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Thinking out loud

Carl Smith // May 24, 2011

Madness Indeed

Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve crowned our new Happy Webbie, Remy Sharp, which means that Webbie Madness is officially over. It was fun and it couldn’t have happened without you.

To those of you who were nominated to be Webbies, you guys are awesome. Your contributions are changing the way we do things in the digital world. You deserve recognition for inspiring all of us.

Voters, your support made this madness real. You showed us that the people who have the biggest impact aren’t always the familiar names. While we did have some popular people nominated, it wasn’t a popularity contest. No disrespect to Radu Chelariu (aka Captain Ahab), but he was an unlikely finalist, to say the least.

So, why did we do this?

Fame and fortune of course. Okay, not really.

The whole point of Webbie Madness was to discover the Cinderellas in the industry who have really made some cool things happen. Together, we did that.

We had a blast from start to finish. (Well mostly; there were a few bumps in there.) But it’s not every day you get to start a conversation with your industry. Especially one that leads to thousands honoring 64 spotlights of interweb awesomeness.

Buckets of sweat

Running a contest like Webbie Madness was fun, but it was also challenging. We spent more than 200 hours managing the contest. This included the obvious stuff like building the site (it was all automated) and the stuff you might not expect, like responding to hundreds of Twitter messages.

Word to the wise: If you ever decide to throw a contest, play it out in your mind from beginning to end before you start. Thinking through how you’re gonna manage it, communicate and be fair will save your sanity. Trust us. Seriously.

Lessons learned

We had a fantastic time putting this thing together and we learned a lot. Some of the more painful lessons included things such as:

  • No matter how constricted your budget, QA is the most important step. You and everyone else will suffer if it’s not done right.
  • Clear, easy directions are a must. Expect to clarify even the simplest of ideas. Some things are always lost in translation. (P.S. — it’s also important to be able to get in touch with contestants via something other than Twitter handles. Duly noted.)
  • Even one tweet can morph into spam if it’s retweeted enough.
  • Compassion, creativity, and brevity will take you a lot farther than apologies.

We also realized two things as the contest wound to a close…

  • It’s always going to take twice as long to accomplish the idea you have brewing.
  • Whenever you do something different you will piss a few people off. That’s a fact. You have to embrace the 99% of people who supported the idea. People are going to see things however they want. So while someone wishes for your dog to have a severe case of diarrhea that will ruin your carpet, keep a smile on your face. It’s a sign you’re doing things right.

Yeah, it was worth it

Over the last few weeks, we’ve met a lot of crazy talented folks who keep reinventing themselves. Even though they are successful they keep pushing to be better. Being able to see that drive and watch how it excites our industry was pretty damned cool.

So what is your takeaway from Webbie Madness? Go on, tell us the raw truth, we can take it.

4 Comments

Carl Smith // May 20, 2011

Thank you Webbie Madness Contestants

Please join us in celebrating all of the amazing contestants from Webbie Madness, as well as our winner Remy Sharp.

It was a long road to get here, and we’ve met some great people and pissed off more than a few along the way. 8^)

Ultimately, we accomplished what we set out to do. With your help, we’ve identified 64 people in the industry who have inspired us and kept us striving to improve ourselves, our industry and the work we do.

Thanks for playing Webbie Madness!

Round 1

  • Aaron Izzary (aka Harry Potter)
  • Adam Little (aka The Flash)
  • Amber Weinberg (aka Veronica Mars)
  • Aral Balkan (aka Green Lantern)
  • Aza Raskin (aka Beowulf)
  • Chris Eppstein (aka Aquaman)
  • Chris Pederick (aka James Bond)
  • Dan Brown (aka Boba Fett)
  • David Martin (aka Hercules)
  • Denise Jacobs (aka Storm)
  • Greg Rewis (aka Magneto)
  • Ismael Burciaga (aka King Arthur)
  • James Craig (aka Dracula)
  • Jason Sadler (aka Dexter Morgan)
  • Keith Clark (aka Samwise Gamgee)
  • Kimberly Blessing (aka Yuna Braska)
  • Kyle Weems (aka Hamlet)
  • Mathew Smith (aka Jean-Luc Picard)
  • Max Steenbergen (aka Gandalf)
  • Mig Reyes (aka Conan)
  • Nick Fink (aka Dr. Sam Beckett)
  • Nick Jones (aka Aragorn)
  • Rebecca Murphy (aka Scarlett O’Hara)
  • Rogie King (aka Frodo Baggins)
  • Samantha Starmer (aka Hermione Granger)
  • Sarah Sheriff (aka Buffy Summers)
  • Scott Phelps (aka Luke Skywalker)
  • Simon Collison (aka Doctor Strange)
  • Stephanie (Sullivan) Rewis (aka Aeryn Sun)
  • Tyler Galpin (aka Tarzan)
  • Vitaly Friedman (aka G’Kar)
  • Whitney Hess (aka Dorothy Gale)

Round 2

  • Aarron Walter (aka Lion-O)
  • Benjamin De Cock (aka Sherlock Holmes)
  • Brian Suda (aka Tom Sawyer)
  • Chris Wallace (aka Spider-Man)
  • David DeSandro (aka Han Solo)
  • Emily Lewis (aka Wonder Woman)
  • Jason Beaird (aka Robin Hood)
  • John Foliot (aka Doctor Who)
  • Lea Alcantara (aka Ellen Ripley)
  • Leslie Jensen-Inman (aka Lois Lane)
  • Mark Hurst (aka Odysseus)
  • Mathias Bynens (aka Galactus)
  • Noah Iliinsky (aka Indiana Jones)
  • Rich Hemsley (aka Yoda)
  • Trent Walton (aka Joker)
  • Zoe Gillenwater (aka Laura Roslin)

Round 3

  • Alex Morris (aka Starbuck)
  • Brian Hoff (aka Iron Man)
  • Christopher Schmitt (aka Dr. Doom)
  • David Kaneda (aka Merlin)
  • Jesse James Garrett (aka James T. Kirk)
  • Mike Davidson (aka Darth Vader)
  • Nathan Smith (aka Mario)
  • Wilson Miner (aka Wolverine)

Round 4

  • Estelle Weyl (aka Princess Leia)
  • Faruk Ateş (aka Mr. Spock)
  • Samantha Warren (aka Catwoman)
  • Tim Van Damme (aka Batman)

Round 5

  • Dan Mall (aka Superman)
  • Paul Irish (aka Hellboy)

Round 6

  • Radu Chelariu (aka Captain Ahab)
    • @sickdesigner
    • sickdesigner.com
    • Created HTML5 Starter Pack
    • Created a visual aid in understanding the CSS display property
    • Created one of the first heavy CSS3 over images experiments on the web
    • Created a CSS3 over images demo as tribute to victims of the 1969 Malaysian riots

And the next Happy Webbie is…

Remy Sharp (aka Optimus Prime)

  • @rem
  • remysharp.com
  • Setup the tutorial website jQuery for Designers
  • Run the JavaScript Conference Full Frontal
  • Built Snap Bird
  • Developed JS Bin
  • Wrote the book Introducing HTML5
0 Comments

Jeff Croft // May 18, 2011

nGen Asslicking

Recently on the nGen Works blog, some of our newer employees (we call them nGeneers) have introduced themselves. I never did that here. But I wanted to write something, and being as I’m a complete egomaniac, I wanted it to be about me. So I thought, “Maybe I’ll write about how I ended up at nGen and how it’s been.”

Almost two years ago, I got an e-mail from Carl. He basically said, “nGen is going through some changes, and we need someone to come in and lead design for our new team.” Carl knew that my employer at the time, Blue Flavor, was going through some changes of its own, and that I felt like I wasn’t—let’s call it—a “culture fit” with what appeared to be the new leadership (for the record, that new leadership never actually took over).

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I was looking for more flexibility. I wanted to work from home. I wanted it to be okay if I decided to work at 3 a.m. instead of 10 a.m. I wanted to travel a lot, and be able to work from the road. I wanted to do more speaking engagements. I wanted to be able to work on some product ideas I had on the side. My first thought was that I should just work as a freelancer. But I went down that road once, a decade ago, and it didn’t work out so well. So, I was scared.

I had a speaking engagement scheduled in Atlanta the next week, and Carl graciously flew up to the ATL to meet with me and talk about an arrangement. He offered me everything I wanted: a regular diet of work, a good team, the ability to freelance on the side, and most importantly, he didn’t care when or where I did any of it. It was an ideal arrangement.

For more than a year, I worked part-time with nGen and did my own projects on the side. I found that, more and more, the projects that were most exciting were the ones nGen was bringing me. Working with the amazing nGen team, and with the great clients Carl manages to pull for us was almost always better than working on the stuff I got for myself. So, over time, I’ve transitioned away from freelance work and towards a more full-time role on the nGen team. I still save some time in my schedule for personal projects, but more and more, I’m a full-time nGeneer. And I love it.

I’m the sort of person who gets bored easily. I’ve virtually never worked for the same company for more than 18 months. And if I did work someplace for 18 months, I desperately wanted to leave. nGen Works is the first place in my life that I can say I’ve been for two years without wanting a change.

I’m going to sound like a complete asslicker, but the reason is Carl. He understands creative people and creates a great working environment for them. nGen Works lets me work when, where, and how I want, for good clients on stuff I really care about, and does his best to shield me from stuff that I don’t. And I get to do it with an amazing team that constantly impresses me with their work and challenges me to do better. I don’t know what more I could possibly ask for.

Well, maybe a raise. Carl?

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Recent posts

  • Madness Indeed by Carl Smith
  • Thank you Webbie Madness Contestants by Carl Smith
  • nGen Asslicking by Jeff Croft
  • Round 5 Elimination - Webbie Madness Secret Identities Revealed by Carl Smith
  • Round 4 Elimination - Webbie Madness Secret Identities Revealed by Carl Smith
  • Round 3 Elimination - Webbie Madness Secret Identities Revealed by Carl Smith
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