Above is classic Steve Jobs, completely schooling SmugMug’s rep and telling him what his question and issue really is.
This is what made Apple the premier technology and innovation company – it’s what they do. It’s more than just anticipation, it’s peering into the future – it’s oracle-like.
This year, the team is making an extraordinary concerted effort to focus more tightly on our roles and responsibilities. Up to this point, we’ve all kind of pulled our own weight in various parts of the business.
It would seem to make sense, right? We’re a startup, there’s a lot of work to do, and whoever has the time should pick up the slack. The idea is that it will take the team further faster.
At one point in time, I’d agree. But not anymore. Continue Reading…
[ This is the final post in the Managing Source Code at 8BIT series. Part 1. Part 2. ]
For a couple of a years now, we’ve been using Subversion as our source code management system and we’ve been using an all-in-one application for tracking code and tickets. It’s been good, too.
Despite all the flame wars that go on between developers about which system is best, I’ve few complaints. I strive to be more of a pragmatist: find the best tool that works for your job and use it. That’s what we’ve done.
And that’s exactly why we’re migrating to GitHub this year.
Like last year our team got together with our wives to hang out, relax, and celebrate the conclusion of another year. Yes, this small but hopeful startup has survived another year together. We’ve got a lot of cuts and bruises along the way but we did it.
I never want to forget what it’s like working with a team on a shoestring budget in a rented office space on the cheap (and when I mean “cheap” I mean free). I never want to forget the long drive that I took each morning to sit amongst friends.
I never want to forget being there first, sitting alone, getting ready for the day, with my own little music set playing unashamedly loud.
I never want to forget what it was like working in a space with no furniture save a ceiling, a floor, and a couple of chairs.
[ This the second post in the Managing Source Code at 8BIT series. Part 1. ]
One of the challenges of working in a distributed, bootstrapped startup is that it takes a little bit of trial and error to find a solid process for getting work done. I wouldn’t say we’re optimal, but we do have a solid methodology in place (and it’s taken us a couple of years to refine).
We’ve gone through a several different project management applications, source control systems, and ticketing applications before landing where we are today.
[ This post is the first post in the Managing Source Code at 8BIT series. ]
For one reason or another, budding developers tend to shirk the responsibility of source control until it’s too late. Motivation for putting a system in place usually occurs when:
Sure, there are other scenarios but the above are not at all uncommon.
When it comes to source control, I take a pretty strict stance: If you’re a large team, small team, or a one-man team, then all of your code should be kept in a source control system.
This is especially true if you’re working on a product that you’re planning to sell or if you’re working on a product for someone else.
In fact, the first thing I did when joining the team was put source control in place. Over the next few posts, I’ll share our current process, how it came to be, and where we’re headed in the coming year.
But first, a quick heads up on source control…
Continue Reading…
Any experienced developer can tell you that there are a number of things that can make or break your day-to-day work:
Ultimately, it all comes to down to how easy it is to get stuff done. Continue Reading…
Whew. This news has been circulating for a bit of time now but the dust has cleared for the most part and we just wanted to briefly comment on the BeaconAds acquisition by BuySellAds.
When we first took control of Beacon we had the plans of monstrous growth with better offerings and more mature support for a growing client base. That was our goal and that’s what began to happen. We were pleased with the upward trend on all fronts!
Of course, anything that’s going well attracts good (and bad) attention and we began talks with various parties about taking it to an entirely new level.
We did some soul searching and long story short decided that it was in the best interest of all our customers and for our focus as a business to hand it off to a team that’ll take it all the way. BuySellAds, who already provided the software layer, was the growing team to do it!
