Category: Agency

Partnering With a UI/UX Agency | Why You Should Outsource

Posted on by galaxy-admin

Developers spend 50% of their time fixing issues that could have been avoided if user research had been conducted before code development began. (MeasuringU)

Thinking about outsourcing in terms of UI/UX can be a little jarring at first but Galaxy Weblinks is here to change that for you. UI/UX is the foundation of your product, be it for customers or employees, and nobody wants a shaky foundation. Before writing the code and starting the build of your application, laying out a detailed UI/UX strategy is a must. According to Forbes research, Intentional and strategic user experience has the potential to raise conversion rates by as much as 400%.

Galaxy’s approach to UI/UX outsourcing, strategy, research, and design is a homogenized effort that focuses on merging the desired outcomes for end-users and your company. There is no universal solution that fits all, and we understand that every project is different, that’s why we match your needs with the right team of performant designers and engineers. Our team of critical thinkers works with you towards a common goal of deploying robust and scalable UI/UX solutions that yield great business results. 

Our Process is Agile and Dependable

We know that constant communication and collaboration are key in an Agile development environment. Hence, our process adapts to your needs to provide optimum results. With development shops in the US, Australia, and India we ensure that all the important strategic interactions and work happens during your typical workday. 

We are also equipped to scale our services to handle the intense workload on short notice so that you can meet your deadlines. Timezone troubles are a thing of the past with us, we’ve made our schedules flexible, just give us a call, and we’re instantly available to talk status updates and plans, just like your internal teammate. 

Research is Crucial for our UI/UX Process

We try to understand the users, their pain points, and the functionality they require through our research. The answers to these questions are critical whether you’re designing a new application, revamping an existing one, or optimizing for different screen sizes. 

Apart from user interviews, our typical UI/UX research offering includes:

  • Heuristic Evaluation
  • Competitor Analysis
  • Survey Creation and Distribution
  • Interview Recording Transcripts
  • Analytics Data Report Summaries

We have paired these services with techniques that help in our Design Thinking methodology and aids our decision-making:

  • Empathy: Conduct stakeholder interviews and user research. 
  • Define: Develop affinity diagrams, MVP definitions, user personas, and user journey.
  • Ideation: Use UI sketches and Wireframes to brainstorm.
  • Prototype: Create hi-fi wireframes with design styles and final screens for testing and developer hand-off.
  • Testing: Test and collect user feedback at every stage to eliminate problems at the onset.

UI/UX Outsourcing Benefits

Our teams are proactive and highly skilled. So it doesn’t matter if you’re looking to disrupt the industry with a revolutionary solution, or building upon an existing solution, we’re here as your dependable offshore partners to see it through equipped with the right set of technologies and skill set. 

Here are some benefits of outsourcing UX development that will put things in perspective for you: 

  • Reduced development costs: Building what your users desire in the first place eliminates the need for code rework, ultimately saving costs.
  • Competitive advantages: Better UX leads to better business.
  • End-user loyalty: Fast, efficient, and transparent experiences result in better user loyalty.
  • New opportunities: Researching and presenting a user with what they might need will result in new business opportunities.

Why choose us as your UI/UX Design Outsourcing partner?

Based in Boston(MA), Galaxy is recognized as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the USA in 2021 by INC 5000. 

Our other recent accolades include: 

Our clients love our work and laud us for our commendable outcomes. Whether you need software to create your business foundation, new product offering for your customers, or something disruptive, our team can help you work towards your goals.

Our recipe for success 

With our proven methodologies we ensure that your solutions are the right kind of disruptive and your legacy solutions are modernized and made future-proof. We employ:

  • 6D
  • Lean UX
  • Double Diamond
  • User-Centered Design

With outsourcing, you get access to a top software company with the right talent and tools to help you realize your business goals and that too without the hassles of talent hunt, hiring, and management.

Galaxy as an outsourcing partner works alongside you through every stage of the development journey to deliver the best outcomes your business deserves. 

About Galaxy Weblinks
We specialize in delivering end-to-end software design & development services. Our UI/UX designers are creative problem-solvers with a decade of experience in all facets of digital and interactive design. We create compelling and human-focused experiences delivered through clean, and minimalist UI. Get in touch with us here.

Galaxy Weblinks Ranks amongst the World’s Best in the INC 5000 list

Posted on by galaxy-admin

New York, August 17, 2021 – Inc. magazine revealed that Galaxy Weblinks has been listed in its annual Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the American economy’s most dynamic segment—its independent small businesses. Intuit, Zappos, Under Armour, Microsoft, Patagonia, and many other well-known names gained their first national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000.

“We’re honored and excited to be a part of the 2021 Inc 5000,” says Varun Bihani, CEO of Galaxy Weblinks. “Technology is advancing at a swift pace. We are leveraging it to create simple solutions to address complex business problems and achieve critical business goals. We believe in the power of people – our people, who have made us capable of this recognition.”

Galaxy Weblinks has shown YoY revenue growth of 96% in the past year. The company has added many prestigious clients including Netgear, Ecommerce giant Staples, McAfee, Arlo, Fiserv, in the last few years. 

The complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, and are found at www.inc.com/inc5000. 

“The 2021 Inc. 5000 list feels like one of the most important rosters of companies ever compiled,” says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. “Building one of the fastest-growing companies in America in any year is a remarkable achievement. Building one in the crisis we’ve lived through is just plain amazing. This kind of accomplishment comes with hard work, smart pivots, great leadership, and the help of a whole lot of people.”

About Galaxy

Galaxy Weblinks specializes in delivering end-to-end software design & development services. We offer web and mobile design and development services to enterprises and startups. Our technology team and designers are creative problem-solvers with a decade of experience in all facets of digital and interactive design. We create compelling and human-focused experiences.

DesignRush Lists Galaxy Among the Top Software Developers in Boston

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We are elated to announce that DesignRush has recognized Galaxy Weblinks Inc as one of ‘The top software development companies in Boston’. A heartfelt thanks to our clients,  employees, and the DesignRush team for this recognition. 

Galaxy is a web and mobile app development firm that’s been in the industry for over two decades. With over 1000 projects under our belt, we have the technical expertise and know-how to help your business achieve its goals. Our clients appreciate us for our dedicated project management style and open communication channels. 

In light of our accomplishments, we’ve been considered one of the top companies for software development in Boston by DesignRush, a B2B market research authority.  DesignRush’s work helps interested buyers find and partner with the ‘right’ vendors. The evaluation is done by industry experts based on quality, attention to deadlines, fairness of cost, and overall ability to drive results. 

“This recognition is the fruit of our labor and of our commitment to providing unmatched Software Design, Development, DevOps and QA Services and dedication to the business objectives of our clients. We attribute our success to the Galaxy team’s creativity, perseverance, and technical skills.” 

Varun Bihani, Partner at Galaxy Weblinks

We’re grateful to DesignRush, our clients, and our team for this recognition. It’s only through the trust of our clients, collective efforts of our partners, and dedication of our teams that we’ve been named among the best in Boston.

At Galaxy Weblinks, we are committed to delivering robust, performant, and easily scalable solutions. Get in touch with us to know how we can help you achieve your business goals through our proven expertise, unmatched skillset, and effortless communication.

10 Design Principles for Exceptional User Interface

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Creative visuals, attractive logo design, or intricate animations! What goes into making an exceptional user interface? A good UI includes a mix of factors that make it clear, consistent, simple, and user-oriented.

Defining the requirements of a good user interface is especially critical if you are considering outsourcing your project. Your design and development partner should understand the key principles that transform a user interface into a powerful tool for attracting new customers and retaining existing ones.

Let us go over the core principles of an effective and appealing user interface.

The 10 Fundamentals of a Good User Interface

Here is what goes into an appealing and intuitive user interface for a web or mobile application.

1. Consistency is the key

Source: Behance

In good user interface design, consistency rules the roost! Everything is affected, from the colors, icons, and fonts to the placement of menus and buttons. If changes are required and the designers who worked on the first version are no longer available, the situation becomes even more critical.

Top digital solutions do not astonish their users with radical changes. Instead, they use brand books and company style guides to maintain a consistent and unified style throughout UI design.

2. Hierarchy in screens

Source: Dribbble

Some inexperienced designers make the mistake of attempting to highlight everything on a single screen. Instead of guiding customers to a purchase or other desirable action, they bombard them with information.

That is why hierarchy is an essential component of a successful user interface.

It should be designed in such a way that users can quickly find the point of focus and understand what you’re trying to convey visually.

3. Flexibility 

Users now enjoy looking for a solution to their problems. That is why a good user interface should be supplemented with tabs, shortcuts, and hover tooltips. Such elements improve the interface’s usability and intuitiveness.

You may also like: 10 Tips to Improve Your Website Accessibility

For example, if an app allows you to upload photos, it should also allow you to crop, resize, rotate, and edit the image right next to it. The designers’ goal is to assist users in determining where such options can be found and whether such features are available at first glance.

4. Clear and intuitive user navigation

Where can I find the main menu? If you’ve ever asked yourself the same question, you’ve most likely encountered a poorly designed user interface. While visible to users, it should be “invisible” in terms of user disruption. A high-quality user interface should be well-structured and contain only the necessary elements.

For instance, a car-rental website should not be cluttered with unnecessary buttons, menus, and visual elements, but rather provide the option to rent a car right on the main screen. As a result, users will spend less time navigating your application and complete the transaction.

5. Target audience is well-defined

A digital product with a clear understanding of its target users has a better chance of retaining and engaging users. The primary goal of any web or mobile app is to alleviate the pain points of users, which is impossible to do without understanding how they interact with an application.

A good user interface is built on preliminary and in-depth market research, engagement of best practices from similar products, and evaluation of the target audience. This enables acting on a user’s needs and desires based on such an analysis and transferring the solution to the app interface’s pain points.

6. Transparency of user actions

When you click a button, you expect to see some sort of response. In UI design practices, leaving users without any feedback is considered bad etiquette. When users click on a menu, it’s a good idea to confirm the action with some sort of indication of successful operation, such as animation, color change, pop-up window, progress bar, and so on.

7. Limited number of gestures

Swiping, tapping, pressing, gesturing, or voice command are all options. All of these actions are used in the user interface to guide customers to the desired outcomes. Although it may appear to be a brilliant idea to use them all within an application, top interfaces such as WhatsApp or Facebook stick to a limited number of gestures.

When using an application, users should have a clear understanding of the actions that must be taken in order to achieve the desired result. If you tap to open a file, you should use the same gesture in all similar situations.

8. Additional tips and tricks

User retention is the primary task and, conversely, the primary challenge of any digital product. Fortunately, an effective user interface can help achieve the goal.

You may also like: 3 UX Gamification Techniques to Boost Engagement

Creating onboarding tips and showing them to customers is a good practice for very complex solutions. The UI carefully guides them through the app and helps them remember what each element is responsible for by placing small tips here and there, such as hover tooltips.

9. Attractiveness

This point is critical, despite being somewhat controversial in the eyes of some. A good user interface is one that is appealing and reflects the brand’s personality. Buttons, colors, fonts, and visual elements all contribute to a distinct brand story.

What appears appealing to one group of users may be repulsive to another. As a result, a successful user interface should be founded on extensive research. Furthermore, the visual aspect of user design should be used to reinforce functionality. Popular and well-known applications do not use colorful visuals that add no real value to the user interface.

10. Compliance with design standards

As previously stated, users must understand what to expect from a user interface.

Following Google’s and Apple’s primary and well-known design standards for Android and iOS is a good idea.

Take, for example, a search bar.

It is not a good idea to move it from the top of a page to the bottom. This way, the user interface will inadvertently make users struggle to perform actions that should be intuitive.

Conclusion

As you can see, good user interface design entails more than simply making an app or website look nice. It considers all of the users’ needs and creates an interface that reinforces consistency and assists users in completing their tasks in the most seamless manner possible. Use these tips as a guide for your next project, and you’ll be sure to deliver not only a functional product, but one that users will want to return to. 

Do you want us to get you or your company started on creating quality design components for your product? Reach out to us to get your project off the ground.

About Galaxy Weblinks

We specialize in delivering end-to-end software design & development services. Our UI/UX designers are creative problem-solvers with a decade of experience in all facets of digital and interactive design. We create compelling and human-focused experiences delivered through clean, and minimalist UI.

4 Steps to Take Before Hiring a Mobile App Development Agency

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So you’ve got a great mobile app idea and you’ve done your research to understand the competitive landscape. And you’re probably reading this because you’re well aware of the tech space and the potential it has to offer, but you also understand that you need the right mobile app development agency to unlock that potential. 

But before you go about hiring an agency here are some things you need to do before starting your development journey. Any experienced agency will walk you through these steps. 

In this blog we’ll cover what to do after you’ve finalized an app idea. Let’s see what these next steps are:

  • Understanding of Feasibility and Bottlenecks
  • Having clarity about Funding
  • Preparing Go-to-market and Customer Acquisition strategies
  • Planning a Monetization Model

1. Understanding of Feasibility and Bottlenecks

When you’ve identified your competition, it becomes easier to learn and understand the feasibility and bottlenecks the existing players in the market face.  

Validate your idea against these players. Would it be possible for one person to accomplish all the non-technicals of that model, funding development, and take a competitive share of the market at the same time? And is the general technology capable of executing your vision? 

If you don’t have all the answers it’s alright, because that’s why you have development agencies like Galaxy for. Our experts will help you validate your ideas and suggest possible workarounds for bottlenecks. 

2. Having clarity about Funding

This stage is more about understanding where the money goes and if you’re trying to understand costs you can follow how much it costs to build a mobile app in 2021? 

Let’s see what all you’ll be paying for bringing an app to market to ensure that the budget estimates are on point.

  • The visual identity
  • Product minimum viable product (MVP– the first version of your app)
  • Continuous feature development
  • Support & infrastructure
  • Marketing & customer acquisition

To help you with a rough estimate of costs we’ve covered what it costs to build an app in great detail. We say rough estimates because these costs are variable depending on your skills, your network, your partners (if any), the complexity of your app, and your business model. 

For instance, if you come from a development background, perhaps you can handle some of those mock development responsibilities or your partner from a marketing background could tackle some design and promotion responsibilities. 

All this means that the cost factor can vary from person to person. A simple app could be done with little to no outside help and in contrast, an app could cost millions to bring to the market if it requires rare expertise, innovation, intensive advertising, and is complex to build. 

3. Preparing Go-to-market and Customer Acquisition strategies

You don’t necessarily need a perfectly detailed plan to get your idea to market. You’ll probably be hiring outside help for this because this kind of creative heavy-lifting is better left to people with product or marketing expertise. 

Even though you’re probably going to hire someone else for planning, it’s highly advised that you have at least a rough or high-level idea for bringing your app to market and customer acquisition. 

A common mistake that businesses make is that they think marketing and user acquisition can be dealt with after the production. User acquisition is just as important as your design or development, it requires serious strategy, efforts, and money to bring in users to make your app successful. The earlier you start thinking about it, the greater the chances of success become.  

4. Planning Monetization Model

When building apps people forget to factor in the costs of maintenance and infrastructure. This expense is an ongoing one and you need a good monetization strategy to offset these costs alongside the building costs.

There are plenty of monetization models to choose from. For instance, you could go with one of the most popular ones, the freemium with a subscription fee model. It’s a difficult route but an honorable one for starter apps. Earns you loyal customers.

Here are some parameters to factor in when you’re choosing the freemium monetization model:

  • The App Store cut (15%-30% of in-app transactions)
  • The expected conversion rate from free to paid (2.5% on average)
  • Your recurring subscription fee

This will get the ball rolling for you. You can also explore other monetization strategies that are more relevant for your business and app. Ad-based monetization can be tempting at first, but we highly recommend seeking other options unless ads are necessary. 

Conclusion

You can push boundaries and ship your idea quickly but only if you have the right partners by your side. They’ll walk you through research, funding, and maintenance-like aspects beforehand to ensure that you’re well aware of the risks and benefits of the field. 
Galaxy is here to help you validate your ideas and make your app the next big thing. Get in touch with us here.

Why is the Offshore Model better for UX design projects?

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Note: This is an updated version of “Offshore UX | An option or need of the hour?” initially published on May 26, 2020. 

The world of business has changed dramatically since the pandemic. Real-time data and advanced analytics tools allowed the companies to adapt their strategy instantaneously. As witnessed after the outbreak of COVID-19, technology also facilitates instant communication with your team, no matter where they are located. Offshoring UX is now seen as a viable option. 

The consumers of technology expect a simple, intuitive, and visually appealing user experience. This was once considered aspirational and the domain of premium brands, necessitating months of research and large budgets. What was once exceptional is now a standard for all digital touchpoints, regardless of brand or budget. So, how can mid-tier firms with smaller budgets and shorter deadlines meet this expectation?

This challenge existed even 2-decades ago when the small businesses and big enterprises began offshoring software and product development. This approach is well understood and widely accepted and can be adapted to meet the needs of modern user experiences. 

In this post, we’ll talk about why it makes sense for your business to hire offshore contractors to handle your next UX design.

UX design has become a requirement

With the increase of technology in our daily lives comes increasing demands from consumers. Interfaces must be able to compete with the increasing standards. More products will begin to need UX designs. Being a market leader in your space, or even just staying afloat, will require it.

Even if you haven’t needed a UX designer in the past, there’s a good chance you will in the future. With that in mind, let’s talk about why offshore UX is a good business decision for your current or future UX designer needs.

Local talent can be hard to find

Because of the demand for UX designers, it can be hard to find local talent that is also available for full-time work. This is especially true if you want to hire top talent, which will command a higher price and be harder to keep on staff without some other company coming along with a better offer.

Thankfully, some of the same skills you look for in a full-time employee are what you’d look for in a remote employee. For both, you want someone who is a self-starter and will get the work done on time and as per specifications with minimal oversight on your part. As top UX designers realize they can make more work for themselves and takes on multiple jobs at multiple firms throughout the year, it becomes easier to find a qualified person for the job without having to commit to a full year’s salary.

The economics of developing nations

In the countries where the cost of living is low, the highest-paid professions may receive a little more than you would pay a UX designer. This means that UX designers in those nations can price themselves very competitively compared to western nations and still live a very comfortable life relative to their peers.

Of course, you’ll have to put some effort into finding the right candidate when you look outside English-speaking countries. Residents of most countries learn English as a second language, but you want to make sure that they speak it well enough that no language barriers exist. With offshoring, you’ll save money and provide someone with a better income than they could get in their economy alone.

Technology breaks down boundaries

Because it is such a visual art, there was a time in the past when doing UX work remotely would have been extremely difficult. This may be why there is still a reluctance on the part of many to embrace outsourced UX designers.

We now have technology that allows us to video conference and share our screens easily. There are cloud-based solutions, such as Miro and Invision, that allow for collaboration on even the most advanced projects so you’ll be able to give feedback to designers in a professional manner and ensure that nothing gets lost in the translation.

Combine that with the fact that all but the poorest of countries have access to high-speed internet, it is now possible to engage in real-time feedback even for visual projects like UI and UX. The boundaries that once stood in the way of taking UX design off-premise have now been torn down by technological advances.

Offshoring is flexible

If you’re a large business, you already have a design department with competent directors and senior designers. In that case, it will be the additional workers that take the vision of the senior members and help implement it that would make prime candidates for offshore workers.

For small businesses, it is impossible to hire a full-time staff to do your design work. Offshoring makes finding someone for a one-off job even more affordable.

Better Cost Control

Working with an agency allows you to control costs in a way that hiring someone in-house does not. After signing a statement of work (SOW), agencies are required to follow the scope of work outlined in the contract.

This specific type of agreement gives you more control over when work begins and ends, as well as how much money you commit to the project.

Increased Time to Value

Because agency design teams must meet tight deadlines, they typically adhere to strict, time-tested procedures. Whereas an in-house hire may take a week or two to get up and running, a good agency can ramp up and begin delivering within two to three weeks.

Often, agencies can simply do the work faster. For example, our UX team at Galaxy has been able to completely redesign relatively complex SaaS applications in less than three months, whereas an in-house team would typically take at least twice as long.

The bottom line is that agencies can move your project more quickly to the point where your investment begins to pay off.

Conclusion

For most companies, hiring designers locally is the way it’s always been done. With the coronavirus pandemic teaching us that remote work is not only possible but very practical, it may be a good time to consider the more affordable option. Now that we know situations can arise to force us into our homes, it would be a good time to take what we’ve learned from the outbreak and use that to experiment with new, cost-effective, and disaster-resistant forms of business.

Galaxy Weblinks Proud to be Named a Top Development Partner in Massachusetts by Clutch!

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Here at Galaxy Weblinks, we realize it can be tough to balance high impact app development while also staying afloat in a weak global economy. That’s why we’re here to help! We’re a web and mobile app development firm that’s been in the game for over two decades. With over 1000 projects under our belt, we have the technical expertise and know how to help your business achieve its goals. All of our clients appreciate our dedicated project management style and how we communicate effectively in all of our projects. Whether you need Android, iOS, or Hybrid app development, we’ve got your back!

In light of our accomplishments, we’ve been considered one of the top companies for app development in Massachusetts by Clutch, a B2B market research authority. They employ a one of a kind ranking formula to compare leaders in the business services sector. Clutch’s work helps interested buyers find and partner with the vendor of their dreams!

We couldn’t have earned this award without our wonderful clients! They took time out of their day to engage with the Clutch team to assess our performance. We were evaluated on the basis of quality, attention to deadlines, fairness of cost, and overall ability to drive results. We’re happy to report, we’ve earned a lovely 4.8 out of five stars on Clutch! Take a look at our most recent review below:

image
“We are thrilled to be listed in top 15 companies in Massachusetts for web and mobile development by Clutch”  Varun Bihani, partner Galaxy Weblinks.

We’re over the moon to be recognized for our accomplishments! Thank you to our clients and to the Clutch team for making this award a reality. Drop us a line today if you’re interested in learning more about how Galaxy Weblinks can help your business thrive!

Agencies That Build #8 All About the Agency | Chad Pytel

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In this episode of Agencies That Build, we have with us Chad Pytel, Founder, and COO of thoughtbot. It’s a group of designers and developers collaborating closely with clients.
Per the #ATB tradition, we picked the brains of our guest for some common industry myths and handed him the Mjölnir to bust them.

Myths

  • Your primary motive for getting into consulting should be to earn some money to bootstrap a SaaS product.
  • You should only hire experts for your agency
You must be invested in helping people scale while enjoying the process of the transition otherwise, you might get stuck on a consulting treadmill.
Be super clear about your priorities and be intentional about your work early on Chad Pytel
If we rewind on all the episodes of this digital leadership series, this has been one common theme that every leader that appeared on our podcast talked about. This is what Chad also emphasized when we asked from a small agency perspective about what practices he recommends for leaders. Following up on the best practices, Chad added, incorporate training into your hiring. There is one common mistake that agencies do while trying to scale. They work with unfilled positions for months and months waiting for experts to fill them. They end up paying recruiters 25% of the package for the said expert after say 3-4 months of hunting. Instead, hire and train people that fit within your culture for 4 months for that 25%. Training is a powerful tool because it enables you to hire more people than you’d otherwise be able to and it also makes the people you hire more successful. Then the conversation took a turn towards the hottest debate of the industry, Specialist vs Generalist. Chad had an interesting take on the whole situation. Generalist or Specialist – whatever you do, if you’re not consistent and intentional then your team will have a hard time working together. Even the agencies that position themselves as generalists have something that they’re good at, they provide specialization in that particular domain with small structured teams of developers and designers. We also discussed with Chad the future of the technology and how the pricing dynamic has changed during this full remote work culture. Can we retain the prices of services as a nearshore agency while still working completely remotely? Find this and more on our Podcast and YouTube. TL;DR | Takeaways for All About the Agency
  • To close any productivity and communication gaps, remove the middleman between the founder and project team. “We fundamentally believe in having a small group of people who are good at what they do working directly with clients to create something.” ~Chad Pytel.
  • Aspire to build successful products AND successful businesses. Training clients to facilitate a meeting or prioritize planning helps them be lucrative in the future outside of your own business.
  • Set specific expectations for your team in terms of communication and holding the company philosophy. This sets the bar for your team and allows them to have a growth mindset going into projects.
  • Training is a powerful tool that enables you to hire more people than you otherwise would have been able to and sets your team up for success. Apprenticeships and other training programs are a great way to accomplish this!
  • Whether you are a specialized or generalized company, the most important thing is to know what your model is and stay consistent with that. This provides a basis for your team to execute.
  • Career advice from Chad Pytel, have an honest conversation with your founders about expectations and what you want to achieve before starting your company.

Agencies That Build #7 – The Road To Model Messaging | Michael Coogan

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In this episode of Agencies That Build we invited Michael Coogan, the President and Managing Partner of MC2 Design Group Inc., a strategic and digital marketing agency. MC2 works as integrated partners with clients to plan, execute, and achieve business goals. Michael is an avid reader, and he believes in continuous learning. So get your pen and paper ready because this episode has some very practical takeaways for getting your messaging right, self-growth, leadership and bonus of good book recommendations.
Let’s start with some Myth busting.

Myths

  • You need to have a higher education to be a successful entrepreneur.
  • You need to have letters behind your name to prove that you are smart.
Like Michael we’re also firm believers of continuous learning. And being in the software design and development industry, learning is the only thing that has been constant in this space for us. One of the learnings that we are taking from this session is that it’s critical to know what you want to say about what you’re building even before starting your business. One way to do it is by asking questions like:
  • Who are you?
  • What is the problem that you’re trying to solve?
It’ll help you get your team on the same page, philosophically. Rolling up his sleeves Michael also shared some best practices:
  • Document meetings (Use tools like Otter to transcribe if you’re bad at note taking)
  • Figure out what to say and then communicate your message to the clients with consistency and confidence
This blog is just the tip of the iceberg, for more listen to Michael, Casey, and Varun discussing messaging, agencies, books and more on our Podcast or tune in to our YouTube channel to get the full coverage of the session.

TL;DR | Takeaways for The Road To Model Messaging

  • We spend so much time mindlessly taking in content. Why not take that time and put it towards something meaningful to you. “If we spend 15 minutes a day reading on a topic that we want to get better on and take a few notes, then that knowledge compounds over time.” ~Michael Coogan
  • It is easy to build a list of things you need to do for your business, but focusing on what to say is where things start to move forward. Uniting messaging across departments is key to building value for the customers.
  • Unite your team under the same philosophies. This will give them a basis of how their language and messaging with clients should be.
  • Outsourced partners are great for specializing projects, especially when there are spikes in business. This builds your network while not having to sacrifice the quality of your product.
  • Build a framework that you can teach your team in order to build a StoryBrand. Clients look for companies that will guide them through the process.
  • Career advice from Michael Coogan, life is fair because it is unfair to everybody. However, we have the opportunity to choose how we react to things and our attitude.

Agencies That Build #6 – Cultivating Successful Teams in Remote Settings | Jim Babcock

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In this episode of ‘Agencies That Build’ we are discussing cultivating successful teams in remote settings with Jim Babcock, President, SPM Services Inc. He also serves as an Advisor to the Executive Management team at Galaxy. Jim specializes in consulting people to take their ideas and turn them into successful businesses. This episode is a special one, not because it features our friend but because we have managed to break two ATB records. One for the Longest Guest Introduction and another for the Longest Name :D.
Here are some of the myths that Jim busted for us when Casey handed over the mighty Mjölnir to him.

Myths

  • Working with offshore companies is a nightmare
  • Expecting perfect outcomes from offshore teams without engaging like you’d with a domestic team
  • Transparency comes naturally to people
During this session Jim shared a lot of actionable and practical advice for project management while working with a remote team. He shared from his experiences the ups and the downsides of working with a team in a different cultural setting. Most things are meant to be done in the traditional way only. A remote setting doesn’t necessarily mean a change in basic human tendency. Talk frequently, understand your team, their needs, and culture and plan accordingly. That’s exactly what you do with an in-house team for keeping them efficient. Jim also shared some of the best practices that helps teams in remote settings
  • Great planning phase + Detailed specifications = A smoother build phase
  • Break work down in sprints to avoid analysis paralysis
  • Defining completion and designing it upfront into your contract is critical
  • Daily stand up meetings are a must
When Casey asked about the future of technology, James was quick to answer, as in how during the pandemic almost every business shifted to remote environments which resulted in a sudden spike in demand for video platforms. During which duration WebRTC emerged as the essential tech for the coming future as more and more businesses start to integrate video in their processes. There is a lot that we haven’t covered in this blog but that’s what the Podcast and our YouTube channel is for. Head on there and catch up on the secret recipe to Successful Teams in a Remote Setting.

TL;DR | Takeaways for Cultivating Successful Teams in Remote Setting

  • Get to know your team on a personal level
  • Develop a good specification for your product
  • Meet with them in the same duration you would with your domestic team
  • Look at your team as your partner. You need to have a contract that is flexible rather than stringent. This allows for more growth and room for expenses in the case of emergencies.
  • If you are working with an offshore team, and they have multiple teams in multiple regions then you need to know that. Transparency is key to communication.
  • Be willing to work with every party and come to middle ground on when and how things need to be done for optimized productivity.
  • Don’t fall into Analysis Paralysis! Break work down into sprints to move productivity and fulfill requirements.
  • Career advice from Jim Babcock- take time to appreciate the blessings around you.