Our Product is Explanation
All posts for “ourwork”
Being Lightweight: Business Design
Posted by: leelefever on July 20, 2008- 5:00pm
Categories: beingsmall, business, lesson, lightweight, marketing, ourwork
This is the third in a series of posts about Being Lightweight. The first two were about Working with Clients and Tools We Use.We are lucky to have a product that people like. Our challenge is to experiment and find the best ways to build a business around this product. To be successful we need the business to be profitable, but also work within the life we want to live.We see this process as "business design" and as this series outlines, being lightweight is a big priority. Below are a... Continue Reading
Being Lightweight: Tools We Use
Posted by: leelefever on June 9, 2008- 5:00pm
Categories: beingsmall, business, cooltols, lesson, lightweight, ourwork
This is the second in a series of posts about being lightweight. Our first was focused on working with clients and this installment is all about tools we use.
Tools, or the the wrong tools, become a risk when they create unnecessary drag in every day work. Often, we've found ourselves wondering if we're using a sledgehammer to drive a nail. If so, we look for alternatives.
In being lightweight, we also consider mental and emotional baggage that goes along with tools. We're often willing... Continue Reading
Being Lightweight: Working with Clients
Posted by: leelefever on May 10, 2008- 5:00pm
Categories: beingsmall, business, lesson, lightweight, ourwork
It's a question we ask each other all the time - what is the most lightweight way we can do this?We are a small company who is trying to do big things. In order to be
successful, we need to reduce drag - to remove the processes,
bureaucracies and commitments that slow us down and don't pay off.
Today we're kicking off a series of posts called "Being Lightweight" that will relate what lightweight means to us and hopefully help you think differently about how you focus your attention.
Working... Continue Reading
We're often asked how we got started with our videos. Here's the story.
It all started with an online community. It was the latter part of 1999 and I was working in a healthcare data company called HBSI (which was eventually merged into non-existence). The customers were asking for a way to work together across hospitals. So, a few of us started an email group on eGroups, which is now Yahoo Groups. Through this experiment and the online community that grew out of it, I discovered my... Continue Reading
Well, as of today it has been exactly one year since all this video craziness began. On April 22, 2007 we published RSS in Plain English. We never guessed these videos would take us so far - it was just a problem that begged to be solved. Did you ever see a blog post with the same name from 2004? Since our work is in front of people often, we both feel a little self conscious in talking about the numbers behind the videos. We don't want to seem ostentatious or too self-promotional. But, at... Continue Reading
Own It
Posted by: leelefever on April 5, 2008- 5:00pm
Categories: being small, commoncraft, lesson, ourwork, personal, video
What is the point where many projects get off track? We think it's when decision making becomes a burden. Indecision, lack of ownership and unclear reasoning often means stasis and frustration. Over the past year, and likely through traveling together, Sachi and I have evolved a system that helps us be productive without wasting time. It's a system of ownership - of being personally accountable for the small decisions that contribute to the overall goal. Early in the process, we talk a lot... Continue Reading
Looking back at my education, I wasn't a great student. I made decent grades and went to a good university and grad school, but school was never my thing. Looking back, I can pin-point a couple of points at which I lost faith.
It was sixth grade and I was in a math class with Mrs. Paine (it's true - Paine). The subject was least common denominators. I didn't get it. My worksheets came back with red marks, but I didn't really understand what I was supposed to be doing. The class moved on... Continue Reading
It's been almost a year since we published our first paperworks video - RSS in Plain English in April of 2007. Since that time, we've been watching every comment, every blog post and every email. We are lucky to have fans like you that have shared our videos and helped us learn so much.It's through watching these conversations that we've been able to see new ways for Common Craft to have a bigger impact in the next year. We'll be more specific soon, but for now, I'd like to share some big... Continue Reading
Free is the Future
Posted by: leelefever on February 25, 2008- 4:00pm
Categories: beingsmall, business, lesson, ourwork
Chris Anderson, the author of The Long Tail and editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine, has moved his focus to "Free". His article is the cover story of the latest Wired (Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business) and has a book coming out in 2009. I think he's onto something.
A couple of quotes:
Once a marketing gimmick, free has emerged as a full-fledged economy. Offering free music proved successful for Radiohead, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, and a swarm of other bands on MySpace that... Continue Reading
Sachi came into the room where I draw and saw this piece of paper and nearly died from laughter. It's true - I'm sorry to say, I had a problem coloring a checkered flag. Such things are all too common in my world.