Week 35: What it takes to start new projects

Our sixth team member Sharon hits the ground running, while we chase project leads and office space. 😬

Welcome to week 35 in the life of diesdas.digital — a still fairly new digital agency in Berlin. Since the founding in December 2015 we’ve been looking back at each week with a dedicated blog post; to reflect, grow and separate the significant from the fleeting … and to hopefully provide entertaining insights into running a lean, modern company.

I am Harry, one of the founders, and lately I’ve set myself the goal to come up with a dedicated topic for each week’s post, instead of just writing a diary. The last couple of posts focused on participation in pitches, the scariness of hiring, working with freelancers, the challenges of making first contact with new clients, legal aspects of project negotiations and our general approach as well as our reasons to found this company.

So what’s in store this time? How about the steps it usually takes until you can get to work on a new project? Yup, that that’s a good one, as we’ve been chasing multiple leads lately. But before we dive in, we gotta say hello to a new team member …

The excitement!

Welcome Sharon!

We’ve already talked extensively about the reasons for growing the team, but this Thursday it all became true and with great excitement Sharon took a seat at the table. We had some trouble getting a new Macbook with an English keyboard in time, but it all worked out in the end and we could get to work pretty much immediately. Even though it’s only been two days I felt a tremendous boost in creativity: Having worked for more than eight months mostly by ourselves, it was about time to shake things up. And so we’re happy to have fresh, unbiased opinions and views on our company and the projects we work on. I’m happy to see that we all hit the ground running from day 1 in this new constellation. Exciting times ahead! 😊

Design discussions reached a new level this week while the chaos on the desks increased proportionally.

We’ve known for quite some time that Sharon would start on the 1st of September and so we tried our best to line up fresh projects that could be started on that date. When you join a new company it’s hard enough to get a grasp on how things are handled … so we felt it would be easier to at least get to work on new projects, instead of having to transfer a lot of knowledge. Clean slate to start working, with as few decisions already set in stone as possible.

Makes sense? Sure it does. The tricky part in the above paragraph is “lining up fresh projects” because you don’t simply line up projects. 😅

In an ideal scenario new work would come in like this:

1. Somebody approaches you with an idea.
2. You meet, discuss the plans, agree on budget/timeframe and shake hands.
3. Happily you get to work.

Unfortunately reality is a lot more complicated and the process of setting up a new project is usually quite draining. So how does this usually come about? Well, we’ve been chasing a few things over the last couple of weeks, so here’s a more realistic procedure:

1. Somebody approaches you with an idea for a project, usually by phone or email.
2. You respond curiously, asking for more information, with a bit of underlying skepticism whether the person has a realistic conception of the required budget and timeframe.
3. The soon-to-be-a client wants to make sure that everything stays confidential and sends over a non-disclosure agreement that we read, don’t understand in parts and therefore consult with our lawyer. Once we’re sure that we’re not handing over our soul, we sign the NDA and get to talk about specifics.
4. If possible we meet, get to know each other in person, talk about first ideas and part ways not really knowing what will happen next.
5. Emails are exchanged and we agree that the next logical step would be a workshop together, to flesh out the vision for the project. A date is tough to agree on, because of holidays and other meetings. Then we insist that the workshop should be paid and after a lot of back-and-forth we agree on a number. We ask for material and background information to learn more and prepare the meeting.
6. The material arrives late and contains only half of what we hoped for, so we have to improvise.
7. The workshop goes well, but it also comes with the realization that the whole thing is much bigger and more complicated than initially thought. A lot of intriguing ideas are developed, but everyone secretly fears that there won’t be any budget for implementing those in the end. We come up with a timeline and project milestones as well as the budget required, writing an official offer and sending it over.
8. Discussions about scope, budget and timelines ensue. Typical questions are: “Is feature X included?”, “Could you revise your offer with features A, B and C taken out?”, “Can we get this done a month earlier?” or “I don’t understand feature Z”. These discussions about the offer are accompanied by legal hurdles, because we have a project contract that will inevitably differ from contracts the client usually sends out. So those have to be checked by lawyers on both sides, and a compromise has to be found.
9. Repeat the last step at least two more times.
10. After many emails, calls and discussions we reach an agreement and the offer is formally accepted. Relieved and happy we get to work!

Lars on the phone, organizing something … or rather trying to do so.

Now just to be clear: We’re not complaining here. First contact is always tricky and we cannot expect anyone to hand over trust or budget without knowing what they’re getting in return. After all, as an agency, we offer services and it’s on us to explain what we do and to make a convincing offer. Clients have every right to question our decisions regarding scope and budget (and we encourage them to). Of course each party tries to get the best deal for themselves — that’s only natural and it is not my intention to blame anyone here. Clients aren’t from hell, clients are the people who pay your bills, so have some empathy!

The point I’m making is rather that it’s always astonishing how much time and energy is required before a project agreement is reached and you can get to work. Sometimes it goes way quicker than described above, but sometimes this process can easily take a month or two, especially if a pitch is involved and there’s a lot of back and forth to reach a decision.

So there’s a ton of coordination and effort necessary before you’re able to say “welcome Sharon, here’s this new project, go crazy”! Also, some of the looming projects inevitably end up being dead-ends, getting stuck somewhere in the negotiation process and nobody pays you for the time you invested in these cases.

One of those phone calls, trying to clear up a misunderstanding about a proposal.

Actually this is a discussion we frequently have internally: should we concentrate all our energy on the projects that are signed and sealed already, or should we be constantly chasing leads on the side? What’s a good balance between getting work done and investing time in lining up new projects? Obviously there’s no clear answer here, as it depends on many factors: current workload, the budgets involved, whether the new challenge is interesting, whether it could make a good portfolio case or has the prospects for future follow-up work … just to name a few points of concern.

Rule of thumb though: Everything takes longer and is usually more complicated than you first think—especially the tasks that you don’t even plan for, like contract negotiations. Admittedly these can drive you nuts and ruin a project before it has even really begun: So stay calm, be empathic to the other party’s point of view and slowly, but steadily work your way towards the light at the end of the tunnel. Once you get that final signature, the fun parts start and it will all have been worth it! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Spontaneous meeting in the Hinterhof.

Phew … any other (preferably lighter) topics this week?

Sure, let’s do the rundown. First of all we’re actively looking for office space. Now that we’re a real team, with six people, it feels like we also need a proper location that we can make our own over time. I’ve always felt that the rooms you work in gradually become part of the team, either boosting your creativity or hindering it.

So we looked at a few potential offices, some too small, some too expensive, some in the wrong location. There’s not much pressure right now, because we rather like it at haebmau’s office and they still seem to tolerate us as well. 😅 But in case you have any leads for office space in Mitte, Friedrichshain or P/X’Berg, do give us a shout. We don’t have a super clear picture of what we’re looking for yet, but buildings with character, a large open space + meeting room(-s), access to a garden/terrace/balcony and bigger than 150sqm are what gets us excited.

Waiting for somebody to show us a potential office.

Otherwise we’ve been super busy on current projects, making good progress and having intense project related discussions with the respective clients. It’s the best feeling when your team and the client act in concert, dedicated to build the best possible product, seeing it grow and get better every day. 👏

In other news Lorenz went on holidays for two weeks, so it’ll be a bit tougher the coming days, but we’ll manage. Nicolás is coming back next week which will greatly help to get all development tasks done.

Overall the mood in the office has been super positive and quite energetic this week, the days filled with very tangible results. Exactly how it should be! 😄

Mitte has some stellar lunch spots, like Soy, which is definitely my favorite.

And that’s it for week 35. Now we’ll all enjoy two days off and get some rest before we return to our desks on Monday, tackling all the challenges that lie ahead. ⚡️

You could join us on this journey, by giving us feedback on what you just read or following us around on Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr. We’d appreciate it. 😇

In any case, have a nice weekend and see you around! Take care! 💚
Your friends at diesdas.digital

This photo just begged to be included … 👹