October 9, 2015 — If you make WordPress sites for a living, you’ve probably worked with clients, and you’ve probably been through the occasional tough project. Collaborating with your clients and forming a true alliance with them is delicate art. But, this talk won’t focus on what seems to go wrong with these collaborations –– it will focus on how to get it right.

We’ll compare assumptions that developers and clients often bring to a project, and look at how they are similar in some ways (e.g., the excitement of creating something new) and different in others (e.g. features that may strike clients as simple, but are actually difficult to build, and situations where developers assume a content management task will be easy for the clients, when it’s actually heinous).

We’ll also talk about a comparative wish list of skills and attitudes developers and clients tend to wish the other had, and we’ll talk about the anatomy of an ideal collaboration and the sorts of shared ideas and exchanges that can happen at every phase of a typical web product cycle, especially the initial discovery phase, where we identify the known knowns, the known unknowns, and as many of the unknown unknowns as we can.

Presentation Slides »

October 3, 2015 — Web designers and developers are each specialists with their own priorities, needs, and focus. Sometimes there can be a communication gap between the two, leading to misunderstandings and frustration. How can you learn to speak each other’s language and ensure your projects run smoothly and without hassles?

Presentation Slides »

October 3, 2015 — Today, are you a WordPress designer, developer, marketer, user?

What about tomorrow?

Available technology and visitor demands are raising expectations for sites. Collaboration can help us tap into specialized knowledge to get our projects done more quickly, with better results. Understanding your role and the roles of others can make you a great collaborator, can help you find resources, and can show you a path to grow in the WordPress community.

Come learn about the World of WordPress and meet your neighbors from many lands each with specialized languages, cultures and funny customs. Find a role, find a collaborator, find your place in The World of WordPress.

September 20, 2015 — In this talk, I share how our work-from-home team overcomes technical and social hurdles, to mirror natural, in-person creative ideation (sketching, wireframing, etc.) with a mashup of hardware and cloud tools. This talk is best for teams allowing or considering telework, as well as freelancers who want to impress their clients.

Presentation Slides »

June 27, 2015 — It seems that designers and developers speak different languages: developers are fluent in How, while designers are fluent in Why. Both are extremely important to a project, but this difference often leads to communication breakdowns. This talk gives developers insight into the design process, including vocabulary, problem-solving methods, and workflow, and outline some simple methods to avoid “fail points” along the way.

Presentation Slides »

March 9, 2015 — Optimizing WordPress Workflow

November 4, 2014 — Simon Wheatley has been working with Open Source, running an Open Source focused consultancy, and persuading big companies against Intellectual Property hoarding for years now.

In this talk he discusses the open source principles that unite many of us, and how you can marry those with solid business principles to come up with a winning formula for your clients, your self and the wider world.

Presentation Slides »

October 15, 2014 — A practical guide to doing more with WordPress; developing yourself to work on things that matter, getting in the habit of shipping and finally contributing back to this great open source project.

Presentation Slides »

October 15, 2014 — Chris Lema on how to collaborate better to do better work with WordPress.

September 1, 2014 — Changing your workflows can improve everything for everyone.
Project phases covered include:
Kicking it off
Planning/Project Management
Design
Development
Content/Bugs
Testing
Launch/Handing the site off to the client
Perfecting your workflow can help you level up your professionalism, relationships with clients & colleagues, and happiness levels!

Presentation Slides »