Freelance Switch

Continuing Your Education 140 Characters At A Time
You know you want to tackle that new standard for CSS you've been hearing about. Or, you know that you should understand how overrides enhance Joomla! extensions and templates. You've heard the term "MVC" or maybe "SDK" but you have no clue what they mean. Maybe you want to learn a new style of writing so you can build that personal blog. But excuses pile up, for instance: you don't have the resources, or your current work load doesn't give you the time, or the best excuse — you lack the brain power. And really, if a client isn't paying for it how can you legitimize the time?

Yet, to stay current and competitive in our cutthroat freelance environment, you must keep learning the "bleeding edge" of your chosen profession, be it design, web development, programming, or writing, or something else. The challenge is to continually keep learning while working. Otherwise, with the tools of our trades changing so rapidly we can quickly get outmoded. So, how can we at least stay on "speaking terms" with new techniques and technology?

Three Internet social networking technologies are there for our use: Twitter, RSS, and Readers. In addition, online social groups aggregate information to make it even easier to keep a handle on what's happening in our fields. Ning groups, LinkedIn groups, and Facebook groups all are our friends.

This article lists the steps you can take daily to keep yourself current. It only takes about a half hour to cull articles you want to read or keep for reference if you do it diligently. Treat this task like you treat your email time. It'll pay off in increased knowledge.
Step 1: Find The Best Sources Of Information

In order to keep up with technology, you have to find the reputable sources of information. I tend to gravitate to online magazines that aggregate "the best of" approaches. In addition, I regularly read those blogs written by the originators of the software and techniques I use. For example, Eric Meyer is one of the best coders in CSS in the business and JoomlaBlogger.com is a tremendous resource in up-and-coming as well as practical techniques for Joomla!.

One of the most difficult things to do on the Internet is find reliable sources of information. The 'net is full of sites that purport to provide advice and training but if you know a little about your field, you'll quickly discover that most technology sites are: selling something, have some sort of bias, or are written so poorly that they can't be trusted. The key is to query your fellow practitioners on such forums as our very own Freelance Switch as well as your professional sites, such as Media Bistro, Joomla.org, Drupal.org, The Illustrator's Guild, and so forth and find out what other folks are reading.

Twitter is a social networking web application that allows users to "microblog". Microblogging is a message no larger than 140 characters in length - the size of an Internet burst of information. Microblogging has caught on so strongly that Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning, Naymez, and other professional and personal social networks use it as personal message tools.
Step 2: Subscribe To RSS Feeds
To make it easier for you, I've compiled a list of those online magazines and blogs I regularly read (most are oriented towards the business of web design and the technological developments within the Open Source community).
- A List Apart (http://www.alistapart.com/): An elegant e-zine that publishes articles on the business of design as well as technologies, roles and jobs, techniques, and developments.
- The Best Of Joomla! (http://feeds.feedburner.com/bestofjoomla/resources): A news aggregator and product review site with extensive feedback as well as demo links. If you design using Joomla! this site is a must read.
- JFoobar Blog (http://feeds.feedburner.com/jfoobar/blog): A blog out of the Netherlands whose authors discuss the newest developments in web application development and content management systems.
- Design, Work, Plan (http://feeds2.feedburner.com/Designworkplan): A designer blog that discusses the business of graphic and web design.
- The Open Road (http://blogs.cnet.com/8300-13505_1-16.xml): Open Source software developments are discussed as they relate to software development cycles and businesses.
- The Unofficial Apple Weblog: (http://www.tuaw.com/rss.xml): The "inside scoop" on developments at Apple Computer.
- Web Designer Wall (http://feeds.feedburner.com/WebDesignerWall): A terrific tutorial site for all things Photoshop, Dreamweaver, CSS, HTML, Javascript, and other web technologies. Beautiful illustrations and best-of reviews.
- Smashing Magazine (http://rss1.smashingmagazine.com/feed/): An e-zine dedicated to the art and craft of print and web design. Each article is jam-packed with examples of the best of breed with links and tutorials. This is a must-read for designers. There are also many freebies and links to designer software.
RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a web application that when applied, can suck the contents of a website and feed it into a Newsfeed reader such as the following readers:
- Google Reader (Web and Mobile)http://www.google.com/reader/view/#overview-page
- Bloglines (Web)http://bloglines.com/
- NetNewsWire (Macintosh)http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/
- SharpReader (Windows)http://www.sharpreader.net/
- LifeArea (Linux)http://liferea.sourceforge.net/
- AmphetaDesk (Windows/Linux/Mac)http://www.disobey.com/amphetadesk/
- Feedly (An RSS Feed aggregator for Firefox)http://blog.feedly.com/
Seek out specialty newsletter and aggregator websites and subscribe to their RSS feeds and Twitter links. Use the RSS reader (I use Google Reader for its ease of use and accessibility on my iGoogle home page and iPhone) to display your selected news sites in a way that lets you quickly peruse articles and rank the ones you wish to read.
Step 3: Follow The Site's Twitter Page
When you identify sites that you find yourself following regularly, go to the site itself and if they have a Twitter link, subscribe to it. Use Twitter via these free or low-cost programs:
- Icon Factory's Twitterific for (http://iconfactory.com/software/twitterrific/),
- Ian Dodworth's Twitterdeck desktop and iPhone/iPod Touch (http://www.tweetdeck.com/)
- Ed Finkler's Spaz (http://funkatron.com/spaz)
- PocketTweets' PocketTweet for iPod Touch and iPhone (http://www.pockettweets.com/)
- Seemic's Twirl (http://www.twhirl.org/)
or another check out Twitter Fan Wiki's Apps Page for a compilation of the best of breed for specific operating systems, desktop, or mobile use (http://twitter.pbworks.com/Apps).

Hint: Mr. Twitter (http://twitter.com/MRTweet and http://mrtweet.net) is a great site to locate specialists in different technologies. It has a search engine that can locate Twitter users and then rank them by recommendations in a hierarchy. Since these recommendations come from their peers, and you can also see who in your world also follows these folks, you can quickly build up a reading list of Twitter sites. The Twitter applications let you group your Twitter subscriptions for easier management. Tweets lead to other Tweets in a network until you are linked into continuing discussions of technologies, conference developments, business questions, and yes, sometimes the ephemera of freelance life.

I currently follow these specialists in Open Source software and Joomla! among many others:
- @jasonfried (http://twitter.com/jasonfried)
- @meyerweb (Eric Meyer) http://twitter.com/meyerweb
- @eff (Electronic Freedom Foundation) http://twitter.com/EFF
- @imjustcreative (Grahm Smith, freelance identity & branding specialist) http://twitter.com/imjustcreative
- @theartofjoomla http://twitter.com/theArtOfJoomla
- @osnetwork (Open Source Network) http://twitter.com/osNetwork
- @corywebb (Joomla trainer and master blogger) http://twitter.com/corywebb
Use Twitter to gain rapid access to suggested readings, videos, or specialists. When you find a Tweet from a specialist in your field, take the time to check out suggested specialists' blogs or sites and if you find their information credible and useful, subscribe to their Tweets and RSS feeds. Network and grow your knowledge base. Converse with these specialists via commenting, Tweeting, and emails to share information. You'll find you'll gain a great resource should you have questions, need sub-contractors, or you are looking for work. This is beyond the shear breath of information you'll tap.

Hint: Be sure to follow the Tweets of software companies who make the software you use on a regular basis. Every major and small company has a Twitter account. Read the Tweets to keep up with upgrades, betas, and future plans.
Step 4: Interact With People, Blogs, and Companies
One surprising fact that startled me when I first began to use Twitter and Google Reader to continue my education is how nice most of the big names in web design, Open Source, and print design actually are. I am very shy most of the time, but I found that the humanity that rings out on Twitter breaks down barriers and allows me to ask questions and make my own contributions to ongoing discussions, thereby building my reputation while I continue to learn at the feet of masters. Just don't get lost in the enormous amounts conversations because believe me, Twitter and RSS feeds can take up your day. But what a great way to connect to your peers.Enter your text here...
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Don’t confuse your client’s goals with your own
I read a series of great articles by Jaan Orvet and Andreas Carlson (“Strategy Basics: It’s Really About Having A Plan” and its follow-up, “Strategy Basics: Getting Your Clients Ducks In A Row“) on Carsonified’s Blog called “Think Vitamin” and on the importance of having a sound plan for a successful project. This is basic project management logic, but so often when we start a project the client has not fully developed what they want to do as well as many of the details of how to accomplish it.

I design websites for a living, so I’m going to use this type of project as an example, but I know from talking to my print-oriented graphic artist friends as well as my writer friends, that the situation I’m going to describe and suggest fixes for, is the same. It’s the situation where your client sets deadlines but dos not take into account their approval structure, change management, and so forth into account and then expects you, the designer, to meet a set of milestones that are unrealistic.

The deadlines aren’t real and it is difficult to keep the scope of work set as defined because of poor comprehension of the technology and/or trouble conceptualizing how to get to their goal (which leads to major changes to the design during later states of the project as it becomes clear that what was agreed upon doesn’t fit newly determined purpose definitions) and a poor reviewing process (editorial changes and delays in approval that occur because your project manager did not include his/her superiors in the process and get their buy in). Then, we get stuck working overtime to fulfill our obligations or loose the contract because of misunderstandings in communications.

We can do a lot in our proposals and contracts to assist our clients in understanding and holding to their goals.

Define and Stick to a Goal

The most important thing you and your client have to determine and keep hold of during the entire project is the answer to the following question:

What is the Project Supposed to Do?

In other words, why is the client doing this thing? How does it fit into their universal business goals? The answer to this question is so important to the success of the project and whether the client likes what you have done. Even if the relationship of the project is never verbally defined, the client who knows why their organization exists will always compare the results of your work to this unspoken mission statement. Get them to put it in writing.

The client should be able to answer the following five questions suggested on Carsonified’s Blog. The answers will be your guide for staying on task and on goal:
- What you are doing
- Who you are doing it for
- Why you are doing it
- How you are doing it
- When you are doing it
When you write your proposal, you should have already had a conversation with your client and gotten a statement that defines why they want the website, brochure, newsletter, and so forth. Then, determine how your creation will help them further these goals. This is your Scope of Work.

Thus, if your client’s organization is a non-profit who helps clergy understand how to provide counseling services to families where there has been domestic abuse, then the website has to support these educational goals to the max. It has to sell or market what the organization does. The audience, products, and service vehicle are all defined by the Scope of Work. It should never vary.

Truly Understanding Your Client

The most difficult part of the process of collecting requirements for a project is translating your technical jargon and related needs into “client speak”. I define “client speak” as the technical and business language of your client. For example, in the content management system Joomla!, every article, piece of software, snippet of code, and any other content has to be labeled with two keywords — a “section” and a “category”.

This means absolutely nothing to the regular person who is in need of your services, such as a client in need of a site for a religious organization. In fact, it recently got me in a lot of difficulty because I failed to recognize how the audience would search for articles when it was patiently explained to me by the client. Most non-computer literate users go to a website and look for specific articles that are mentioned in online classes, real-life sermons or lectures, and/or blogs they read. They also could care less about an elegant organization whose goal is to streamline and limit menu items — they want the specific article cited how they heard of it. The client had been posting hundreds of articles to the old site quite literally because that is the way he also remembered them. Thus, there were hundreds of categories for specific holidays, Bible quotes, titles, and authors.

The client’s goal for the new site was not to streamline searches, but to enable his audience to have a website that wouldn’t fail as the old one was doing due to old software. I made a drastic error in not listening to the goal and defining the steps to meet his goal of simply upgrading vs. my goal of updating the entire site’s organization. It was a deadly mistake.

Always listen carefully to the business goal and do not let your designer’s goal get in the way.

After meeting the business goal, you can open discussions on how to enhance the aesthetics and layout of the site always keeping in mind the audience.

Concluding Thoughts

If you can help your client formulate why he/she wants to do the project and what they ultimately want it to do and look like, this statement provides a powerful guide for you as the designer/implementer. Use it to stay on track and not stray into your own sense of aesthetics. It is difficult to put aside how YOU would create the product and YOUR goals and truly listen to the client who knows their audience.

If you find that your client is having trouble answering the five questions, you can help them understand their audience better by providing a sounding board and structure. Here is where you can use your knowledge of design, usability, user interface design, and so forth to guide them to a better product. But always listen first.