Disqus - Latest Comments for barn

Re: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Our Commitment to Progress

Brian W. Williams — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 17:16:22 -0000

Thanks, Peyton. You helped shape our foundation, and you'll always be part of the Viget family.

Re: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Our Commitment to Progress

Brian W. Williams — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 17:15:17 -0000

Thanks for your questions, Brandon. I don't view this as a "take from one, give to another" kind of scenario. I believe our business will be stronger in the long run if it's more diverse, and we've come to realize that we need to work harder and with more perspective to achieve that goal.

We set our goals to be a step in the right direction and realistic for us to achieve (less wouldn't have been a meaningful enough step, more may have been too difficult to hit), and will revisit them at least annually. I'm not sure what the equilibrium will be and I don't think we need to decide that at this stage.

In all the things you're referring to -- recruiting, hiring, who we buy from, who we sell to -- we're not talking about ending current relationships or shutting out certain groups. We’re recognizing that most of our personal networks are mostly white and, unless we’re deliberate about it, we’ll default to leveraging those networks in our business relationships. We want to proactively expand our networks to be more diverse, and make an effort to consider people, vendors, supplies, etc. who haven't been as directly connected to us.

Re: TTT: The History of Viget’s Quarterly Retreats

Brian W. Williams — Wed, 09 May 2018 14:07:15 -0000

Thanks, Rob! Miss you buddy!

Re: Go For Culture Add, Not Culture Fit

Brian W. Williams — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 10:29:51 -0000

We've been using "culture add" over "culture fit" for a while here at Viget -- it clicked for me when I first heard it as well. In all our years and all our hires I've always talked in my orientation meeting about how every new person changes the company in some way and that's critical to our perpetual evolution and endurance. We don't want assimilation or cogs in a wheel. So, I was happy to shed the word "fit" -- never seemed right.

Re: sxsw-panelpicker-logo PanelPicker®

Brian W. Williams — Mon, 08 Aug 2016 14:18:06 -0000

Fantastic video. That Tommy cameo ... wow. Two thumbs up.

Re: Guest Commentary: We Can’t Continue to Ignore Concerns About F.C. Schools

Brian W. Williams — Sun, 22 May 2016 13:12:02 -0000

Reminds me of a story. I coach U9 lacrosse. This season I had a player thrown out of a game because he made a comment to the ref very similar to "who hired this clown show?" Even though he's on my team and one of our best players, I supported the decision to eject him. He immediately realized how disrespectful and unproductive that kind of statement is, and apologized. He's eight years old.

Re: Guest Commentary: We Can’t Continue to Ignore Concerns About F.C. Schools

Brian W. Williams — Thu, 19 May 2016 23:57:05 -0000

From my perspective, some citizens _are_ "noisy" and just stirring things up. They push incorrect information, overreact to situations, try to create hysteria rather than honest debate, even try to intimidate others who are trying to do good work. So, let's acknowledge that behavior, call it out as counter-productive and unacceptable, and try to put an end to it.

I think part of the way citizens/taxpayers can overcome the concern of being ignored is by having those who are wise enough to take a balanced tone (as in the letter above) speak out against extremism on both sides of these issues. Even when the extremism supports your point of view.

Clearly the school board and leadership need to step up as well in terms of communication and collaboration. As I've said, I believe the way to increase productive collaboration is through calm, rational, fact-based communication -- not just yelling louder.

Re: Neigh, Neigh! Magical Brooch at Kentucky Derby Designed in F.C.

Brian W. Williams — Thu, 19 May 2016 19:06:17 -0000

Thanks for writing about this! If anyone is interested in seeing the brooch and reading the backstory, here you go:

https://www.viget.com/work/...

https://www.viget.com/artic...

Re: Guest Commentary: We Can’t Continue to Ignore Concerns About F.C. Schools

Brian W. Williams — Thu, 19 May 2016 18:45:28 -0000

Thank you, Erik, for striking a balanced tone in this letter. If all of our dialog could be like this I'm confident we'd have much more community engagement, constructive debate, and overall progress.

Re: Keyboard Shortcuts Every Web Professional Should Know

Brian W. Williams — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 15:01:50 -0000

Great post, Eli! Thanks for writing it.

One addition to your screenshots tips. I often use cmd-control-shift-4 (takes some practice!) to copy a screenshot to the clipboard so I can then quickly paste it into a doc or Slack channel. This saves the download/upload steps.

Re: How to Implement Accessibility in Agency Projects: Part 1

Brian W. Williams — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 21:51:01 -0000

Hi Jordan, I'm the CEO here at Viget. Great question on the business issues. Couple points:

1. As Jeremy explained in his response, we've learned that the time and money to address accessibility isn't as significant as you might think, assuming the agency team is talented and educated on the topic. Here at Viget, Jeremy's done an incredible job advocating for accessibility. He's studied it, applied it, and lead the internal education we needed across a variety of roles to make it happen. It's an ongoing process and we're committed to making progress over time.

2. For us, not only is it not a disadvantage, it's a real competitive advantage in terms of winning the kind of clients we want to work with. There will always be shops that will lowball bids. We're cost-competitive; but, we look for clients where low-cost isn't the number one factor. Clients looking for real quality work greatly appreciate (and will pay for) our expertise on this topic.

In short, I'd say the ROI for agencies to learn, apply, and charge for accessibility best practices is strong. It's not only the right thing to do, it's good business.

Re: Taxis, Ubers, and Subways

Brian W. Williams — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 09:36:14 -0000

"... and will likely be the case for the next hundred years as well." I love the subway here in DC (which is more spread out), but I wonder if the subway part of this statement will be true as self-driving vehicles become common (and low cost). The costs to build, expand, and maintain subway systems are enormous. Self-driving cars, trucks, and buses that can quickly flex up/down to address changes in capacity needs and swap in/out for maintenance (among many other advantages) ... that seems like the future, hopefully inside 100 years. Hurry up!

Re: Speaking of Passion, We’ve Relaunched SpeakerRate

Brian W. Williams — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 15:43:47 -0000

Thanks Mike!

Re: F.C. Schools Find $400k in Savings, Hope for No Tax Rate Hike Grows

Brian W. Williams — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 23:02:03 -0000

Would you rather your assessment (i.e., the value of your home) be going down?

Re: An Uncomfortable Missing Part of the Accessibility Discussion

Brian W. Williams — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 08:25:04 -0000

Are you arguing that every web site and app on the internet should have the same level of access as a government communications site created to educate young people about the risks of AIDS?

As you say, that's a "situation where it's a no-brainer" which implies that there are situations where it's not a no-brainer -- situations where you need weigh the tradeoffs (i.e., do a cost-benefit analysis) to determine what level of accessibility is appropriate. I'd agree.

Re: Letters to the Editor: We Absolutely Need a New High School in F.C.

Brian W. Williams — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 14:01:54 -0000

Dale: what do you mean when you say "the City is in a better position financially"? What changes do you anticipate that will put the City in a better financial position?

Re: Letters to the Editor: We Absolutely Need a New High School in F.C.

Brian W. Williams — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 14:00:22 -0000

I agree with David Chavern. We should invest in a new high school. Falls Church City is already an expensive place to live due to high housing costs. Home values are based in large part on the willingness of our community to do what is needed to maintain a high-quality school system. Facilities are a part of that system. To prioritize a flat tax rate over investing in both our schools and other important city services (e.g., functional stormwater system, improved sidewalks, etc.) is short-sighted. I don't want to pay higher taxes than anyone else, but waiting on these kinds of investments is, to me, a mistake.

Re: Designing Experience Layers

Brian W. Williams — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 13:25:45 -0000

First, let me say that I love it when we take debates that are happening inside the halls (and Slack channels) of Viget outside to the public in the form of blog post comments. I’d love to hear from others inside and outside of Viget on this topic.

I have a specific question about time and level of effort. Jason, you mention two key stakeholders in your response to Doug: users and developers. What about clients (or whomever is “paying the bills” associated with the work)?

When we advise clients to no longer support an older browser (e.g., IE6) we use data to make the case. Using rough numbers, if IE6 is 0.01% of your audience but supporting them would add 50% to the cost of a project, we recommend against it. Clients get that.

I’d be curious to see a similar cost benefit analysis in this case. What’s the typical cost of applying progressive enhancement (i.e., the % of additional time required) compared to the % of users who typically benefit? Clearly the answer is “it depends” but, as professionals, part of our job is to make sure we’re making smart recommendations to our clients regarding their budgets. We have a responsibility to consider this part of the debate.

You mention the billions of people coming online to mobile which is a good, real, big number. That said, for many of our clients, we can be more specific about who the audience will be, especially when you take into account priorities within an audience group (e.g., most likely to be a high-value visitor). Sometimes we work on projects where the audience is billions -- literally everyone with Internet access. Sometimes, though, the audience is 10 users inside a company where we know exactly what hardware, software, and infrastructure they'll have access to. Usually, it's somewhere in the middle. Since budgets are always limited, is it reasonable to say that PE can, in some cases, mean diverting budget that could benefit 99.999% of visits to benefit the 00.001%?

Again, if we're building a site to provide health care information to the disadvantaged (to use your example) using techniques like progressive enhancement seems obvious, if nothing else to ensure accessibility. I'm wrestling with the notion that it's irresponsible to ever build a site or app that requires JavaScript to work.

Re: Reborn: The New Baby Bookie!

Brian W. Williams — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 12:11:58 -0000

That's one of my favorite emails of all time! Love this app. Almost makes me want to have a 5th child. Almost.

Re: F.C. Library Board Looks at Mary Riley Styles Expansion Options

Brian W. Williams — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 00:05:31 -0000

I agree with you, Erik. There are many competing priorities in our city right now. I wonder if the library could even be consolidated into a broader redevelopment plan for city hall, connecting it with the community center in some way -- or at least sharing resources like parking. There are great efficiencies to be gained if we can be open to a more unified vision.

Re: Relaunching Pointless Corp., the Innovation Lab at Viget

Brian W. Williams — Thu, 18 Sep 2014 13:20:21 -0000

Thanks Clay!

Re: The Next Big Thing: Talks Underway On How to Develop New City Land

Brian W. Williams — Mon, 19 May 2014 20:54:08 -0000

I would love to hear more about the "most valuable real estate on the entire eastern seaboard of the U.S." quote.

Re: Competence and Likability as Keys to Success

Brian W. Williams — Sun, 12 Jan 2014 23:11:35 -0000

I love this exercise as a way to think about what we value. While it over simplifies things a bit, it does touch on two of the main things I think about when building the Viget team:

1. No assholes (or "jerks" I suppose). Bad people are poisonous to be around, and life is too short. Now, super smart, talented, cocky, argumentative, stubborn people ... are they necessarily jerks? There are a lot of characteristics that make someone a "jerk" and different people have different levels of tolerance for conflict. I, for one, want people who will argue, push, and challenge -- but with respect, integrity, and positive intentions. These people make us all better.

2. Exceptional talent required. We're not building a team of friends who just like to hang out. Without the core skills to do great work -- or the potential to gain them -- there'd be no reason to be here. It needs to be a given that everyone here can do their work at a very high level. And, while there's nothing more painful that letting people go, if we bring people on who ultimately can't perform, we owe it to the rest of the team to have them move on -- even if they're extremely likable. I would view a company "glued" together by lovable fools as being in fact quite fragile (or doing substandard work).

Hiring is way more complex than this, of course. There are lots of grey areas, lots more characteristics to evaluate, lots of difficulty getting an accurate read on someone before you actually get to work with them. I feel like we're always improving, in part by always looking for new ways to think about it -- like this post.

Re: Happy Holidays. Let’s Make Something.

Brian W. Williams — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 12:32:18 -0000

Thanks Greg!

Re: Tracktor: Managing Harvest Timers the Arduino Way

Brian W. Williams — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 12:09:29 -0000

Can we make these standard issue for everyone at Viget?