How to Build a Magento Agency - Workshop (Meet Magento Netherlands 2013)

We shared our experiences in various areas of running a business over the last few years and what our ideals are. It was a great opportunity for others to discuss how they work and I think people will agree it was a very productive hour with topics ranging from scoping techniques to when to hire, to development methodologies.

Thanks all that attended, I really appreciated how involved the workshop attendees were.

Workshop held by Tom Robertshaw

Transcript

2. How to Build a Magento Agency Tom Robertshaw Darren Belding   Meanbee @bobbyshaw @darrenbelding1 @meanbee
3. Meanbee •  Comp Science - University of Bath, UK •  First Magento Build in 2008 •  Graduated in 2011
4. Meanbee •  Over 30 Magento builds •  Also custom extension development •  Certified •  Doubling the team size in 2013
5. eCommerce Survey
6. Workshop Aims •  Confession: I don’t run the perfect agency •  Sharing experiences helps us to grow together
7. Workshop Topics •  Business Development •  Requirements Gathering •  Financials •  Development •  Testing •  Deployment •  Continuous Integration
8. Workshop Topics •  Logs & Exceptions •  Project Management •  Maintenance •  Hiring •  Community Involvement •  Company Development
9. Business Development •  Email/Phone Requests •  Questionnaire •  Proposals •  Contract
10. Requirements Gathering •  Balance between completeness and effort. •  Ideal is to be paid for scoping after initial proposal
11. Requirements Gathering •  Specific and unambiguous •  Living Document
12. Financials •  Billing Systems – Xero – Freeagent •  Payment Milestones •  Track Time
13. Development •  Use an IDE – Code Type Hints – phpdoc •  Code Review
14. Development •  Version Control – Gitflow •  Add static content to DB migrations
15. Development •  Keep profiler on •  Add profile statements to your code
16. Testing •  PHPUnit – Clarifies requirements •  MageSpec •  Cross-browser – SauceLabs – VMs
17. Deployment •  Don’t allow deployed code editable •  Auto-deploy to staging •  Auto clear cache and re-index
18. Continuous Integration •  Automatic Code Checking – Lint – Mess Detection •  Deploys if build passes
19. Logs & Exceptions •  Easily search logs with services – http://loggly.com/ – https://papertrailapp.com/ •  Exception handling with http://airbrake.io/ •  Avoid touching the production server
20. Project Management •  Ticketing System – Codebase – Jira •  Client-focused staff members •  Tell client early when project is delayed
21. Project Management •  Gantt Charts •  Internal and Client Deadlines •  Be realistic with estimates
22. Maintenance •  Regular Money •  Needs to be factored when managing time •  Maintained clients are happy clients
23. Hiring •  Don’t hire too soon •  Don’t hire too late •  Surround yourself with people that are better than you.
24. Hiring •  Make work place attractive •  Perceived value of work benefits •  Internal/Personal Development Fridays
25. Community Involvement •  Help others, in turn they’ll help you •  You’ll develop your own skills •  It helps build your reputation
26. Company Development •  Monthly review •  Get Feedback •  Be honest
27. Company Development •  Focus on your strengths •  Delegation •  Don’t work, lead.
28. How to Build a Magento Agency Tom Robertshaw tom@meanbee.com @bobbyshaw Darren Belding darren@meanbee.com @darrenbelding1 Meanbee @meanbee