162 karma · joined February 23, 2007
And the paying 20k for app promotion, or taking rev share on apps sold, that was just plain stupid given that you provide apple more ammo.
Real question is, how long does Kindertown have?
flipboard complexity is less about the app itself and more about the web/backend/engine that drives it and prepares content for it
4-8k can get your into the prototype space but odds are for fit and finish you'll need to spend 20k or so..
Looks like you have a ton of data in the app, hence the busy/clutter feel you get. Is all that data put in by hand, ie- i just won The Rock Uberness +12 killing to Bats, and I put it in the app, indicate how much dkp it cost, who i was with etc.
I'd almost rather see your app as an app in facebook where they do the hard work in providing the platform for communication/connectedness and you focus on all the bit elements around it.
If all this data goes in by hand and i suspect is does, the feeling of work overcomes me but i'm no the hardcore raider. Hardcore fanboys will probably dig it but they want some sex in the app bad. The RiotACT feels sexy but feels stuck as well.
I think you need to take 10 steps back, breathe, sit down with 5 different types of users, the noob that just joined the guild, the guy thats been there awhile, the crazy rabid collect everything on the planet girl, PVP master dude X that likes to hurt people and the guy/girl who started the guild in the first place. Talk simple flows outloud without looking at anything. Then go back to your app and figure out a way to REMOVE 50% of what you see. Refine, present it to those 5 peeps and go from there.
without a plugin or a way to hit the person at the moment they decided to follow someone you'd have to care to come to the site and tell why afterwards etc. the plugin just facilitates the "get'm now while its hot in yer head"
I mean lets just go over to search here...
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=why+do+people+follow+me
There's some ammo right there to back up a concept like this. Will it save lives and make oodles, maybe not but could it fill in some blanks sure!
There's little value in lists and far more effort.
Originally made to help people assess the who behind tweets for conference related hashtags. HashParty attempts to gather as much social graph info as possible to create the profiles.
Deep down, can't beat a good moleskin these days really.
Actually the students would learn more if the class was broken down into 5 startups all competing for the customers work. This would give you 5 small tightly focused groups. Each would have to nominate a leader and or agree on a unified vision for their approach. Then fire the gun, BANG and get to work. Break out your roles, do yer thing, but most of all focus on that customer and learn about the problem.
The problem with one big class is that now you have to have 25 people agree on the vision/course of action, good luck, and you stir up the pot to get 4 folks or less to basically lead/do/all the work and or you ignore people that had good ideas but maybe not the best communication skills to bring/push those ideas to light.
Plus the customer suffers with just one vision. Why not produce 5 in a class, bounce around perspectives, ideals etc, and have people reflect on how their group performed- challenges, successes and weaknesses.
Sure the client sorta gets a taste of spec work startup style but the students can potentially learn more and feel like they have more skin in the game due to smaller groups.
The competitive edge makes it fun as well.
In the past 8 months I've made 11 things i would of never even begin to know how to make and would of cost me 10-20k if i did them with local/national talent. Theres just no way i could afford that.
My learnings from outsourcing.
An outsourcing manager is critical. This frees you up to focus on what you should be doing, using that time/money wisely into making something, hopefully profitable. Set expectations accordingly. Do not expect it to be perfect. Iterate often. Be explicit on what you want the experience to be of whatever you are making. Mockup everything, story board the experience of it, give them as many visuals as possible, point them to sites and say like that, never ever just give them specs in a text file, otherwise you are set for an adventure in waste.
Challenge yourself, your manager and whoever you hire to do it less. Document your code, back it up, and keep going.
we do far more time manifesting stuff then really working from a core need in the first place
The other thing that could be the factor is the international flavor of graphic material. I recall doing packaging for an animation company and the USA cover image of a gun pointing out at the view, aka the james bond like effect was cool and ok in the states but banned in UK! Thats insane but the BBC demanded their own version of the cover with the gun pointed to the side and not straight at a person picking up the video tape. Likewise content in a film is also subject to weird rules, BBC approves sleeping with your mother but whatever you do dont show anyone getting whipped on camera that dooms your film to XXX land.
Theres a chance that comics may suffer the same WTF reasoning on the iphone due to international exposure. Who knows.
do some basic demographic questions if you can, and always try and avoid easily answer questions with turks because ultimately in the end they are on turk to make a buck, and they will blow thru scale questions and simple yes/nos faster than all get out to get paid.
the other thing i'd do is try to get some folks you know who use the tool, or if its for a broad audience get someone you know, a friend of a friend and test them to see how they stack up against your turk findings, video tape these sessions for the dev team so they can relive the awe of "oh my frickin god" when and if it occurs
overall turk is fine and your 7 of 10 is fine if its a broad range acceptance target like "everyone searches" or what not but if its really demographic specific you need to know that piece of data from the turks because odds are that 10 really represents up to 3 or 4 different demographics, which makes your 7 more like 2 or 3
start with a dash of http://www.youniverse.com/
add a cup of mahalo+yahoo answers
insert probability that you can't make or won't make a decision for yourself
do fun analysis on the back end in hopes to find a way to monetize it
serve it up as fun thing to do
pray/beg for interaction
hope in time people become addicted to it
profit
Use the voices in your head to dissect the idea, why this idea, why not others, how does it work, whats the value, benefit, experience, competition, barriers to make, barriers to sell, who is the customer, what makes it rock, who would buy it right now, why did they buy it, how do they use it, aspirationally connect it to other like ideas- its like x brand but with y, or what not. Just generate a crap load of notes about the idea.
Start grouping them on the wall and eventually into buckets and themes.
Lastly project yourself to the end game. Use a different color post its if you can. Think as if you've done the idea, its out, done, map that experience. Everything from how someone finds out about it, getting it, experiencing it, note the rewards of it, and does it end, how does it self sustain? Think ideal, but with a tint of reality based on what ya know.
Now step back, odds are you have a heck of alot more ideas up there than one you just started.
If you're hungry for more, get yet another color of post its and pick out the themes you see around the notes. There's probably 3-4 themes at work around your idea, bounce these themes off other people you know, if they resonate that alone could tell you you're in the running for making something that could work. Ideas always need constant validation, don't go at it alone, simply them and bounce them off people, friends, family, anyone. And dont get stuck on what they say, just record it, and save them for another wall session.