329 karma · joined February 5, 2013
My first thought was to look at websites such as http://www.volunteermatch.org/ . What I found was that the organizations typically requested website redesigns (often using wordpress as the backend) and help with social media management. The time commitment of these opportunities were as you stated above, longer term requiring a few months. The scope of work provided was often inadequate and would require you to contact the organization for details.
Solution:
Create a guide on how to assess requirements and create a proper scope of work for projects, the organization seeking volunteers would submit this as part of their application[1]. Then have a volunteer that would make an appointment to speak with the organization and refine this SOW into a workable project.
Once the project was accepted and requirements laid out; open the opportunity for contributors to offer their time and create a core team to start the project. For website redesign/management use a common codebase that could be reused for projects which would reduce the on-boarding process. This would also allow general documentation and training materials to be created so the management of the website could be transitioned to a full-time volunteer/employee of the organization.
Once the common core was developed and a repo created, issues/tasks would be created and open for contribution which would give devs willing to volunteer a few hours some opportunities to contribute.
I think a handful of well written guides for marketing, social media management, front-end/backend documentation and possibly even basic web design tutorials would go a long way towards improving organizations. A second level of this would be to have recurring roundtable meetings (google hangouts?) where more general individual problems could be addressed allowing for the main project scopes to be slimmed down.
1. Also, works as a weeding out process by requiring a deeper commitment. Organizations would have to to follow to guide, watch a video and think through their needs as opposed to posting a paragraph asking for help.
Related experienced dev/intern pairing program: A non-profit named Launch Code (http://launchcode.us/) was recently started by Jim McKelvey (co-founder of Square) that places new developers with companies for paid pair-programming internship.
The moment I knew it was a good choice for me was after I completed a problem set that required us to write sorting algorithms.
My prior experience was with Ruby and JS, so .sort() => done, no idea how this mysterious .sort() was returning my ordered set. After the lecture and writing the algorithms, I didn't just have the code as you would following a tutorial. I had a better understanding behind "the magic". I understood how to evaluate the performance of these algorithms using Big O notation and why my Google killing search engine won't do much Google killing if I use bubble-sort.
Give it a try. You'll get a good introduction to CS and write some cool programs, including a program that can recover "deleted" images from a memory card.
If you haven't done so already you need to write a vision and mission for your company (or if you haven't revised these in the past ~3 months).
I am not talking about just something to post on a website but what you truly believe and want to achieve.
While I would caution you not to read too deep into quantifying (ie: don't write we will have X customers or do X revenue) this article is a good start to understand a "true mission".
http://www.fastcompany.com/1400930/how-write-mission-stateme...
A quick article on vision: http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch04_Whats_the_Big_Idea.php
Once you write these two statements, assess your current business against them. Are you fulfilling what you have set out to do? Even if you answer yes and especially if you answer no; what needs to change to align the business with the mission, what aspects can you improve?
Is the business in a position to steadily grow towards achieving your vision? What would you like the business to ultimately become? Define milestones that you can use to guide the business forward.
As you are thinking through these statements it is also good to craft a list or statement of your ideal customer(s). Especially when facing competitors you need to know the customers you want.
This article by Jason Fried gives good insight on why knowing the customer you want is very valuable.
http://www.inc.com/magazine/201206/jason-fried/huge-accounts...
Now that you have the backbone of your strategy it is time to define goals. Goals should be two parts: hazy and clear. Why do you want a hazy goal? Because things change and you should not allow yourself to be so set on achieving a clear goal of "500 new customers in 2014" that you compromise the what makes you great. Rather, you should set your goal as "Increase the number of customers in 2014 (by 500 -target, not focus-) while maintaining and exceeding the level of service we provide." I'll admit that sounds like the BS mission statements in the FastCo article, but your well defined mission and vision will guide you in creating these actionable goals.
This may be better articulated by qualitative with a quantitative measure, but I'm sticking with hazy because it gives your mind more freedom to explore possible goals.
The vision, mission and customer statements and your list of goals provide what would be comparable to a requirements specification. It is now your job to use these requirements to identify the steps you need to take to achieve them (similar to system design and writing pseudocode), develop possible solutions for these steps, implement, test and refine.
>The cost of the flat will be £100,000 and will rent out for approx. £600 per calendar month (outside of london) each member will pay £1,000 upfront and receive approx. £72 twice a year. Assuming NO house price increase, you'll have all of your money back in 7 years.
At £600/month you will generate £7200 annually.
With 100 shares, each share would generate £72 each year.
Over 7 years, one share would generate £504.
You state the £72 will be paid TWICE each year, which would make the statement, "you'll have all of your money back in 7 years" true. Though I don't see where this money is coming from.
> Glyphicons Halflings are normally not available for free, but their creator has made them available for Bootstrap free of cost.
This is a situation that the designer has specifically contributed the asset to the project. Though I believe the more common situation is for designers to have assets on their website available for use and discovery by anyone, rather than tied to a project.
I have taken a few university courses, but have primarily taught myself and would greatly appreciate if you could expand on this.
I say this because everyone should have a "safe and welcoming environment" and it is the failure of that meetup to provide that for everyone. They should look at ways they can make the meetup more friendly for all people whether men/women, beginner/expert etc.
Maybe a man attending the same night would have the same experience and feelings, and he doesn't have the option to attend the only women meetups.
"Army officials said that they believed the Israeli experience was atypical--they assumed other Patriot users were not running their systems for 8 or more hours at a time. However, after analyzing the Israeli data and confirming some loss in targeting accuracy, the officials made a software change which compensated for the inaccurate time calculation. This change allowed for extended run times and was included in the modified software version that was released on February 16, 1991. However, Army officials did not use the Israeli data to determine how long the Patriot could operate before the inaccurate time calculation would render the system ineffective.
On February 21, 1991, the Patriot Project Office sent a message to Patriot users stating that very long run times could cause a shift in the range gate, resulting in the target being offset. The message also said a software change was being sent that would improve the system's targeting. However, the message did not specify what constitutes very long run times. According to Army officials, they presumed that the users would not continuously run the batteries for such extended periods of time that the Patriot would fail to track targets. Therefore, they did not think that more detailed guidance was required."
Using something simple as a Caesar cipher or ROT13 you can show how plaintext undergoes a transformation using an algorithm to create the cipher text and how that same algorithm is used to convert the cipher back to plaintext.
This simple idea provides the basis to discuss other cipher techniques (and their shortcomings); as well as provide an early example of symmetric-key algorithms.
From a developer perspective I think unless you are comfortable with a 1-2 week token* (or longer depending on customer base) you could actually decrease conversion rates because you remove the features consistency.
Ex: a user is cleaning out emails, starts with the most recent and works their way back. Opens OkCupid message from 3 weeks ago because it was interesting, but the link doesn't work.
*I would appreciate further insight as to what is a normal length of time for tokens to be valid and the impact increasing the token expiration time might have on security.
Answer from an individual that studies "handedness".
Or maybe he was just entrepreneurially minded.
When I was 6-10 I sold lemonade probably once every week or two during the summer. I liked to make money, and it was fun especially with friends; my parents never pushed me to do it.
Age 9/10, in the winter before it snowed I used my saved money to buy a new snow shovel and for card stock which I used to make business cards. I walked around and gave them to neighbors, when it snowed I would usually get a couple calls and then would pick up a few more walking around.
Without the maganese this would be a series 5 aluminum according to the alloy grade comparison I found.[2]
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmabright#cite_note-Camm.2C_B...
2. http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general/aluminium-alloy...
The 2013 Range Rover has a complete aluminum body (skin and structure), with a 700lb weight reduction for US models.[1]
1. http://www.caranddriver.com/news/2013-land-rover-range-rover...
* Various differences among models some have steel roofs, doors etc.
My doctor provides this service and does so as follows:
I call my doctor leave a voicemail(Name, DOB, Phone#). A "triage nurse" (their exact wording) returns my call. I describe my symptoms and answer a few questions, these are then relayed to my doctor. If he feels the issue doesn't require a visit but requires a prescription the order is placed electronically and a nurse calls back to confirm my desired pharmacy, provide instructions and answer any additional questions.
*While some companies are making efforts to amend these policies, this holds true for the majority in my experience.
The Boy Who Played With Fusion
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-02/boy-who-played...
"Muro is a social event photography platform that allows you to connect and share with others at who are at the same event as you."
You should modify the last subheading to begin with a verb as you do for the first three; otherwise you disrupt the flow of the step-by-step process. ie: "View everyone's photos together."
Have the screenshot on the phone itself transition and the phone background persist.
*edit for clarity
"Q: Can I buy the set if my kid wants to keep it?
A: Yes. if your child loves the set and want to keep it, you can easily purchase it in your My Account page. You will be charged the retail price of the set and will get the next set in your queue."[1]
One of the sets available is "Green Grocer" set number: 10185-1. If you head over to Brickpicker the current used value is $544.75. The U.S. retail price was $149.99, if Pleygo charges the retail price these sets yield a huge profit.
A friend that buys/sells used Lego bought a Green Grocer for $150 from a family and it was sold on ebay for ~$500, so the price on Brickpicker is relatively accurate.
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"Q: What happens if my kid loses a piece? A: No worries - we understand that pieces can get lost during play. Our plans include a guarantee so that you will not be charged if normal loss occurs."[1]
I don't know what constitutes "a normal loss" but this could be very costly for Pleygo.
There are certain parts that are set specific and cannot be ordered from Lego (many licensed products Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc). You can buy these pieces on the used market but are very expensive.
The biggest loss would be MiniFigures (the Lego people); there is a huge market for figures and their accessories. Especially for those that come with large sets as there is no other method to acquire them.
The only way to remedy (other than not shipping figures) would be to charge market price for replacement. I think it would be difficult for the company to justify to regular customers that the "Lego guy" they lost would cost $20-$40 to replace. Though for a collector, even paying $10 with free shipping would be great.
I think the idea is great but have a feeling over time will be overrun with collectors looking to replace pieces and buy discontinued sets for original retail.
Thoughts as a potential customer:
-I didn't have the time to read through the tutorial and wanted to know more than was provided by the TOC on the Leanpub page.
-I had no idea who you were until I looked at your signature.
-After going back and looking at the first chapter I didn't find the chapter very compelling ("Okay, so we changed the background color?").
-I wanted to see what I could expect to accomplish.
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Recommendations as a consultant:
Change the index to a landing page and move the first chapter content to a second page.
Make the top half of the body similar to the LeanPub page (name, tagline, image) with a call to action to the LeanPub purchase url.
Establish your knowledge/credibility: ex: "Learn everything you need to know to develop your first app with Your First iOS App, written by 500px's lead iOS developer Ash Furrow"
In the bottom half of the body add a few text blocks summarizing the main topics covered (possibly a screen shot of what a reader can expect to build after reading the book) and a secondary call to action to preview the first chapter.
At the end of the first chapter page condense the final paragraph to more of a tagline, "It may not seem like much, but you're well on your way to developing full featured apps. Get the full eBook for $14.99 on LeanPub." Then move the GitHub link below the sales widget, so I visually consider the Buy Now link before looking at the source.
I would suggest reviewing the beginner guide and then moving onto the advanced guide.
The Leanest Start-up in Silicon Valley
http://www.inc.com/magazine/201207/leigh-buchanan/the-leanes...
"Your app's name shouldn't include the word Dropbox or be similar to Dropbox in either sound or spelling. Do not prefix your app name with "Drop.""
https://www.dropbox.com/developers/reference/branding
Logo and Branding guidelines, if you wanted to use the Dropbox logo.
I looked at the website and the about page has the following, "Pioneering entrepreneur scholarships, FundHer is raising $1 million via crowdfunding."
http://aupress.au.af.mil/digital/pdf/book/b_0038_mandeles_b_...
Page 97 of the PDF (page 87 of the report) details the October 21 meeting.