You really should be working on a side project

Slides from a talk I gave at the Hull Digital "You really should be..." series.

Transcript

1. W O R K I N G O N A S I D E P R O J E C T Y O U R E A L LY S H O U L D B E … …
2. L E T T I N G Y O U R T E A M M E M B E R S W O R K O N A S I D E P R O J E C T Y O U R E A L LY S H O U L D B E … …
3. B A C K G R O U N D
4. C L I E N T S
6. T Y P I C A L C L I E N T P R O J E C T L I F E C Y C L E E X A G G E R A T E D F O R E F F E C T
7. – A C L I E N T “I’ve got a great new idea I want you to work on”
9. – C L I E N T W I T H A S E N S E O F H U M O U R “I need it yesterday”
10. – C L I E N T W I T H L I M I T E D B U D G E T “Can you do it for less?”
12. … … A N D R E P E AT
13. K N O W L E D G E ?
14. G A I N I N G K N O W L E D G E • Conferences • Books • Blogs • Screencasts / Podcasts • Tinkering
15. I T ’ S A L L T H E O RY, W H E R E ’ S T H E P R A C T I C A L ?
16. S I D E P R O J E C T S
17. A G U V V Y I S N O T A S I D E P R O J E C T
18. B U T I D O N ’ T K N O W W H AT T O D O A S A S I D E P R O J E C T ! • Fix something that is broken • Open source? • Find someone that has an idea
19. W H AT M A K E S A G O O D S I D E P R O J E C T 1. Use a new idea or tool 2. Work with new people 3. No restrictions (clients, budgets or timescales) 4. Done during normal working hours
20. M U S T G A I N K N O W L E D G E
21. B E P R E PA R E D T O FA I L
22. M U S T G A I N K N O W L E D G E
23. - A B R A H A M L I N C O L N “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”