A project requires many things: fulfillment of responsibilities, good cooperation, effective communication and the awareness to be your own leaders. For the past one year, Stampede has been actively managing post-development tasks for one of our biggest accounts. As with other projects, there were stumbling blocks. But more recently and particularly today, everyone shines at meeting the demands of their. They executed a well-orchestrated maneuver and completed their tasks with a bang.

Mothers, Lock Your Daughters

We’re very proud of our three young dashing crew – Syazwan Hakim, See Guo Lin and Mujib Jazmin. Between the three of them, they tackled updates on a severely limited system and resolved them instantly. On a live server.

GL, Mujib and I received requests from the client and quickly distribute the tasks to the expert in charge. Mujib handled anything design-related, Syazwan did his front-end magic then GL followed through with the real deal coding. We then reported progresses and completion to the client on the same hour within minutes.

This is definitely my dream team. Their young spirits and friendship are invaluable to me. We had so much jokes and fun during the session, it was hilarious. Cherry on top – I received word that the client was very pleased with our response and speed. He skyped me kind words until he ran out of praise.

I’m surrounded by three extraordinary men in the team. Yeah I’m happy. 😉

(picture by Ken Ludwig)

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Are You the Boss You Need To Be?

For the very first time I hear my thoughts echoed in another person’s article – that man is a living resource that will continue to grow. I find this very true – my own work environment is full of creative people who would never stop learning and growing. I’ve been thinking all this time that, if only one or two people agree with my opinion, it’s probably not strong enough idea to be thought further and shared. The validation by this article makes me really happy.

I managed to take sometime this month to stop thinking about work for a while and instead, settle a few little (but aggravating) personal affairs of mine. I don’t think it’s not possible for someone whose life is unorganized, unplanned and without sold direction to be able to manage so many tasks and care for so many people. All should start from our own selves.

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10 Ways to Boost Creativity

Prior to managing and motivating others, you need to manage and motivate yourself. Being creative at work begins with you feeling comfortable with yourself and your work space. Make effort to understand the problem and be careful when passing judgment. When making decision, involve people who understand the issues and exchange ideas with them. We should all treat each other the way we want to be treated, because in a team, the role of every person is equally important.

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Don’t Let “Post-Holiday” Letdown Threaten Your Remote Team

There are moments during a long vacation when I feel uncomfortable not thinking about work. Vacations are actually good opportunities to reflect and formulate new plans, as there aren’t scheduled activities to keep you occupied. Staying connected and keeping everyone on the team aware of what’s going on is primary. Upon returning from holidays, team members should be able to ease back into their work environment and teamwork atmosphere. A back-from-holiday welcome would also show them that they are greatly appreciated, anticipated and a joy to have back.

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Keeping Your Team Productive and Happy During the Holidays Ain’t Easy – But It’s Important

Prior to any holidays, it’s crucial to note everyone’s days off, organize their tasks according to priority and complete the most important tasks first. It pays to know people’s habits and arrange for help or back-up plan around their unavailability. Not all surprises are good.

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Effective Ways to Use Anger in the Office

There were times when I felt like losing control of the anger that resulted from personal or job-related issues. But now the good news .. It is completely normal when it happens occasionally. Not every negative energy must be channeled in negative manners. Instead of turning it into disaster, use the anger as energy solver. Be in control and focus on issues that are within your reach to resolve.

NOTE: Do not engage too long with people who make you angry. Either resolve it or walk away.

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How to Manage Criticism Effectively

Responding to criticism with a negative attitude will only hinder your opportunity to grow. Criticism is a chance to correct mistakes and challenge yourself to attain more. People will not waste their time to think about you, let you know your mistakes and give suggestions to improve if you are not very important to them or believe that you are able to do better. Analyze the criticism by understanding yourself. If it is proven true and you acknowledge it, take action to fix it immediately. When it is false, do not sweat it.

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10 Ways to Stop Communication Overload

Keep communication simple, centralized and effective.

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Reasons to Work

Last but not least, if you are the right man in the right place, and all of your needs are met, you feel very important and special by your presence in this world, then you’ll be happy to work for the rest of your life.

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(picture via ffffound)

The post Managing Web Projects and People appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

The communication mayhem in Building A Website, Explained

In almost all aspects, communication is the one definitive role in the success of a project.

Working separately of distance and time with the team and the client is a new experience to me. Face to face communication is easier, but it’s not always possible. Even so, there is no excuse for a disconnect in communication, especially with a number of supporting facilities that allow for effective and accurate transfer of information. Distance and time is no longer an obstacle now even if your team and your clients are not in the same location, or in the same country.

Here at Stampede, we use all sort of communication tools: Basecamp, instant messaging, voice conference, email, telephone. We even send each other reminders via ReminderFox. All these tools, when applied right, greatly facilitate the type of work we do, to help deliver ideas and keep us focused on details. I do find written communication more productive. To me, everything noted and recorded can always be quickly reopened and referenced at any point of project development. There is very little margin of misinterpretation too.

Nevertheless, you shouldn’t depend sorely on communication tools. The most basics of communication delivery is also important to master. Firm messages are easiest to understand while properly composed questions will encourage productive discussion and further attention to details. Keep your communication clear and concise. Without it, misinterpretation is bound to happen and I have seen plenty of problems resulting from the tiniest of misunderstanding.

Any successful project accounts for delivery of work product on time and with agreed and planned quality. Poor communication can result in severe delays, uneven workload and consequently, hinder a company’s growth. Good communication, on the other hand, will attract great clients and bring about the happiest of team to work with.

(Image from MIX’s brilliant Building a Website, Explained)

The post On Good Communication appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

In the beginning, the main challenge is knowing and understanding what your task entails and who are affected by it. Then as you move on being a more integral part of the team, you will find that it takes more than adjusting to new work culture and job experience. Communication is the main requirement of a team’s success and communicating with a team dispersed globally is in itself a great challenge.

Language

Each one of us comes from different background and have our very own native tongue. English is the predominantly first language here at Stampede but we make efforts to introduce new team members to the common English/web terminologies we use everyday. Most of us are semi-veterans in the field so our lingos can be overwhelming to the uninitiated. I converse often with new team members to give them confidence and shake away their fear of speaking in foreign language.

Timezone

Most of us at Stampede works on Eastern Standard Time, a 12-hour difference that makes daytime to our clients evening to us. Partly this is because we get to facilitate quicker response when communicating with the other side of the world. It is not an imposed rule though, everyone has the option to flexible work hours of their choice. Frankly, we’re all perfectly happy working nights anyway.

The time difference may seem extreme at first. There are meetings and voice conferences with international clients, rallying team members at 2am. But we have among the best clients a company can hope and a team to die for. Although like normal work hours, concentration does get pathetic around midnight. This is when having fun people to work with pays off.

Work Ethic

Work ethic is paramount here. Everyone must have sense of ownership towards the task at hand and take initiative to progress a project forward. We believe in diligence and hard work, the same goes for learning new things consistently. When things gets real hectic, it’s sometimes easy to forget that checking in with your fellow co-workers and clients is just as important as completing tasks on time. Having a strong set of ethical conduct in the background while the entire team is buzzing with work ensures that our Stampede values remain intact.

Culture

Our team is an ensemble of talent from different countries with different cultures and communication habits.

In Indonesia for example, we are used to an environment where people debate and discuss less. Conversation about a subject is done within a few small talks, nothing elaborate. It could come across as impolite or disrespectful at times, but it’s just the environment that demand fast result for all given instructions. No questions, no haggle, no debate.

It clearly differs from the culture in Stampede where communication thrives on everyone’s active participation. Major decisions are bounced around the team, analyzed and discussed. We share responsibilities and work together towards a goal. The ability to learn any cultural background and adapt quickly is therefore a necessity because effective communication ultimately leads to great work.

So you see, wherever we come from, we have the same opportunity here at Stampede. If you have interesting ways of handling diversity in your work environment, share them with us!

(photo by Barry Feldman)

The post This Is How We Do It appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

Medan is a metropolitan city, the third largest city in Indonesia. It is very densely populated with many tall buildings. Like any mega city, transportation gridlock is always a nightmare during rush hour.

It’s not necessary to tour the entire Asian continent to discover various ethnic groups and cultures. In a vast country of 17508 islands (in which 6000 are inhabited), Medan has it all. We have Bataknesse, Javanese, Acehnesse, Chinese, Indian and many other ethnicities. We also have many ancient Dutch heritage buildings from earlier times, mostly in the Kesawan area.

For those of you looking to indulge in the urban atmosphere, Medan is right for you. There are so many places of entertainment, food and beverages, shopping centers, family leisure, games and nightlife. The most famous one is Merdeka Walk, right in the heart of the city. It is the hottest place to hangout in Medan City with cafes, restaurants, exhibition galleries and entertainment hubs.

But that’s the hectic Medan. There’s another side of the city that I’m in love with – orderly atmosphere, fresh air and a place away from the crowds.

My beloved campus, University of North Sumatra, is located at the suburban part of the city and large enough to house thirteen faculties. Complete with various facilities, it also has a cozy residential campus for students who come from outside the region and abroad. The Cafeteria and Library are worth a visit.

You can find the most beautiful atmosphere at the Faculty of Arts. Its ground is lush with trees, making it the most comfortable place to study and read. There’s also a nearby field where students play friendly football matches in the afternoon.

I belonged to the Faculty of Letters and we have variety of majors – Indonesian Language, English, Japanese Language, Regional Languages, Mandarin, History, Library Science, Ethnomusicology and Tourism.

Music, the universal language, sets our faculty’s fun level higher than the rest. Through Ethnomusicology, we learned various musical instruments and vocals unique to Indonesia. We have a permanent air of liveliness through the expression of music here.

There’s always musical entertainment at the cafeteria area and my habit was to join the musicians and sing along. I spent almost a year of my time there enjoying the relaxed atmosphere of the campus. That is, until I realized my academic grade was nearing pathetic and start hitting the books hard, paying my due.

There is no better place than home in Medan and my campus sweetens the deal.

(lovely photos by of kanarata, liamsismile & polinlipo)

The post A City of Our Own Part I: Medan appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

Success is not the key to happiness.
Happiness is the key to success.
If you love what you are doing,
you will be successful.”
-Albert Schweitzer

I have been a project manager at Stampede close to a year now but this is my very first time really getting a grip on an e-commerce project. Overseeing many projects all at once is quite handful, at least in the beginning. For me, the most important part of every work is to start. Once you start, you’ll find your pace. “It’s alright. I’ll get used to it,” I often said to myself as I hum along with my daily tasks.

Still, in my beautiful and peaceful private office, with my cup of tea (still having problem with coffee) and my only good looking boy sleeping beside me, I keep thinking what a revelation this project has been.

We’re now close to launching one of the biggest e-commerce project in our portfolio yet. It’s a huge online store – a project by one of our client from the States – and so the details are under wrap for now. This whole idea of selling products online is a brilliant industry, especially for the consumer. With only a few minutes of research, online shopping can save you money, frustration, and time. And the shop never closes! It’s only about time the shop goes mobile, and yes, Stampede has plans for that too.

Unlike most resident geeks at Stampede (I love you guys!), I am rather new to electronic commerce and the development of one. And now that I am managing one, it is really exciting.

There are so many details to take into consideration and I tell you, there is nothing easy about building a real, usable e-commerce website. There’s the preliminary requirement document, wireframing, data mining, product categorization and cross-referencing, image editing, price validation, shipping calculation. I can go on all night.

As the project manager, I have to be able to zoom in and out of many things at once. One minute I’m seeing the bigger picture, the next I’m making sure the smallest detail in design is met according to plan. It is a real effort, but only because we apply such strict quality standard to every product that rolls out of Stampede’s door.

But above all, I’m amazed most by the collaboration – everyone in Stampede is going out of their way to help and make sure that this little baby get off the ground splendidly. The extra effort we have taken throughout this project are all necessary complexities. And you can tell we’re all very proud to be part of it.

(photo credit goes to Todd Richardson)

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