As I’ve discussed a little bit before, I’m used to being and doing everything myself. This isn’t a “I have to do it all myself” instinct, necessarily. It’s more that I grew up an only child and never had to share. I think I got used to taking on different roles in any project I did (I’ll admit my parents helped a lot with that 6th grade science project about volcanoes). I have of course come to learn that being the only one responsible for all aspects of a proect can be bad, stressful and dangerous. Also there are often situations where you are simple expected to share the work load. I’ve learned that delegating can definitely be a good thing.
If it’s not fun, stop. Delegate it. Yre not going to do your best work.
If your time is better spent doing something else, delegate. Sometimes it is the fun things, but it’s not your strongest suit.
If you don’t have the time, or shouldn’t take the time, but you really want to see it get done, delegate it. This is where someone else’s bit of extra time comes in handy.
If it’s important that someone besides you knows something about what yre working on, delegate it. It’s hard to give up total control, but it’s good for the sake of the project, company or idea.
June 15th, 2009 by Corey H Maass
Tags: delegating, Lessons
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I’m currently on a Bob Walsh kick. Between the Micro-ISV book and his marketing e-book, I’m going to master everything micro-ISV and take over the world. Anyway, a question I’ve been pondering lately is about running DubFiler and whether it’s wise to try to run it all alone. (Can you take over the world by yourself?) Since I’m looking to Bob for all the answers right now, I thought I’d send him an email. His answer is the resulting blog post on his blog.
To Partner or not to Partner, that is the question.
This is one of those questions that feels huge when I think about it, but then I stop thinking about it. What I mean is that the amount of attention it’s paid in writing makes it feel big. The reason I asked is because in most books they tell you in bold letters, “Don’t go it alone!” But it still doesn’t feel right to me. I do most things on my own. So when I stop thinking about the question, things feel right again and I go on my merry way.
Once again there’s no clear answers.
Dammit.
I’m looking forward to his subsequent posts about finding the right person. Perhaps understanding the ying to my yang will make me search for someone to spoon with, business-wise.
May 22nd, 2009 by Corey H Maass
Tags: Bob Walsh, collaboration, parters, sole proprietor
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May 22nd, 2009 by Corey H Maass
Tags: information design
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Lessons I’ve Learned: After reading Dr. Maas’ book on sleep called Power Sleep a few years ago, I was convinced that there is good science and reasoning behind getting enough sleep. he’s a Cornell professor so who am I to disagree? He talks about how it takes a few weeks, but once you get caught up on sleep, you’ll feel better, happier, healthier and smarter. I was running myself ragged and felt like crap all the time. I was sick a lot. So it struck a chord for me. I worked hard to get caught up following his guide and I definitely experienced a huge difference for the better. And still do when I’m sleeping enough. There are exceptions, but I try.
It took me ages to make changes in my life without feeling like I was making sacrifices, but I still see a benefit in getting enough sleep. Also, by making it a priority every once in a while, I’m reminded of just how good it is for me.
I know it sounds like a self-help shtick, and since we’ve nearly got the same last name you think I’m promoting my cousin. his book can come across as a bit self-help, especially the title, but it’s an easy read and is based on science. Worst case, you feel more rested and wasted $10.
May 15th, 2009 by Corey H Maass
Tags: Dr. Maas, power sleep, sleep
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If you haven’t seen the movie Office Space, shame on you. It’s a hilarious movie making fun of the cubicle office experience. One of the bosses is a great spoof on corporate speak, and often says, “Why don’t you go ahead and…” and “Let’s have you go ahead and…” in this beautifully passive-aggressive way. “Corey, please do this” is telling me to do something. “Why don’t you go ahead and do this” implies that I came up with the idea and yre giving me permission. In Office Space, it’s great.
In product demos, it’s not.
I’ve seen soooo many web product demos that use this. I don’t know why people think this is appropriate. I’m sitting there watching you walk through your site. i’m committed, I want to be there. I don’t need you to passively guide me through the steps (which you are doing) and make me feel like I’m in control. I’m not. I’m watching you move a mouse. Just get to the point.
In business and marketing and on the web, we forget it’s okay to take charge sometimes. Using a passive voice is not going to win or lose you business, make people feel better or divert blame when yr site fails. I mean, don’t be aggressive or rude, but being direct is often easier to understand and even appreciated.
April 27th, 2009 by Corey H Maass
Tags: being direct, passive aggressive, voice, web demos
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Lessons I’ve Learned: Everyday, all the little things you do, try to give a little thought to them before you do them. Ask what you will get out of it, and walk through the steps you are about to do. Nothing formal and it doesn’t have to be long. But being conscious about actions has helped me do a lot better work and make fewer mistakes.
I took me a really long time to develop this as a habit, but I’ve seen a huge benefit.
This goes for speaking, too, thought that’s a lot harder to develop as a habit.
April 15th, 2009 by Corey H Maass
Tags: GTD, think before acting
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I’m usually a one-stop shop for anything web or design related. If I don’t know it, I’ll often take the time to learn it… or I just won’t take the job. But you can’t do that when you are yr own client. In building DubFiler, I hit a couple roadblocks and either couldn’t learn the stuff myself, or didn’t want to take the time.
Flash is one of the few ways to get a progress bar when uploading a file. There are Javascript methods, but I didn’t want to get into it. So I fiddled around with Flash for a bit and then decided I’d rather have someone else build it.
DubFiler uses the Zend Framework. I was taught to use it but never to optimize it. Once I’d build the core site functionality, I wanted another pair of eyes (ideally those of an expert) to to tighten things up and implement caching, plugins and abstraction to make it run faster.
Read the rest of this entry »
March 30th, 2009 by Corey H Maass
Tags: elance, freelancing, guru.com, hiring, outsourcing
Posted in general | 1 Comment »
The crayonbox plugin has been updated once again! I discovered a bug in IE, so that got fixed. Then for fun (and cos I needed it for a project) I added a callback function that gets called after a crayon is selected. Check it out!
March 27th, 2009 by Corey H Maass
Tags: crayon, crayonbox, jquery, plugin, update
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I will be talking about DubFiler at the NYC Music Technology meetup next Tuesday. I’m really looking forward to it. It should’ve occurred to me sooner that there would be a meet-up for tech and music. So this will be my first to attend, and I’ll be presenting! If yre interested in music and tech, come out! Come say hello.
Tuesday Mar 24th 7-9pm
NYC Music Technology meetup
at Think Coffee
248 Mercer
between 3rd & 4th street
New York, NY 10012
March 17th, 2009 by Corey H Maass
Tags: dubfiler, NYC Music Technology meetup, pitch, presentation, talk
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