involves both technical and user interface design. On the technical side, our system architect works with the developers to determine and document the best overall application architecture. This includes details about what technologies will be used for the various parts of the application and how they will communicate with each other.

Our designer creates the user interface for the custom software.  Wireframing is important in this phase – wireframes are rough layout and process sketches that allow the client to confirm the interface will look and work as they expected.  It’s very common during this phase, as the product comes to life visually, to realize there are additional user stories needed or other requirements that fall outside the original project scope.  (More on Change Control in just a bit.)

3.       Development

The development of the software is broken down into smaller units for a couple of reasons.  First, this allows any bugs to be caught early in the development process, and to be more easily traced back to the source of the issue.  Second, it lets us deliver functionality to the client in pieces along the way, and gather feedback more frequently.  This confirms whether we are on the right track at a point when it’s easier (and less expensive) to make adjustments rather than if we’d waited to do this at the very end.

4.        Testing

 Occasionally, clients believe they’ll save money by doing the software testing themselves.  While we certainly offer clients the opportunity to review and sign off on the final product before release, we won’t take on projects that don’t include our own testing process in the scope of work.   We’ve found our own tools and trained testers are critical in ensuring a system meets all requirements, as many bugs as possible are caught and fixed prior to launch, and the system works properly in its intended environment/s.

5.        Client Review

 After we’ve completed thorough testing and before the software is deployed, the client has the opportunity to review the system in a test environment.  This offers a final chance for feedback.  Any bugs the client finds at this point are fixed.  However, if the client feels additional functionality is needed, and it wasn’t included in the original scope, we’ll need to implement our Change Control process (described below).

6.       Deployment

 After the client signs off on the product, the final version is deployed and ready to use.  We continue to monitor the error logs to make sure all is well, and check in regularly with the client.   In addition, our team has a wrap-up meeting after every project to gather feedback and continually improve how we do things.

Change Control Process

We’ve mentioned before that software projects are unpredictable, and changes inevitably come up during the process.  If an out-of-scope change arises at any point during a project, we communicate the following in writing to the client:

• Estimated effort to implement  the change
• Impact on the timeline if done in the current release
• Impact on resource allocation if done in the current release
• Estimated cost
• Our perceived priority
  • Show Stopper (needs to be completed in current release)
  • Nice to Have (could be completed in a future release)
  • Future Enhancement

The client then has the opportunity to ask questions before signing off on the priority level, timeline, and cost. The client may also decide the change is not worth making after seeing the impact to the project. This process is a great way to weed out things that don’t really add value to your product.

Adding Value to Your Investment

Custom software is a major investment, and we work to ensure we’re adding as much value to that investment as we can.  It’s the reason we’re up front from the very beginning about the dangers of fixed bids.  It’s the reason we don’t just go through the motions and do exactly as you tell us–we speak up and offer our own suggestions and ideas to make sure your goals are being met.  It’s the reason we’re responsive throughout the process (and beyond) and why we make sure to explain the technical in a non-technical way.

We hope this post helps you better understand our process of custom software development.   If you have project ideas of your own, please contact us.  We’d love to hear from you.

We’ve worked on a good number of custom software projects over the past five years.  In the process, we’ve learned quite a bit about structuring these projects for success in order to minimize the stress and risk for our clients (and ourselves!)   The custom software development process we’ve fine-tuned over the years ensures a quality outcome, minus the project-derailing surprises along the way.

In this and an upcoming post, we’ll cover this process.  Today, we’re starting with project bids and why we do things the way we do.  The first important point we need to make is this—and it may be obvious–custom software projects have three interdependent variables:  scope, time, and cost.   If the scope of the project increases, the time it takes to complete increases, which means cost goes up.  There’s no way around it.

At Far Reach, we don’t commit to fixed bids on custom software projects, and here’s why.

Custom software projects are not 100% predictable.  Not even close.  A fixed bid pretends they are and leaves you with these possible outcomes:

1.)    The developer loses out:  Inevitably, unexpected discoveries come up or new ideas arise that would add real value to the product.  Thus, the project takes more time than projected and the developer loses money – too many of these, and the developer is out of business.

2.)    The client loses out:  Experienced developers forced into a fixed bid situation will “pad” the bid, and often by quite a bit, because they know better and have no choice.  In this instance, the client may end up paying more than necessary.

3.)    Both lose out:  This, frankly, is the most common outcome.  The developer is forced into a situation where she must focus on time spent rather than fully understanding the problems and their best solutions.  The developer is forced to cut corners.  The project maybe comes in at budget, but the product is inferior.  No one wins in this situation.  We certainly don’t want our reputation tied to an inferior product.

And, above, we mention the possibility that the developer loses money on the project. Are you thinking that’s not a concern for the client?   Think again.  Custom software is just that—custom.  No two developers would build a product in exactly the same way.  The same developer that builds the custom application is the same one you want maintaining it, if at all possible.   It will save you money and hassle in the long run.  For this reason, you want your developer to run a successful operation and be around for the long haul.

For these reasons, we charge our clients for the true effort that goes into creating their software, with clear communication about scope and budget along the way.  We believe there’s no other way for a client to get their money’s worth, and for us to put out a product of which everyone involved is proud.

For every potential project, we begin with a proposal that offers a high-level estimate and confirmation that we understand the goals of the client.   The estimate includes the following:

• Project management
• Business analysis
• Design
• Development

-Technical analysis / design
-Initial project setup
-Development / cutup
-3^rd party license fees
-Unit testing
-Test site setup (if applicable)
-Deployment to production

• Testing and bug fixes

This initial proposal gives the client a general idea of the potential budget of the project, and whether or not it makes sense to proceed.  If the client decides to move forward, the next step is typically an analysis phase to further refine the scope of the project and the resources required.  Next time, we’ll cover the analysis phase more thoroughly, along with the rest of our development process and why it adds value to our projects.

Have you been involved in a custom software project as either a developer or client?  What was your experience?   We’d love to hear about it in the comments below.

Learn more about the 11 Core Values we use every day.

When you work in the technology industry, success isn’t possible without continually learning new skills.   While our Core Value #6 – Learn and Grow – certainly includes professional skill development, it goes beyond that.  We believe in stretching our capacity on a personal level as well.

In the team Huddle devoted to Core Value #6, we covered a number of themes and reviewed some relevant videos and posts.  Here are a few of the ideas we discussed.

1.)    Jump right in and try out what it is you’ve been meaning to learn or change. 

Planning and plotting are, of course, useful, but sometimes the most successful way to incorporate something new into your life is to just do it.  Google engineer Matt Cutts encourages us to jump in and just do something we’ve been thinking about, and work on it every day for the next 30 days.

2.)    Draw inspiration from life’s obstacles instead of letting them stop you in your tracks. 

We all have ideas of who we are and who we are not, and these definitions of ourselves are often the biggest obstacles to growth.  Professional snowboarder Amy Purdy lost both legs at 19.  She explains how letting go of who she used to be and embracing her enormous obstacles took her to new levels of success and happiness.

3.)    Tear down life / work boundaries.

A blog post by Peter Shallard argues “Your life and your career are one…Trying to draw a line between your business career and your personal life doesn’t work.”  Shallard suggests that one of the best ways to enjoy career growth is to focus on personal growth.  His post offers up seven “real-world experiences that’ll permanently transform your thinking for the better.”

4.)    Make learning and growth a priority.

What would you do if you could focus on anything you wanted—at work–for 8 hours a week or 8 hours a month or some other set amount of time?  Google has a “20% time policy” that allows employees to spend 20% of their time at work on any project they want, as long as it advances the company in some way.  Ex-employee Marissa Meyer has said as many as half of Google’s products originated via the 20% time policy.

How do you help your team continue to grow and learn, both professionally and personally?  How do you manage this for yourself?  Let us know in the comments below.

1.)  Fast Company is a business media site with a progressive focus.  It strives to “…think beyond traditional boundaries, lead conversations, and create the future of business.”

2.)  99U is the research and education arm of Behance.  They offer a daily web magazine focused on moving from idea generation into idea execution.   Here’s a recent article highlighting some of their best posts from 2012.

3.)  Inc. is a resource focused on business owners and entrepreneurs.   In addition to articles, the site offers How-To Guides, Inc. TV (live Q&A sessions with leading entrepreneurs), and Small Business Tools (an online library of forms, templates, and other helpful resources).

4.)  Silicon Prairie News  is a digital media company reporting on the entrepreneurial communities in the Omaha, Des Moines, and Kansas City regions.  SPN focuses primarily on software startups.

5.)  Marco Santana/Des Moines Register  Marco’s technology blog in the Des Moines Register helps us stay on top of the entrepreneurial and technology scene throughout Iowa.

6.)  Seth’s Blog  We gave Seth’s blog a shout-out in our post on marketing blogs, but we’re doing it here again.  He’s that good.  Seth focuses primarily on marketing-related issues, but his posts touch on creativity, entrepreneurship, and sometimes on just being a better person.

7.)  How to Change the World  Guy Kawasaki is the founder of online magazine rack Alltop.com and former chief evangelist for Apple.  He describes his blog as “a practical blog for impractical people.”

8.)  Escape from Cubicle Nation offers Pamela Slim’s expert advice for new entrepreneurs on how to “escape your job and pursue your passion.”

And, because we have some holiday generosity left over, here’s a little bonus– a few books we love that will motivate just about anyone, but especially entrepreneurs:

Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh

Good to Great by Jim Collins

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

Making Ideas Happen  by Scott Belsky

This Will Make You Smarter by John Brockman

Focus by Leo Babauta

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years  by Donald Miller

Linchpin by Seth Godin

We hope you find a new favorite of your own on this list.  Let us know the blogs and books that inspire you in the comments below.   You can also follow us on Pinterest, where we created boards devoted to our favorite blogs and books.