The Busy Creator Podcast with Prescott Perez-Fox

Workflows for a Small Software Company with In-House Designers Kyle Bollinger & Kristin Burkhart — The Busy Creator Podcast 83

05.09.2016 - By Prescott Perez-Fox & friendsPlay

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Kyle Bollinger (@WhoaKB) and Kristin Burkhart are the in-house design team for PureChat, an software tool enabling websites to offer chat-based support. Dividing their duties between product and marketing, Kyle and Kristin have developed a workflow that allows them to work swiftly and efficiently, while still experimenting with new industry practices. In this conversation, we discuss company culture for a small SAAS startup, how the designer collaborate with internal stakeholders, and some unravel technical challenges around versioning and fast iteration. GET THE EPISODE Download The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 83 (MP3, 37:04, 17.9 MB) Download The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 83 (OGG, 37:04, 16.5 MB) SUBSCRIBE TO GET NEW EPISODES   Subscribe to The Busy Creator Podcast on iTunes or on Android Show Notes & Links Kyle is a product-focused UI/UX designer Kristin is a marketing and web focused-design PureChat is chat software for websites SAAS Both Kyle and Kristin started at agencies, working for multiple clients, before going in-house with PureChat "Creating something from scratch is very different than iterating on something." —Kyle Bollinger Tweet This Prescott hates calling software-as-a-service a "product" Austin Kleon Show Your Work by Austin Kleon on Amazon Self-licking ice cream cone "We're creating a living document through each other's work." —Kyle Bollinger Tweet This TechCrunch "The speed at which a company can operate is inversely proportional to how much time it takes to find the answer to a question." —Prescott Perez-Fox Tweet This AxoSoft Nerf Guns Gangplank, co-working space in Chandler, AZ RIP LayerVault Wake Split-testing aka A-B testing The Information Diet by Clay A. Johnson on Amazon Sidebar.io by Sasha Medium, and the occassional article about Millennials and their cereal-buying habits Audible The Three Laws of Performance by Steve Zaffron & Dave Logan on Amazonand on Audible Sprint by Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky on Amazon and on Audible KyleBollinger.com KristinAshley.org  Kyle Bollinger on Twitter  Kyle Bollinger on LinkedIn  Kristin Burkhart on LinkedIn Tools Slack InVision Illustrator Photoshop Sketch Google Docs Moleskine AxoSoft GitHub Medium Techniques Continuous gather user insight, even if it's only images or screenshot review Find a "theme" with each release or feature-set Get quick feedback from your teammates; no need for formal gatherings Work off the same agile board as your dev team Screenshare with your remote teammates Use InVision to create Brand Guidelines Try to answer the questions "Who do I talk to ..." before they arise Keep your micro-iterations in a document; use a version-style naming system, eg. screen1a-kyle-001 Habits Prank your officemates Continually monitor the site (heatmaps, split testing) Wake up early, get into the office and be creative Join office workouts and activities Share resources and findings with teammates TRY AUDIBLE.COM FREE FOR 30-DAYS Visit BusyCreatorBook.com for your free trial Get The Three Laws of Performance by Steve Zaffron & Dave Logan as a free audiobook

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