Batch processing is the act of organizing project tasks and activities into time chunks that you can knock out one at a time. This isn’t a new concept and you’ve likely heard about it before.
How can we more effectively implement batch processing for our projects? Here are a few key pointers to keep you on track and make sure those projects get done.
- Determine what times of the day you think you’ll be most effective. This means the times you believe you’ll be most alert, focused and distraction-free. Use these times as your “batch zones” to start processing.
- During your batch zones, close off any potentially distracting applications and devices. Shut down email, close Twitter and set your phone to silent.
- Plan your day ahead of batch zones. Figure out which projects need the most attention. That way you won’t be wasting your batch zones trying to find something to work on.
- Set mini-goals for your batch zones. Instead of just planning to work straight for three hours on a project, layout specifically what you want to accomplish. With an end in sight, batch processing will be more manageable.
- Organize your materials and notes before your batch zones. Every moment you’re batch processing should be dedicated toward project work.
Have any batch processing tips of your own? Feel free to share in the comments section.
Here’s a short roundup of some great articles and posts to keep your mind occupied this weekend.
Projects with big organizations tend to involve a lot of people on the project side. Whether it’s a whole team you have to go through or just a handful of people, this can create too much drag on the project. Instead of having one or two people sign off on a mock-up, you have six different people providing six different points of view with no consensus in sight.
The best way to manage this situation is to establish a lead point of contact. Who is the chief representative from the organization? Usually, this is the person who ultimately signs off on everything. You can reduce the amount of friction in the project by going directly to them. It should then be that person’s option to seek input from their directs or peers.
You may even want to state outright from the beginning of the project that you need a primary point of contact to work with. If it’s not easily identifiable who the chief representative is, this may be the route to take.
Web design is an exciting field to be involved with. Many times, clients are relatively new to having a professional online presence, which leaves us a lot of room to be creative. The downside, however, is lack of content. Organizations that haven’t had a good web site before don’t have the copy needed to propel their new site.
The problem goes from bad to worse when we reach the end of the project only to realize there isn’t any good content. This is the content crunch and it can delay your projects indefinitely.
How can you avoid the content crunch? Below I’ve outlined some simple and effective tips to stop this problem dead in its tracks before it brings the project down. 
When we look at projects from a bird’s eye view, it can be a stressful revelation. We see all of the milestones, actions, communication and deliverables that must occur in order to get things done.
In my experience, and I’m certain in the experience of many others, this can cause us to shut down mentally and procrastinate. Oftentimes, this stress can result in a lack of confidence, exhaustion, helplessness and a host of other negative feelings.
How can we get over this hump and become more effective with our projects? My solution is to plan each day into manageable chunks. Every morning, I’ll pull out my notepad, take the cap off my pen and start writing out what I need to accomplish for the day. At first, I found myself just regurgitating all of my projects, but I soon learned to write down only things I could feasibly accomplish in one to three hours.
Time is an essential component to this activity because we’re all limited to a fixed amount of it each day. If you write down too many project tasks, that feeling of being overwhelmed will return. If you don’t write down enough, you’ll feel as if you aren’t doing enough. Plan each specific project item by listing out how much time you think it’ll take and then commit to it.
One of the hardest parts of project management is communicating visual ideas to a client. You have a specific vision of how a web site will look and function, and the client has their vision. That’s why communicating visual ideas in the form of wireframes, mock-ups and other designs is critical.
Annotations can help you communicate these design ideas with more precision. An annotation is simply a note that explains a specific part of the design. For example, you could have an annotation explaining why the shopping cart button needs to be positioned a certain way in the header of the wireframe.
This is pretty simple. The challenging part is finding the right way to incorporate annotations into the work. I’ve recently been experimenting with an online tool called Notable that makes this a breeze. You simply upload the design or indicate a URL of a page, add your annotations, and share the link with your client.
There are two views of the annotations. One allows the client to hover their mouse over the annotated areas of the design, and the other gives a list view of all the annotations. Both are effective ways to communicate. Give it a shot!
Most successful web design projects are organized into a system of milestones with each one representing a critical piece of the project. Milestones are simple in concept, but they can be tricky to nail down.
For example, how specific should we get with the milestones? If we get too specific, we risk breaking the project down into a chaotic mess of little chunks. However, if we aren’t specific enough, the deliverables become unknown and nothing gets done.
Finding the right balance is key. It takes practice and persistence, and it demands a lot of discipline from the designer or project manager. Milestones also vary from project to project. Larger projects require more milestones while smaller projects may only need a handful.
In my experience with many small, mid-sized and large projects, I’ve created a base list of milestones that I typically work with and adjust for my projects.
There’s no question that social media has reshaped the way we do business online. I’ve posted a couple of times about using Facebook with clients; however, the real power of social media lies within Twitter.
Used correctly, Twitter can become an integral part of your projects from client screening to web site integration to ongoing client education and interaction. In this post I will step through some ideas on integrating Twitter with your projects and clients before, during and after the project process.
Read the rest at TwiTip!
Here’s the deal. Designers should not accept every project that crosses their eyes. For five years, I was stuck in the mentality that every potential project was a chariot of gold ready to bring me unimaginable riches.
Wrong. I discovered through a series of poor projects that accepting everything is not a profitable strategy. I began to understand and value the concept of opportunity cost. Let’s say I’m working on a low paying project that, while bringing in some money, eats up all my time and leaves me exhausted at the end of the day. What else could I have done with my time? Could I have worked on a more rewarding project? Or perhaps hunted for more profitable business? I will never know.
This is not a foreign concept to most veteran designers. As you grow, you must become more selective about how you spend your time. But how can you screen potential projects to eliminate the problem ones as quickly as possible?
I’ve developed a set of internal heuristics that I run each new project through as a test. Keep in mind that sometimes a project with a small budget or a client with a demeaning attitude is not necessarily a deal breaker. You have to use your judgment and analyze your own opportunity cost. What else could you be working on?
When writing this post, I realized that most clients are actually good and that you should maintain a positive outlook in your project screening process. With that thought, I decided to amend my post to include a way to think positively about each warning sign.
The Facebook fan page is a public profile for businesses, non-profits, celebrities and causes of all kinds. It’s a killer concept that has helped bring a new layer of communication to the platform.
The goal is to attract “fans” to your page so that you can amass a virtual following of sorts. This enables you to keep a close level of connection with people interested in your cause, and to see what those people are like. It’s great for connecting with clients, prospects, partners, users and other parties who might interact with your brand.
As a regular Facebook user, I’ve noticed four primary reasons why people become fans. I’ve highlighted some ways you might be able to take advantage of those reasons if you’re thinking about building a fan page.
