Dec 4
Legacy is a very loaded word in digital; any project or piece of code, branding, visual design can be described as legacy even though it may still be fit for purpose and do what was originally asked of it. What is and isn't legacy is purely a point of view, it can be that everyone holds the same point of view but it is still a qualitative measure of a website or system. There is no discrete definition of what is and isn't legacy. A billing system written in Bash maybe in the minds of most a legacy system or a banking system written in COBOL, but then some may say that a php site built only 12 months ago is legacy because it doesn't meet the requirements of today.
It's most loaded use is by salespeople and people selling a particular new technology. Phrases such as "integrates with legacy systems", "increase your ROI on legacy systems", all ring alarm bells in my mind as there is an instant assumption that legacy equals crap. That is not always the case and in many respects you must understand the full business requirements of system to understand it. There are however related issues which can be indicative of an issue with a system, code rot, technical debt and the associated passive rot and active rot. These all describe the degrading of a program or piece of code that through environmental changes or "a death of a thousand cuts", leads to a reduced functionality and a movement away from it's core use.
In an ideal world all projects - no matter how small or big - would come with extensive documentation (project aims, use cases, wireframes, planing docs) however we don't live or work in an ideal world. We live in a commercially driven reality, whether you're billing by the day, responsible for a large business change project or just trying to get something done in an evening. It is about achieving balance between your goals within your constraints. And this by it's very nature does lead in to the creation of legacy projects; they are epoch specific, a creature and a composition of their time. Imagine trying to build a website that has to last 50 years - how would you start it? how could you build it?
Legacy I feel is not a bad word, it's the emotional connotations we place upon systems we label with it that are our problems, our own internal beliefs that new is better (which in many cases it is!) without understanding the mental blocks that puts on us as programmers or designers as we work with the system / project.
In a nutshell: be kind to the decisions of those who have gone before you; who knows what your code will look like in the future.
Oct 6
A recurring theme in many of the offices / companies I've been involved in has been the quality and atmosphere of the offices that I've worked in.
Some people (and companies) don't pay too much attention to them, opting for the cheapest / simplest choice at time of need, which I believe is a classic false economy. When working with online projects, you're dealing with a wide range of skill sets and problems; some of which are creative fluffy ones and some that are hard crunchy ones. These both require different types of people and different types of environments. Some things are a given though and for the benefit of anyone building a creative online office space I give you a brief list of key performance indicators to get right:
- Beverages - Coffee must be strong and / or of good quality. Tea must range from PG / Tetleys to 'crazy' tea - Lapsing / Green tea etc. You need a water cooler. Do not get a constant heating urn - your staff need that 5 - 10 minutes break to defocus and gain some perspective on what it is they're struggling with.
- Ergonomics - Don't scrimp on chairs nor monitors, your staff can't work for you without their eyes and backs. Provide a decent set-up process as part of their induction. Ergonomics and health & safety is not a joke - it's the law and it shows that you do care about them as individuals more than just the economic value they provide to the organisation.
- Noise - A noisy office can be a great creative powerhouse of fantastic ideas; don't let it become a common room of banality. Let people wear earphones, be tolerant of random conversations and not afraid to poke their nose into a conversation if they have something of value to add.
- Art - Is a very dangerous area. If you impose it on people, they will resent it if it is seen to be expensive; if you decline it you run the risk of having no soul. Best option? Let people decide what they want on their walls, have an art office team to go and seek ideas and maybe even commission themselves. But no nudity OK?
- Whiteboards - Big, lots and in places where people can gather and stare at them. Whether it's notices, new data models or just drawing stick people they help people communicate ideas and work through them with others.
- Dresscode - nothing ripped and nothing with swear words, otherwise your free to go I say. You may find that the types of people you employ will impose upon themselves a herd dress code - I heard of a local agency that has had to start having a cowboy day as so many employees turn up in check shirts.
- Perks - Be different, but useful & relevant: free snacks are great but not if they are full of fat and sugar. Encourage cyclescheme, gym membership, cultural engagement and family time - flextime is a great one for this. Give random acts of kindness, that way the perk is always noticed. Different professions have weird perk cultures; sales is the obvious outlier with incentives and performance related pay at the heart of the remuneration package.
In short, as others have said, "Talent makes capital dance." If you want to retain talent, you better make sure they can dance. For more inspiration:
This ain't no disco | blog about agency studios
Sep 18
It's been a while (note: years...) since I last tried to blog / publish my thoughts anywhere. However, there have been a number of things that have itched me to actually blog about or at least write about them over the last couple of months. So, over the next couple of time periods I will periodically post something of interest to me, probably digital, probably related to something technical or political, who knows.
It's an adventure.
