Return on Intention

The University of New Mexico is posting videos interviews of president hopefuls on its website. Posting videos, asking for feedback….isn’t that this “Web 2.0″ thing………

Brian Warren wasn’t able to be present at the first sprint podcast, so here are his thoughts on the sprint.

Check out Method Arts for more details.

 

 Method Arts Sprint - Brian Warren [9:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

On Sunday January 28th, 2007 ten independent web developers, designers, marketers and coders got together for twelve hours to see how far they could get trying to build a web site for the New Mexico unemployed. The New Mexico Department of Labor has had some trouble getting a web solution that allows the unemployed to file their weekly unemployment claims. The NMDOL paid for and took delivery of a system that is supposed to accomplish this task, but it doesn’t work. It has been a very expensive and time-consuming journey for the Department of Labor. This story has also sparked a lot of heat with the taxpayers and the media. The Albuquerque Journal has printed many stories about it, one on the front page on January 7th, 2007.

If it has taken so many years (6) and cost the state an estimated $14 million to try and complete a working system, it must be very difficult to do. Or is it? To find out our crew of 10 independent professionals got together to find out in 12 hours.

We call the group Method Arts. Method Arts is not a company. It’s a consortium of independent or freelance web, design and marketing professionals that utilize the talent pool to accomplish large projects. The system has worked out very well for the members of Method Arts and their clients. The lack of overhead associated with keeping people on staff at a formal company has created better value to the clients and a strong product delivered from entrepreneurial specialists. The ability to form very talent specific teams has allowed Method Arts to overcome many complex problems. To take on the unemployment website problem, a strong swat team of professionals was assembled.

I (Reid Givens) was fortunate enough to be one of the team members for this project. While my main role was to help document the project through audio and video, I also got to participate in the strategy and planning sessions, a little design, a lot of research, and some content gathering. It was quite an experiment.

The rules for the day were that nothing could be started before 8:00am on Sunday the 28th. No planning, scripting, designing or anything that resembled work was allowed. All work had to be completed between 8:00am and 8:00 pm.

What did we accomplish in 12 hours? A lot. We had planned and designed a system that will allow the unemployed to login and fill out their weekly filings. We have a complete site concept, site structure, templates designed and code for almost every page, a mostly complete content management system, and the forms and database to accommodate the user accounts and registration and weekly filings. Is it done? No. Is it pretty? Not particularly, although much better than what they have now.

Why did we do it? The intent wasn’t to finish the project; it was to see how far we could get in 12 hours. It was a way to try and show that 6 years and over $10 million was more than adequate to get the job done. We also did it just to work together and gain some insights from the day. Everyone got something different out of the day, and it was great for all. What I got out this whole thing was the experience of working with highly motivated people that are really good at what they do. I learned some lessons and was exposed to many new ideas. I had the opportunity to contribute to a winning team. Given the choice, I would do it again.

To find out more about this project, a video documentary will be posted on the Internet when it’s complete. In addition a podcast will be posted here (on this blog). You can also get more information from the other Method Arts members’ websites and blogs. Visit the Method Arts website and follow the links to each members site.

After the Sprint, the Method Arts Team (most of us) Sat down and reflected on the experience.

Method Arts

00:00 - Who was there
00:13 - Daniel Lyons (Introduced by Kelly Patrick Robinson)
00:30 - Kelly Patrick Robinson (Introduced by Daniel Lyons)
00:56 - Vincent Thome (Introduced by Andrew Hedges)
01:34 - Mark Bixby (Introduced by Vincent Thome)
02:22 - Andrew Hedges (Introduced by Mark Bixby)
03:19 - Lance Sanchez (Introduced by Daniel Lyons)
03:38 - Reid Givens (Introduced by Vincent Thome)
05:25 - Brian Warren (Introduced by Vincent Thome)
- Josh Sallach participated in the sprint but was not present at this meeting
05:57 - What is Method Arts
07:50 - What did we do
17:21 - How did we do it
20:37 - What did we get done
25:20 -What do we do now / What did we get out of it

 

 Method Arts Sprint [30:31m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The second installment from Barcamp Albuquerque.
Brian Warren talks about layout tricks and tips using sifr, css, and more.
- Running Time - 22:53
- 00:01 - Brain joins us on Skype from Colorado
- 8:32 - Web design without compromise

 

 Barcamp ABQ - 2 - Brian: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

You can download Brian’s presentation files here.

The First Installment from Barcamp Albuquerque.
Giles Bowkett shares some web development thoughts on MVC (model, view, control).

- Running Time - 52:56
- 00:01 - A sit down talk with Giles at a Coffe Shop
- 19:13 - MVC with Giles at Barcamp

 

 ROI - Barcamp ABQ 1 - Giles: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download