HP Print Studio
December 26th, 2007
"I have no idea how to build this, but I’m dying to try."
HP Print Studio is an internet application that allows users to easily create professionally designed home printing projects customized with their own text and images, and it was the first project I completed at Resource Interactive, marking my transition from a lone-wolf to a team oriented developer. I won’t lie and say that the project was in any way easy- as the quote clearly demonstrates, I didn’t have the slightest clue on how the application would finally be assembled, though I really wanted to take a shot at it. It’s not that I was unfamiliar with the language; It was the fact that the application so tightly integrated visual design, interactivity and application functionality that it couldn’t be classified as either visual or functional: It was both. Without going into too much detail, it rewrote my own understanding of what a true Rich Internet Application is: An integration of experience and functionality so seamless that it becomes its own category.
The challenges within the project itself were many and varied, and on account of our client agreements I cannot go into detail on how it was assembled. Even so, I learned many valuable lessons about team environments, of which I wanted to highlight a few.
Arrogance will get you nowhere
It’s a team, leave the ego at the door. This is more difficult and profound than you might imagine, because independent contractors have to justify their existence and value to the project, and that breeds a certain type of arrogance, independence, and Not-Invented-Here I-Can-Do-It-Better attitude that is destructive to a team environment. Established habits like this are hard to break, and I’m glad that this was the first lesson I learned though I’m still not perfect in applying it.
Expertise plays an important part
From the technical leads Kris and Tommy to our Project Manager John to our fantastic CRMs Kim and Traci (and all the developers and QA people whose names I’m not sure I’m allowed to mention), everyone played a part that was absolutely critical to the project. As a cocky independent contractor it’s easy to downplay the worth of Quality Assurance, Business Analysts and similar positions because their duties sound easy and secondary to the main development effort, and I never took the time to understand exactly how valuable expertise in each of those domains is. Yes, I can do it, but not only can they do it better, they make my job much easier by doing it.
It’s safe to rely on others
When you work in an environment where human resources makes it a point to vet every candidate for job expertise first, and management is not only engaged, but invested in developing and encouraging personal growth initiatives, it is safe to assume your coworkers know what they’re doing. This is practically unheard of in the freelance space, and it caught me by surprise when I encountered it for the first time. Once I realized that I couldn’t get enough, which in retrospect probably annoyed the living daylights out of my coworkers and co-developers (until I got over the newness of it all).
Freelancers: Buyer Beware
Contractors and freelancers are incredibly expensive, and 9 times out of 10 don’t have the skills they claim to have. If there is no relationship between you other than an easily terminated contract, the value to the contractor isn’t the long-term viability of the project, but the ability to get a large project onto their resume so they can charge more next time around. This leads to fraudulent claims and resume padding, so if you are hiring someone who’s got quite a bit of freelance experience on their resume I highly recommend you verify their level of contribution first.
For technology shops, it certainly pays to check references when fielding contract bids. The quality and number of references should be weighed against expertise. Finding good matches and assembling a high-caliber team is more of an art than a science.