Freelancing has often been mooted as the future of work, with professionals seeking more control of their work and organisations benefitting from the greater flexibility of a transient, highly specialised workforce when reacting to evolving markets.
For many, it still remains a game of risk vs reward.
Having spent much of his career as a freelancer, Jason is here to answer your most searched questions about freelancing.
A memorable – if not a little disturbing – simile once used by an industry legend during his seminar.
Sensing the discomfort of the crowd, he frowned & bellowed, “Well, you know what I mean, right?” Not a clue, but you certainly have my attention… “It’s like being able to tell the gender of a baby chicken just by looking at it.”
Apparently it’s a subtle art (in the loosest sense of the word) developed with many years of experience, one you can attain to determine chicken gender, or, more usefully in our line of work, developer quality.
I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t know anyone that has the ten thousand hours required to master that skill.
Anyway, we’d prefer to hire whole coops, sorry, teams of developers for a number of reasons.
Hiring teams is a completely different proposition to a single developer – we can’t make them all do whiteboard interviews. Here are some of the things we look for & ask at Digital Village when hiring great development teams.
Stand & deliver. We’re technology agnostic & focus on the best processes for delivering reliable value in. In short, we spend less time looking at tech teams work & more looking at the projects they’ve completed.
Are the projects ‘significant’ & did they challenge the team’s ability? ‘Significant’ is of course subjective, but we’re looking for teams with strong capability & ambition.
Are the projects accompanied by glowing testimonials? Unfortunately self-assessment can be a little, let’s say, biased from time to time.
A curated brochure of past products is nice, but we aren’t window shopping here. We need to dig into things a little (lot) more. A good ol’ fashioned interview with some representatives from the team is a perfect way to find out:
Abiding by the old proverb, “it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it,” & without dabbling in amateur psychoanalysis, there’s a lot more you can take away from the interview.
Are they excited to talk about the projects? Do their eyes light up when explaining technical triumphs. Perhaps an eye-roll when describing the challenge of containing scope with an ambitious client?
Honestly, the last thing we want to see is ambivalence. We want to see anything to show a deep engagement with all the challenges (technical & otherwise) that arise during a complex project.
If they pass both stages with flying colours, hire them & give them everything they want.
Ok, just kidding. I’d feel very hesitant to hire a team purely on this basis. So, I hear you ask, what are the key questions Digital Village asks before engaging with development teams..?
A simple yet serious question. How do they know what they’re building works as it should? It’s an opportunity to understand their practices, processes & also attitude towards producing quality software.
The answer, of course, should involve a seven letter word that causes more headaches than most: ‘testing’. But what kind of testing? QA staff are great & will pick out errors like a sniper, but automated developer tests are also important.
The bravest programmer you’ll meet (& the one you want to meet) is running a gauntlet of unit, feature & integration tests. “Does my change break anything?”, is just an automated test run away.
Adopting such methods allow teams to stride quickly & ambitiously because the safety net of automated testing is always waiting to catch them after a misstep.
At least this one’s simple… “it’s what the client asked for”. Get out.
Every project is a big investment for a client, so how can we be sure the investment is going to pay off?
At Digital Village we have a huge range of clients: start-up to enterprise, tech wizards to non-tech founders. With each client, we assume full responsibility for helping them understand if the proposed project is going to make their business more successful.
If not, we can steer them in a better direction even if it means having difficult (but always positive) conversations. Clients come to us looking for guidance & it’s fundamental to our service that we find the right solution.
So our question for any team is, “how will the client know if what they’ve asked for is what they really need?”
If they reply, “the client agreed to the specification, if the code meets the spec then they’re getting what they want,” they’re not the kind of team we personally like to work with.
I’d love to hear how the team proactively validates work delivered to a client, their strategies for eliciting feedback & how they manage that moment when a client says, “wait a minute, this isn’t going to work”.
Long gone are the days of expectation & necessity for singular locations. We’ve worked with all kinds of teams: onshore, offshore & a hybrid of both. So far, we’ve found each model brings its own benefits & challenges.
If a team has offshore members, great! Some of our current teams that contain offshore members produce incredible results at a fantastic price-point.
Traditionally, communication is seen as a potential pitfall for offshore teams, but our success is due to amazing team leads who are responsible for communicating with project stakeholders locally & team members offshore… a conduit, if you like.
So let’s hear about who is responsible for communicating the client’s needs to the team & relays the team’s questions, concerns & suggestions.
To be clear, I’ve never asked anyone, “what’s the silent killer of projects?”. One, because it’s over dramatic, & two, there are always symptoms.
I would love to know, however, what the team thinks is most likely to derail a project. Although answers will vary, if this were a game of Family Feud I’d expect “communication problems” to be a top answer.
As Bernard Shaw, a man that revolutionised comedic drama, said, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place”.
So what are their individual thoughts regarding communication? How could they be sure a client has understood them (& vice versa)? Perhaps most importantly, will they be willing to take on the commitment to communication that Digital Village does?
Dev teams are often missing one vital piece of the puzzle. The client. Now we aren’t expecting 40hrs a week, but we always try to bring clients & users into the project team. Invite clients to join meetings & the same communication channels as the rest of the team.
So, a case study & an interview. We’re hardly rattling the established pillars of HR & recruitment with this one, are we? But what it all boils down to is can we answer the following questions with a reasonable degree of certainty:
I’d be happy to work with anyone who can do that.
Along with words & the predictability of stupidity, never underestimate the power of a good workshop. In fact, I’m a firm advocate of replacing (often pointless & frankly irritating) meetings with them altogether. Why? I hear you say. Strap in for some truth bombs.
Why workshops are better than meetings:
Running a good workshop, however, can be hard, & if you’re not careful can descend into the futile wasteland currently occupied by meetings. Following a process is simple enough but controlling the team, managing the content & ensuring you hit the goals/ objectives can be tricky. Here are some quick tips to have you running workshops like a pro.
Proper planning prevents piss poor performance. Some prefer ‘fail to prepare, prepare to fail’ but I’ve always been one for alliterative acrobatics. Prepare the agenda, practice (even into a mirror) & get advice from others you work with to agree a structure for the session.
Yes, this sounds bleeding obvious but you don’t want to be wasting valuable time scrambling around looking for things.
Almost as important as remembering to bring pens… The last thing you want is for the wrong people to turn up or, more realistically, key decision-makers not attending. Although everybody contributes, they get the final say.
Make sure you send out a confirmation email to everyone confirming:
You’ve followed Rule 1 meticulously & are on course to prevent piss poor performance. You know what your goals & objectives are & you have chosen the right workshop process to match the outcome needs. Trust the process.
Don’t let people in the room make you deviate from the stages you need to go through to get the end result. If people challenge this, be open and honest about the needs of the process and inform how it will achieve the end result. Communication is key.
We’re embarking on a creative process so use ice-breakers to get the juices flowing. It helps to break down any barriers & encourage collaborative thinking within the group. Ice-breakers are also darn good at waking people up after a long morning or resurrecting people from a lunchtime food comma.
If the workshop is particularly long then use them intermittently to break up the day & keep everyone thinking. I’ll be releasing a free Ice-breakers eBook in the near future filled with jovial jaunts. Ninja, Tiger, Grandma, anyone?
Anyone participating in a workshop should be just that, participating. We’re really on collaborative input to solve a problem quickly. Some rules I like to follow are:
No, not to settle disputes. Sometimes conversations & ideas pop up that are not constructive to the process. Well, not this process. We don’t want to lose these ideas. Take note of them in a separate place on the wall and let the team know that you’ll come back to these ideas separately.
One of the best bits of advice I was given for managing a workshop was to remain mindful that it’s not all about you (the facilitator), it’s about the people in the room and how they feel.
Make people feel appreciated for their questions: “What I’m hearing is…..? Is this right?” & thank them. Never get defensive; appreciate what they say and table the question.
And be honest with the responses. If you don’t know the answer, don’t try and make it up. Trust me, the audience will see right through you & you’ll instantly lose all credibility (& look like a %@3*)
Ah, the troublemakers. Unfortunately you will have people occasionally have people that just don’t want to be there. They’re either not paying attention, talking too much or acting inappropriately. So how do you deal with these people? Straight to the car park, I jest.
Not Paying Attention: These people are annoyingly rude but are also the easiest to deal with. In these instances here are some things you can try:
Loudest Person In The Room: This is very common when you have a room with potentially “junior” team members and a few “senior” members. Unsurprisingly it’s often the senior leadership that talks the most. So how do you deal with this?
Inappropriate Behaviour: Probably the hardest situation to deal with. You’re all adults & the expectation is that everyone behaves like one. Unfortunately there are some people that still struggle to do so. So how do you deal with these difficult situations?
You never improve if you don’t learn from what you’ve done. Always ask for feedback at the end of the workshop. Every workshop you run is training for the next one you run. If it didn’t go as well as it could have, don’t take it to heart, explore why, & understand how you can do better next time.
Creating & maintaining change, on both a personal level or a larger scale, is hard. CRED. aims to educate & enable individuals to take small daily actions to create sustained change & be part of the larger collective good. DV transformed the CRED. app to allow individuals to create, record & measure their own personal transformation.
Watch the full interview with CEO & Founder Ronan Mac Domhnaill.
Founder & CEO, Ronan Mac Domhnaill, wanted to create a scalable tech team & unlock expertise to expand the reach & functionality of CRED.. Hiring a team of 10 professionals, however, is obviously expensive & largely unattainable for companies within their formative years. They had explored off-shoring during the early days of the company but admit struggling to find a value-aligned tech partner.
The difficult conversations are always the most important…
The initial intention was to add additional functionality to an existing app built on hybrid mobile development tool FuseTools. During an initial analysis, the existing app was found to have issues regarding scalability & further development. CRED.’s DV Producer Jithesh suggested that replicating the functionality with a new design for a native application would be beneficial for the long-term goals of the business.
He spoke very openly & candidly about what he believed our business needed & where we were at from a digital perspective,” says Ronan. “…[it] was very difficult to hear because he made some suggestions that were going to require reinvestment. As someone that had invested a number of times in the technology it was not what I wanted to hear, but he did it in such a way that I listened to him & we built trust right away.”
Having agreed to the proposed roadmap, Ronan & Cred. began their first 20 day sprint. 20 days, fixed costs & fixed outcomes.
Module 1 // Rebuild: The first 20 days was used to rebuild the app with a new UI and the same functionality in native Android & iOS. Rebuilding the app with zero documentation for the existing system was a challenge, but was completed by the development team within the first module.
Module 2 // Additional Functionality: Users were able to record feelings at any point of time, record the target values for each of their actions and self-registration of users through a web link.
Module 3 // Additional Functionality: Weekly progress summary graphs & statistics were added & users were allowed to personalise their actions rather than be assigned them by the program administrator.
CRED.’s challenge accepted in the US…
CRED. recently completed a 30-day mental health & well-being challenge with 30 students across four different colleges in the United States with overwhelmingly positive results. An independent evaluation commissioned by their US partner revealed 85% of participants were either likely or extremely likely to continue actions after the 30-day trial.
The challenge aimed to provide students with a platform to navigate a time of uncertainty & build new, sustainable habits through three areas: Focus, Move & Connect.
Focus: Individuals were encouraged to become more conscious of their ability to focus at points throughout the day & record their energy levels.
Move: During times of stress, exercise & self care is one of the first things sacrificed. Users were encouraged to exercise or ‘move’ 30 minutes a day & record their activity.
Connect: Supporting others is key to living a better life. Users connected to others outside the programme to ‘check in’ & see how they’re doing.
Armed with their revamped app & valuable insights, Ronan & CRED. are going from strength to strength & looking forward to the next round of sales. Customers & potential partners alike are now expressing interest in working alongside CRED. to create sustainable change.
https://cred.global/
Native iOS using Swift and Native Android using Kotlin
.NET and database MSSQL
Design sprint to Agile delivery
Self hosted set-up
Social, education
The busiest time of year is approaching and you’re running ads to increase acquisitions and revenue…
Let’s say you acquire two new customers at an acquisition cost of $20 each. Luke spends $50 & Jason just $25. Luke, therefore, represents a better ROI, right? Well, initially yes, but perhaps we’re thinking too short term as Jason returns at a later date and spends another $100.
Instead of focussing on short-term ROI, businesses should consider a customer’s lifetime value. Businesses need both Lukes & Jasons but by focusing on acquiring high-value customers revenues will increase, your business will grow and all shall be donning ear to ear grins.
If lifetime value does not exceed cost of acquisition, however… you get the picture.
So how do businesses identify, target and acquire high value customers while inspiring long-term loyalty? Well, we provide a tailored experience using RFM segmentation: Frequency, Recency & Monetary.
Imagine you’re the proprietor of a coffee shop (the kind that sells drinks prefixed with too many adjectives) & want to introduce a 50% discount voucher. Ok, great. Offering a discount to customers with a low frequency may be a great way of enticing them through the door.
Now consider a customer that religiously purchases their dirty, skinny chai latte each day without fail. Their frequency is already high so a 50% discount is probably the wrong approach. Instead, you could give them a free hamper on their birthday; you already know what they like.
In DV STREAM: LIfetime ROI, Suraj Pabari discusses how you can develop a strategy to retain high-value customers and increase loyalty with low-value customers.
Whether you’re a start-up, small business or established enterprise, the need to move fast, fail faster and adapt in today’s market is crucial. Design Sprints allow you to solve complex problems in just five (or even four) days and unlock the benefits of Agile.
Agile methodology is an iterative, incremental response to the inadequacies of traditional software development and allows companies to move faster and meet the requirements of customers. The principles of Agile and the wider application of organisational agility (there is a distinction) have swept throughout Silicon Valley as businesses continue to race from idea to market.
Although I wholeheartedly think if you’re not adopting the methodology (at least somewhere in your innovation process) something is wrong, Agile is not a “silver bullet” solution… nothing is. Testing and cooperation are integral to the customer-centric principles of Agile and validating an idea can be, well, time-consuming.
Cue Design Sprints.
Developed by Jake Knapp out of Google’s Venture division, The Design Sprint is a pressure cooker, collaborative process that can take you from idea to tested solution inside of five days. Yes, really. In fact, organisations like AJ&Smart have released a 2.0 version that streamlines the process to just four days.
By the end of the Sprint, you have a tangible, tested prototype that you built together. Think of it as a crystal ball into the future: you’re able to gain valuable customer insight without committing the time and capital of building a real product. With a little bit of experience, you can also utilise the process to develop everything from complex marketing strategies to kickstarting a new business.
First things first, you need somebody dedicated to driving his new way of thinking. You need a facilitator. Regardless of their involvement in the business, they are able to provide an outside perspective and guide you through the discovery process. The ideas are in there, they just need to be extracted and ordered.
Next, you need the commitment of your team for the intensive (but short) process. Dedicating time can be one of the biggest challenges for any business, big or small, but consider the potential wasted months developing the wrong product.
Kick off the first day by unpacking the problem space and validating the idea. These structured conversations are the foundation of the Sprint as we define your “North Star”. This unwavering definition of purpose will be a constant point of focus to ensure you’re solving the problem.
Who are your customers? What do they need and what drives this need? Begin to build out a simplified customer journey and kickstart the magic of the sprint process. Using a simple “how might we…” process you can begin to source opportunities and create the basis of your new idea. Through voting and a process of elimination you’ll decide which ideas to take to the next stage.
Having considered your customer segments, now is the time to start organising your 4-6 test subjects for the final day. Remember, the aim of the Sprint is to have a tested prototype so subjects are crucial to the process!
Firstly, we want to make sure we’re happy with the idea we’ve chosen. Validation throughout the whole process is crucial to success so key decision makers must be in the room (or can drop in and out as the days progress.
We all see things differently. In fact, the collaborative effort and combined creativity of Design Sprints make it such a powerful tool when building new ideas. Lightning demos are a great way of inspiring creativity and gaining the most from the ideation stage. Take time to find things relevant to the idea that inspires you and share with the group.
It’s time to bring the idea to life. Utilising the process of Crazy Eights, everyone in the room will begin to turn their ideas into written (or drawn) product pieces and share them via a personal two-pager storyboard. Another round of voting begins…
The team reviews all the ideas and ultimately votes on which one to take to prototype. Make sure the ‘decision maker’ is in the room as unsurprisingly they have the final say. Decision made.
Now start to visualise the solution and transform the personal storyboards into blueprints on the wall. A facilitator will begin to draw out the idea, frame by frame, as everybody discusses how it should look.
With the blueprint complete, it’s time to create something tangible that can be tested with real customers. It doesn’t need to be a complete solution, just enough to take the potential customers on a journey and communicate the idea. The team can utilise pieces of paper to develop the prototype, or if possible, translate it using tools like Miro and Figma.
Your customer was defined at the start of the process and should now be in the room with you. It’s the moment of the truth. Present your idea with the prototype and gather feedback. Was the feedback positive? If so, great! You can start developing the project utilising the agile methodology previously mentioned. Was the feedback average? Is there a way to pivot the idea and refine the solution? Hopefully so.
Was the feedback, let’s say, less than average? Maybe it’s time to scrap the idea and try something different. Trust me, it happens. But at least you didn’t invest months into R&D to discover it wasn’t what the customer needed!
Chris Sinclair is a Digital Experience Designer & Strategist responsible for working with start-ups and organisations to develop products and go to market strategies utilising agile & design sprint methodologies.
Connect with Chris.
“What began with dozens of students has now morphed into 4000 students across 47 schools and 290 classes taking part in physical activity and engaging with Australian history geography in culture.”
Client: NSW Dept of Education School Sports Unit
From increased concentration to developing positive lifelong habits, the benefits of physical activity in young people is widely recognised. What NSW high school teacher Emily McLachlan didn’t anticipate, however, was the immediate success of her ‘Race Around Australia’ challenge – a virtual tour of the nation as student’s runs were plotted on an interactive map. Digital Village created a web application to help thousands of NSW students race around Australia and sprint towards their academic goals.
Concerned by falling levels of activity amongst young people, Emily McLachlan wanted to design a physical challenge that would engage students. The premise was simple: ‘Race Around Australia’ (albeit virtually). Student’s runs were plotted on a virtual map so they could see their progress around the country. The innovative challenge garnered interest from students, teachers and education departments but was quickly overwhelmed by the need to manually update the map each day. In order to achieve her goal – creating a challenge that every student in every school could participate in – Digital Village was approached to develop a tech solution.
We hosted a workshop in order to fully understand the specific needs and requirements of our client. The outcome was to, firstly, create a web application that allowed students of all ages to sign up, enter their run distance and see their progress across Australia. As they raced across the country, however, content relevant to their studies would be displayed as they passed points of interest. A competitive element was also added to keep students engaged. Classes and even schools could race against each other, seeing their cumulative totals nudge their school crest around Australia.
The web application we developed has allowed our client’s vision to become a viral success. What began with dozens of students has now morphed into 4000 students across 47 schools and 290 classes taking part in physical activity and engaging with Australian history geography in culture. ‘Race Around Australia’ has been covered in national media and its creator, Emily McLachlan, proudly recognised in the Learning Edge search for NSW’s most innovative educator. Most importantly, however, teachers have reported students being happier and more focussed after their runs alongside the social benefits of students working a cohesive team goal, to ‘Race Around Australia.’
NSW students have now run a combined 166,000KM with Race Around Australia, which is 6.5 times around Australia.
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