Overall, E5 saw some stellar output on all fronts: significant product strides, more streamlined support, solid NBD developments, and a stronger DoStuff with additional peeps and funding. E6 will be a focused continuation of E5 during which we refine some of our bigger developments.
Episode 5: DoNE!
Product- Speed Optimization - WIN - This was one of our first complete projects of E5. Our Dev Master of the Do-niverse, Kirk, explained what exactly we did and why it was important here. The gist: we made sites on our new platform sooooo much faster. This caused some caching hangups, but we've largely resolved those so you don't have to remember to punch those eight busting buttons in hopes that one will make changes live on your site.
- Lenses/Lists/New ECPS - WIN - Our Dev team pushed hard on this to have a new lense for SXSW, and we are now at the stage when we are about to test our first lense and rolling out the new ECP platform for your use (details to come)!
- WYSIWYG Editor - WIN - Last week, we rolled out our new front-end editor to replace the old WYSIWYG that did not give you what you saw. Given your feedback, we made some subsequent changes by including HTML clarification in Admin and giving your old ECP platform the WYSIWYG editor back. This was a big effort and a longterm BIG improvement for your content management process.
- (r)Admin Launch - E6 - It is launched! On the backend. You will have access to your pretty new content management system soon.
- Guestlist App - loss-ish - We had a testable app but not a native one and not one up to the very important task of keeping your RSVP partners happy. As it's not of core importance to your needs right now, we are tabling and will revisit to build something better.
- Better Support for Page Customization - E6
- New Dev HIRE - We had been actively looking for a new Developer that was enough of a superstar to roll with our small but mighty team for quite some time. The diligent search was well worth it because we found Mike Doyle, who started last week!
Delivery
- We launched 5 new metros: Do206, Do214, Do416, Do617, and HazDF are all live and thriving!
- LearnStuff is now live! (Check out the benefits we outlined here.)
- We have our snazzy new email template. Some of you have started using it (subscribe to Do312's, Do416's, and Do214's newsletter!) and everyone will be by the end of E6 (for streamlining campaigns and because it's awesome)!
- Instead of Local Sales calls with you all, we began Goals calls that will cover some sales strategies. Goals help set the direction for where you are going and motivate you to get there. This is something you all specifically requested and hugely important to growing smarter and faster (and together)!
- SXSW was sweet. Haven't read our recap?
NBD
- We hired Aaron of Do314 to spearhead New Metro Sales and Graham to lead Brand Sales.
- San Antonio is officially the newest metro to join our network & Las Vegas is oh so close. If all goes as planned they'll both be coming to ATX in June for Bootcamp.
- We began Network Sales calls on the reg to discuss and sync on partnerships.
- Closed $450K in network sales!
- Brands with new or expanded deals: Goose Island, Nokia, Pabst, LoneStar, Deep Eddy, Zagat, and Taxi Magic!
- Strong momentum: Healthcare.gov, Anheuser-Busch, and many more in the pipeline...
Operations
- We have redone Middle Earth (between the Do512 Lounge and DoStuff office) with desks for our growing family, a meeting room, retro booth, ping pong table, and call closet. OH SWEET CALL CLOSET.
- Need insurance terms and recommendations? We created those. Dry? Maybe. Useful? Most Definitely.
Episode 6: Rolling!
E6 is going to be shorter than previous episodes (ending the first week of July). We're testing this shorter timeframe to make it easier for us to provide guidance on what we're going to get done and when. We also tested out a new process for determining what we were going to work on.
We stole the idea from Pandora, because it's the best we've seen for making it clear that you can't do everything - but you can come to consensus on what's most important. The "buyers" of projects were Michael, Kristin and Scott + a representative crew of GMs. We'll continue to test how we do this, so let us know your thoughts.
We stole the idea from Pandora, because it's the best we've seen for making it clear that you can't do everything - but you can come to consensus on what's most important. The "buyers" of projects were Michael, Kristin and Scott + a representative crew of GMs. We'll continue to test how we do this, so let us know your thoughts.
Product
We're mostly focused on getting the tools that get used daily in better shape - so that Content Managers can get their routine jobs done better/faster, and have more time to work on the cool shit that makes you stand out: lists, unique events, quality audits, etc.
Don't worry though, there's some good love going into the most important of our customer facing pages: events. AND the dev guys each have a week or so for "lab" work - where they'll focus on something they're excited about, or we want to prototype, or we can make happen lickity-split.
The specific projects:
We're mostly focused on getting the tools that get used daily in better shape - so that Content Managers can get their routine jobs done better/faster, and have more time to work on the cool shit that makes you stand out: lists, unique events, quality audits, etc.
Don't worry though, there's some good love going into the most important of our customer facing pages: events. AND the dev guys each have a week or so for "lab" work - where they'll focus on something they're excited about, or we want to prototype, or we can make happen lickity-split.
The specific projects:
- Radmin: Transition Event/Venue/User/Artist Management - Exactly as it sounds. All your page management will be in the not only visually but also functionally improved content management system.
- Radmin: Queues - Your pending queue will be more comprehensive so that you have better control over automated events before they go live, including the band data associated with events.
- Radmin: Ad Management and Reporting - We'll be fixing the functionality of weights and image uploads (no more work arounds, 0 weight setting, forgetting the second image upload...) as well as giving you new features, like the ability to export reports to Google Docs and generate a report of all ad units for time frames rather than by specific advertisers so you can get an overview of your total #s!
- Lense Creation and Management - Our new lenses/ECPs are a great improvement with lots of possibilities for you all. We will be giving you full ability to create and manage them.
- Enhanced Layout of Event Pages and Customization - These will include tags, related posts/lists/events/venues, and "Latest" news so that your site become a more integrated, targeted experience for your users and exposes them to the full breadth of awesomeness you have to offer!
Delivery
This episode Team Delivery is all about doing things better, faster, stronger. Here at HQ we're trying to do the work of dozens with a team of 14. You all are 1/4 of that size trying to do the work of 14. We're all a bunch of badasses as is, but we're ready to take it up a notch.
To get us to said higher notch, our projects this episode are heavily focused on ways to make all of our work more efficient and effective so that you have more time and more tools to grow your audience and operate your business.
The projects:
This episode Team Delivery is all about doing things better, faster, stronger. Here at HQ we're trying to do the work of dozens with a team of 14. You all are 1/4 of that size trying to do the work of 14. We're all a bunch of badasses as is, but we're ready to take it up a notch.
To get us to said higher notch, our projects this episode are heavily focused on ways to make all of our work more efficient and effective so that you have more time and more tools to grow your audience and operate your business.
The projects:
- Support you in getting your #s up with Content/Editorial guidelines! This includes surfacing the most successful lists and types of content, reminding you when it's time to start cranking it out, giving our GMs more tools to help them understand and support the work their trusty CMs are doing, manually helping to improve the quality of event and artist pages on your sites (with your approval of course), and much more.
- Plan for keeping LearnStuff timely so that you all have up-to-date information available in a single resource.
- Bootcamp Reboot to prep for our new metros and so we get them setup for success and integrated into our DoFamily with a bang.
- Improve our communication processes with you, including new feature roll-outs. We really do want you to know what feature changes are coming up and how it will impact you and your partners. We'll do our darndest to send more and better updates your way, but unfortunately it will still be up to you to read them. Reading is hard for the best of us when we're busy, so let us know if you have suggestions for us as to how we can make it easiest for you to get the info you need.
- New ECP/Lense documentation so that you can once again take control of their creation and management without us in the middle.
- Complete CSS Customization documentation so that it is easier for you to pretty up your content without knowing how to code. (And so we can force our hard working CSS Pimp Master Stuart to turn off his computer and go to bed.)
- Overhaul KPI reporting to better collect and track your data as well as a system that allows us to respond to data so that we pick on areas of need and capture best practices. The completion of this project will mean a much simpler reporting process for you to complete and more actionable information that you can use to grow your audience.
NBD
We have a gained a ton of forward momentum on NBD these past few months. To make sure that momentum truly turns into big wins for you, our partners, and us at DoStuff, our focus will be putting foundational documentation and processes in place. That way we'll sync better to deliver better to grow better.
We will also focus on finding and connecting "whales" - brands that are a fit with our network's audience and are already spending a lot around music, culture and/or local. Brands like Samsung, American Apparel, Converse, etc...
An overview of the projects:
We have a gained a ton of forward momentum on NBD these past few months. To make sure that momentum truly turns into big wins for you, our partners, and us at DoStuff, our focus will be putting foundational documentation and processes in place. That way we'll sync better to deliver better to grow better.
We will also focus on finding and connecting "whales" - brands that are a fit with our network's audience and are already spending a lot around music, culture and/or local. Brands like Samsung, American Apparel, Converse, etc...
An overview of the projects:
- Revised template decks for both new metro and brand sales so that we have better resources for making deals happen!
- Streamline process between NBD/sales and you all so that everyone is excited and best prepared to deliver awesome programs/campaigns.
- Hire Sales/Marketing support!
Operations
Goal here is, as always, keeping the wheels on the bus. But we're also adamant that Ops become a piece of the company that adds value. Just like the others.
To that end, we have a number of processes we hope to develop and pass on to you guys so we're not all recreating the same wheel.
Some of the projects:
Goal here is, as always, keeping the wheels on the bus. But we're also adamant that Ops become a piece of the company that adds value. Just like the others.
To that end, we have a number of processes we hope to develop and pass on to you guys so we're not all recreating the same wheel.
Some of the projects:
- Real company stuff: company policies and an Intranet to improve our organization!
- Credit card payment setup for DoStuff and for metros.
- A streamlined Internship program - we need one! (Do you? Check out this recent guidance on developing your program.)
Each of our episodes is an improvement upon the last given what we learn both in planning and execution. This was certainly the case for E5, during which we got more done in a fast 4 months than we ever have in the past. E6 will be a quicker sprint to July and will likely see even greater efficiency. As we work to constantly improve our effectiveness, we do so with the aim of facilitating your growth as cultural institutions in your scenes. So thanks for sticking with us on this train! It's been an amazing ride so far and we are only just picking up steam!
Till then. Keep your dancing shoes on and keep reaching for the stars!
Till then. Keep your dancing shoes on and keep reaching for the stars!
Great article and very realistic! Let me suggest a business collaboration platform based on cloud that really facilitates real time communication. Its name is Comidor and you can find all the information you may need at https://www.comidor.com . You can try also its free demo version available at comidor's site.
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