At the beginning of 2008, Fastspot gathered together the entire company and declared 2008 to be the year of the “Little Things”. By little things, we meant things like time tracking, being extra mindful of budgets, triple checking our code, strictly following Website launch checklists, remembering to track and bill for hours devoted to smaller tasks. Little things also meant taking time out to have fun, not big crazy rent the zoo for a day fun, but bowling parties, ski trips, poker tournaments, happy hours with like minded companies - that kind of fun. Other little things meant tightening up our process, not straying too far from what we knew worked, and refusing to let clients force us off track.

Additionally, we put incentives in place to make the “little things” like time tracking more fun, or at least more competitive. For the first half of 08, the best time tracking Fastspotter was awarded $100 to spend on something for their work space. In August we had our mid-year meeting, and regrouped to discuss our goals for the second half of the year. Everyone was asked to write down their top 5 dream clients and top 5 dream projects. Then everyone shared what they wrote down. Amazingly enough, we landed one of our dream projects several months later, and are on track to make those lists a reality on a larger scale in 09. That little act of writing those things down, committing to them, and then verbalizing them made a huge difference. Thoughts are things, they have energy and impact, and they can be very powerful.

During the second half of the year we devoted some energy towards internal apps we wanted to see become a reality, and they will launch in early 09, for public consumption. We also continued to ensure we were doing those “little things” that matter to our clients, like providing prompt attention and assistance, participating in their businesses whenever possible, taking time out for weekly calls and on-site visits, and never compromising on quality. We also continued to streamline our process, evaluating each project as it would unfold, looking for areas for improvement.

As each new improvement or slight shift would occur, we were building upon the other little things. We didn’t try to build the mountain in one day or in one document, we slowly focused in on those little things, made changes, and tracked their progress. We also didn’t get overly focused inward, continuing to stay involved in community and industry events and remembering to give back when we could. The photo is from Ms. Smith’s first grade class at City Springs Public School here in Baltimore. We were happy to donate a library and reading area to her class, which is comprised of inner-city kids who face steep challenges and economic hardships.

I am happy to report that focusing on the little things helped Fastspot have our best year ever, in terms of revenue, quality of clients, and innovative projects and deliverables. So, what do we do for 09 you ask? Not much will change, but we suspect 09 will continue to have us keeping our eye out for more little things, while we move onto another doozy to tackle, communication. Success and happiness, especially in tough times, relies heavily on the communication skills of the entire team. We expect to devote lots of time and attention to ensuring our internal and client communications are the best they can be.

Happy New Year - and we hope you are able to make positive changes that help move you forward in 09!

Fastspot just had an amazing holiday party at Woodberry Kitchen and after some laughs, drinks, and arm wrestling, a few of us now find ourselves suffering some wicked post-party side effects.

We dragged ourselves in this morning, each with his or her preferred medication in tow — Pepto-Bismol, coffee, Advil, greasy food — and this struck up some conversation: What is a great natural hangover cure?

Thanks to some quick research, here are some natural hangover remedies for your reference during the holidays.

Pre-Drink Prep

• Almonds
  Native Americans claim that eating 6 raw almonds prior to drinking helps prevent intoxication.
• Peanut Butter
  Africans eat peanut butter before imbibing.

After the Damage is Done

• Water
  Drink 2-3 large glasses of water before you go to bed.
• Exercise
  Get some blood and oxygen to your brain by stimulating circulation.
• Apples
  Eaten on an empty stomach the day after drinking has proven to be an effective remedy.
• Bananas
  Make a banana milkshake sweetened with honey. The banana helps calm the stomach and honey builds up depleted blood sugar levels. Milk soothes the stomach. Bananas are also rich in magnesium and potassium, which are severely depleted during heavy drinking.
• B-Vitamins
  B-Vitamins are important in aiding the carbohydrate (alcohol) metabolizing process and in dilating blood vessels. They will also help restore your energy level.
• Lemon
  Add the juice of one lemon to a cup of black coffee and drink it unsweetened and without milk.
• Scalp Stimulation
  Pull on clumps of your hair to stimulate your full scalp. This should brings blood to the scalp and relieve a stubborn morning-after headache.
• Tomato Juice
  Tomato juice contains fructose, a type of sugar that helps your body metabolize alcohol more quickly.
• Vitamin C
  Stimulates the liver to break down alcohol.

Feel free to share your favorite tried-and-true hangover helper with us!

Fastspot enjoyed a special holiday treat in the office to help get those synapses firing again — the ever-popular BLTEA.

How to Make Fastspot’s Bacon Lettuce Tomato Egg and Avocado Sandwich (BLTEA)

You will need:

• Bacon (2 packages)
• French Bread or Sourdough Bread Loaves (2)
• Avocados (2-3)
• Tomatoes (2-3 large)
• Lettuce (1 head)
• Eggs (1 dozen)

Start cooking your bacon to desired crispness. We did it in the oven on a baking sheet to cook a lot all at once and to avoid having to keep a close eye on it; you can also fry it in a pan as usual. Slice and toast the bread. Wash and slice tomatoes; set aside. Pit avocados and remove from skin using a spoon; slice to desired thickness and set aside with tomatoes. Wash and separate lettuce; set aside with other produce. Fry eggs to order. The traditional Fastspot BLTEA features an over-easy egg with runny yolk.

Build sandwiches starting with lettuce, then add tomato and avocado. Some prefer to mash the avocado into a spread on the bread. Add two slices of bacon and top with egg. Use a panini press to further heat and seal in flavors, if desired.

Serves 11

I love it when apps are created to solve a simple problem. Chances are, if you are being annoyed by something and have a solution, other people suffering the same annoyance will gravitate towards your solution. It’s a basic rule in business and marketing, and Zach Waugh has followed that rule with the creation of QuickPic.

QuickPic’s strengths are that it allows you to download photos directly from your iPhone to any computer using a web browser over WiFi. Features of the app are that it works over WiFi (no cables required), lets you download full resolution photos, requires no software beyond a web browser, and works on Mac, Windows or Linux.

I remember Zach talking about the technical hurdles of getting a photo from the iPhone to a computer if you didn’t want to, or couldn’t, synch up with it, or shrink the picture down and email it. For example, here in the office, you may want to quickly get a shot from your iPhone to a co-workers computer, and now the QuickPic app solves that problem!

Zach Waugh, a programmer here at Fastspot, along with Amber Shriver (Fastspot’s Interactive Design Director) developed and designed a simple and elegant interface, and also managed to jump through Apple’s various hoops to get their app up and online in a matter of weeks.

I have downloaded the app, and find it extremely handy. Kudos to Apple for opening up the iPhone platform so creative problem solvers like Zach and Amber can provide apps like QuickPic to make things that should be simple, simple indeed.

Have you tried their app out? Let us know what you think, or share any other apps you have found that solve a simple problem with an elegant solution.

Let me start with the obvious, we are facing scary times. The news is a non-stop chorus of “doom and gloom”. The knee-jerk reaction is to scramble for any bit of business, security or revenue you can get your hands on. Other panic reactions are to start cutting costs, overhead, staff, and “low-balling” every bid and estimate to ensure you get the work.

What should you do instead of panicking and slashing costs, staff and budgets? Focus on what you are passionate about, and do it really really well. The competitive landscape is going through a house cleaning and when the dust settles the companies that are providing real value will remain in a prominent position atop the mantelpiece. While we may see a cutting back on project budgets, we won’t see a cutting back on expected quality. And the only way to keep delivering quality when things get tight is to be extremely passionate and talented at what you do. If you are, there is no chance quality can suffer or degrade.

It is equally important to stay focused on who your target clients are, if you start picking up random work, the quality will inevitably suffer, as it is nearly impossible to put out amazing work with smaller budgets for brands or organizations you have no interest in or passion for. For Fastspot, delivering amazing interactive solutions which tip the scales on usability and functionality are what we are passionate about creating, and as long as the client is looking for the same - we are half way up the mountain.

I also trust in our clients, even the ones we haven’t met yet. I already know these clients, and I believe they are the kind of companies who are looking for more than just a “Website”. They are looking for a partner who will challenge them, push them, inspire them, and dig deep enough to deliver something truly outstanding. There is no price tag high enough to create inspiration and invention if it doesn’t already exist, and it is inspiration and invention that will create something new, something memorable, and something with true value.

As WalMarts of the world rejoice in more people buying cheap crap instead of buying quality, I remind myself these family shoppers aren’t spending for their “brand”, they are just trying to put clothes on the kids. Brands and companies face a different dilemma, and during challenging times they must stay the course - representing what they stand for and promise to their customers. If quality or focus declines, the customers, members, press, whoever is paying attention, will see it and remember it. It creates cracks in the foundation, and this is not easily reversed.

Those that keep doing what they do best, and find creative ways to do it better for the clients or customers they serve, will undoubtedly come out in a better place than they find themselves today. In fact, I could go so far as to say that this period of house cleaning is a necessary process in the evolution of “everything”. As Charles Darwin recognized so long ago on the Galapagos Islands, nature is adaptable and through evolution and natural selection, the strongest AND most adaptable species will prevail and thrive.

Darwin wrote, “As many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly survive; and as, consequently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for existence, it follows that any being, if it vary however slightly in any manner profitable to itself, under the complex and sometimes varying conditions of life, will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected. From the strong principle of inheritance, any selected variety will tend to propagate its new and modified form.” It is HOW we adapt and vary, that will determine our survival and ability to thrive. I propose we adapt in ways that never compromise quality, integrity, passion and purpose.

I have an optimistic prediction for 2009, and it is this. As the dust settles, we are going to be seeing the real quality companies, products and entrepreneurs of the world in all their glory, delivering amazing and relevant services to their clients and communities. Those out to make a buck in the boom times will go bust, and the playing field will be cleared of the clutter. Hang tight, keep doing what you’re passionate about, do it really really well, and prepare to enjoy a brighter spotlight in 2009!

Share your thoughts, how do you think companies need to adjust to deal with difficult times? Do you think anyone is doing a good job, or a bad one?

To contribute a more positive blog post to offset my whiny one, I give you some cool sites to check out - leave your comments on what you think! These links are compliments of yours truly as well as Yianni and Calea - so if you hate them, don’t (completely) blame me! And if you have been surfing some really cool stuff lately, leave us a link and what you like about it!

http://www.1stavemachine.com/
Love the full screen video background and simple navigation…

http://www.birdman.ne.jp
Great use of flash & papervision. It’s really an experience site, almost like a video game. And great attention to detail.

http://www.joshuastearns.com/
One of the best photographer sites I’ve seen. Simple interface, easy to use, and great images.

http://spacecollective.org
Great concept. Cleanly built without flash, and just great to browse around in.

http://www.epsonality.com/
Pretty cool site to play around on.

http://hotel626.com/
F*cking scary site.

http://www.theturn.tv/
Sometimes fun little Flash stuff is still nice to look at / interact with.

http://www.nathanaelwolfe.com/
Nice portfolio site.

Added this one - definitely one of our ALL TIME favorites! Thanks to Garret from Orange Element for commenting about it!
http://www.ff0000.com/

Rarely do I find myself in a funk at work. Today however, I found myself floundering around in a full on official and documented “funk”. I am trying to figure out what brought this funk on, and I have several theories. I am also trying to find ways to get out of the funk, and I will detail those as well.

First - what caused this funk?

• Well it is Monday, and that alone could be the culprit. After a fun and busy weekend, it’s always a bit of an adjustment to be back at work.
• My workload is lighter than normal. I have found that I do better when I am busy, I find more ways to get more things done, and the day goes by much faster.
• It is officially seeming to be winter, its cold, gray, and dark at 4:30, this has been clinically proven to cause depressing emotions.
• Between the news media’s constant “doom and gloom” forecasts, my business partner’s recent stress filled rants about launch dates, tax bills, and the lack of 10 RFPs on my plate, and the impending holiday trip I have to take to Ohio (where I stay in the uber luxurious Holiday Inn) - maybe I should just chalk it up to funk by association?
• After a period of intense workload, meetings, ideas, brainstorms, and proposals, maybe I am just a bit burned out? I am leaning towards this last reason.

Now - what to do to get out of the funk?

• One thought is that I retreat for a few days, do some reading, catch up on a few movies, general light stuff.
• Another thought is I take a few days for myself in my studio, and really let my mind work in creative ways vs. having to work within the general confines of proposal / budget / meetings land.
• Another idea is I pack my bag, get on the train and take a few days in NYC or some other relatively nearby place and see some museums, sightsee, window shop and enjoy not being slammed with work. Of course, I probably can’t find anyone to go with me, and not sure I am up for a solo adventure.
• And my last thought is that I go home, make a fire, cook up something yummy for dinner, open a good bottle of wine, and download a movie or two that will completely distract me from anything work related, recession related, client related, friend related, tomorrow related. Then go to bed and wake up hopefully feeling better.

Whichever I decide to do, maybe all four, I will report on what works and why. In the mean time, what do you think causes funks? And more importantly - what do you do to snap yourself out of one?

We were having an interesting discussion the other day with our friends over at Neustadt Creative Marketing, about a client project we are working on together. The subject of “features” came up and Mark Neustadt provided some insight into how features are not nearly the attractor they used to be, and how focusing on solving the core and primary problems in an elegant, emotional and compelling manner will have a more successful reception. We couldn’t agree more!

Features are useless if they serve a frivolous purpose or get in the way. Form should follow function and really good functionality seeks to solve the main problems in the most elegant and simplistic way possible. For example consider the giraffe. Evolution has created an animal with a very long neck, allowing it to reach the leaves other animals can’t eat. Another example more common in our industry, when print designers design comps for Websites. The interactive experience is a very different one from the traditional marketing experience and thus requires very specific solutions. Aesthetics that interfere with functionality (or usability) are the downfall of many a Website.

Companies and organizations that accomplish form following function while still delivering on a pleasurable aesthetic experience are almost guaranteed to succeed with their audiences and expand their reach. A few companies that (in my opinion) have successfully accomplished this are: BMW, OXO, 37Signals, Apple, and Under Armour. I am sure this list could be added to - feel free!

If you think about what all of those companies do, they focus on the important problems their audiences have and deliver really amazing solutions. They don’t get all crazy with features and extras that confuse the message and brand; they stick to the thing they do best, at least that is how they started out. Granted, as you gain market exposure and success, you can expand your offerings, as long as you never get caught up in features, and always deliver on the solutions that matter.

BMW - focuses on one thing: driving. Driving really fast.
OXO - simple utensils that get the job done while still looking good in the drawer.
37Signals - simple functional software to help people be more efficient and organized.
Apple - its all about usability for Apple.
Under Armour - proving that whicking moisture away is still in need, even with your Nike and Uggs. Oh yeah, and a great logo can really help a new company out.

What do you think? Got more companies to add to our list? Do you make decisions based on features or core functionality? Do the brands you connect with follow this approach?

I’ve been extolling the virtues of Panic’s Coda since I first started working at Fastspot (a year and a 1/3 ago!). Back then, it was simply a fantastic text editor (no frills) that had Transmit (Panic’s awesome FTP program) built into the navigation tree on the left, and some searchable PHP/CSS/HTML documentation. It had some other features (like a built in Terminal and Safari preview) that I never used — but it was basically just a great text editor that had FTP built in.

Over the past year and a half, Panic has done a killer job of adding features that I use every day that make it compete with some of the more popular (and pricey!) text editors such as TextMate. Some of the features that I use every day now:

• Multi-line editing — hold down Command and highlight multiple lines, and then everything you do to one line happens to them all. Great for commenting out multiple lines, or tabbing a bunch of lines over at once!
• Publish tracking — If you setup a location for your local copy of the site you’re working on, and tell Coda where the site exists on the FTP server, it’ll track the changes you make locally and let you Publish all the changes to FTP at once.
• Code Completion / Syntax Highlighting — It takes some getting used to, but you may end up loving Code Completion. Or not. You can turn it off!
• Multi-file Find and Replace — Coda lets you search entire directories for strings of text and do a find and replace on all the files. AMAZING! Let me tell you, I hate “soft tabs” (really just two spaces). It made me very happy to be able to turn everyone’s soft tabs into a real tab all at once! Also great for changing hard-linked URLs from development sites to the live URL all at once.
• Reverse Publish - Make a change to a live site, just right-click and Reverse Publish to sync it back up with your development version!

Now, as much as I loved Coda’s Publishing system, I hated SVN. Coda’s latest features have made me hate SVN much less. I still hate .svn folders (have you ever tried uploading a TinyMCE install that someone forgot to checkout of SVN?!), but I don’t hate SVN anymore. Coda directly integrates with Subversion now. You simply setup a local version of a versioned project and point Coda’s local root to that folder. Coda instantly knows that it’s version controlled and starts handling it for you (with the exception of you setting up your username and password, of course). Add a file/folder to a project? Coda asks you if you want it in SVN. Delete a file/folder? Coda asks if you want it deleted from SVN. Best yet, Coda keeps track of all your changes just like in it’s Publishing system. You can commit all the changes at once, or one file at a time.

Coda’s most recent release also includes the ability to create “Plug Ins” (and import TextMate plug-ins as well). You can create them in basically any scripting language that has a command line parser, and if you want to create something complicated, you can even do that in Objective C. I’ve always been fond of the idea of coding PHP with the assitance of PHP, so I’ll definitely be exploring creating Coda plug-ins in PHP in the near future.

Though there still may be some TextMate fans out there not ready to jump ship, if you’re a web designer / developer, give Coda a try. You won’t regret it.

If anyone has seen any cool Coda plug-ins in the wild, drop us a line in the comments!