Why Higher Education Is Overrated and Skills Aren’t

Posted by Shaza Hakim on July 30, 2010

“MIT’s motto isn’t Mens et Manus (Latin for Mind and Hand) by accident.”

“[It is] painfully clear to many employers [that there] are serious gaps between elite educational credentials and actual individual competence. College transcripts spackled with As and Bs — particularly from liberal arts and humanities programs — reveal less about a candidate’s capabilities than most serious employers need to know. Even top-tier MBA degrees often say more about the desire to have an important credential than about any greater capacity to be a good leader or manager. The curricular formalities of higher education — as opposed to its informal networks of friends and connections — may be less valuable now than they were a decade ago. In other words, alumni networks may be more economically valuable than whatever one studied in class. “Where you went” may prove professionally more helpful than “what you know.” That certainly undermines “value of education” arguments. While higher education itself isn’t marginal or unimportant, its actual market impact on employment prospects may be wildly misunderstood. In “Econ 101″ terms for job-hunters: time spent cultivating your Facebook/Linked-In network(s) may be a better investment than taking that Finance elective.”

Excellent argument on why great knowledge is not the same as great skill by Michael Schrage of the Harvard Business Review.

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Launching Real Soon

Posted by Shaza Hakim on June 1, 2010

Up to this hour, we’re still doing last minute removal of things from the original Stampede v3 design. With the amount of content we’re dealing with – 24 dissected portfolio pieces at last count – 8 months of detailing work on weekend and after hours don’t seem at all extravagant.

All in all, I spent around 180 hours of design time and that’s not only because of the level of complexity involved, but mostly the routine of going macro when everything is done, then removing almost half of it.

I still do incremental design change after sending the templates for Joomlafication, some so minute that only the most observant will notice. If we don’t have our own internal programming powerhouse, I can only imagine the costly bleeding.

Because this is the most ambitious project we have done for ourselves just yet, tension does run high and heated arguments over design vs code were so commonplace that when we finally come to an agreement, it was worth sitting back to take in what just happened. Such is the merry partnership I have with Dov.

It took 4 major revisions, countless minor ones, a bit of going back and forth with the rest of the team for valuable insight (whether to place this element or that on the right or left or scrap it altogether). Stampede v3 was almost a practice of convoluted layering (up to 400 at last count) to achieve a particular blend, testing out new composition for different content type, revising typography properties. Let me not bore you. Needless to say, it required plenty of patience as well.

Though I must say the only constant throughout the revisions was our signature color red. Our new logo and branding does not go through multiple iterations like most design agencies do. The branding – if you can call it that – was a split second decision of deciding what embodies Stampede. After that was decided and validated by the rest of the team, we now have a new logo, polished and all but still represents the very same identity.

Stampede has been very blessed and lucky, to say the least. We have a good score of clients who pretty much leave most design and development decision to us. We also get smart young people generous enough with their passion and time to become part of our team. I felt it’s about time for us to share values that have prevailed since Stampede’s very early days so we have designed and built a special page for this. As co-policymaker at Stampede, I probably have more fun with the Values page than most people expected.

So when v3 is finally launched, you may find it look way simpler than the actual effort – I sure hope so after the many hours spent mulling over what to safely remove and what to keep.

But then again, Stampede’s own website design has always been a sort of escapism for us from daily client requirements. It’s something we don’t do everyday and probably will never do again. For that reason alone, I know a few more days of punishing pixels is worth it.

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On Good Communication

Posted by Anita Zein on May 8, 2010

Good communication attracts great clients and bring about the happiest of team.

Anita Zein writes about the importance of communicating good especially in the wonderful chaos that comes with her project management turf. Anita is the Project Manager at Stampede.

In the work we do, everything involves multi-directional communication: telephone, messages, faxes, emails, even notes. A successful project or product is often achieved only if all parties involved truly understand each others motivation and goals.

In almost all aspects, communication is the one definitive role in the success of a project.

Working separately of distance and time with the team and the client is a new experience to me. Face to face communication is easier, but it’s not always possible. Even so, there is no excuse for a disconnect in communication, especially with a number of supporting facilities that allow for effective and accurate transfer of information. Distance and time is no longer an obstacle now even if your team and your clients are not in the same location, or in the same country.

Here at Stampede, we use all sort of communication tools: Basecamp, instant messaging, voice conference, email, telephone. We even send each other reminders via ReminderFox. All these tools, when applied right, greatly facilitate the type of work we do, to help deliver ideas and keep us focused on details. I do find written communication more productive. To me, everything noted and recorded can always be quickly reopened and referenced at any point of project development. There is very little margin of misinterpretation too.

Nevertheless, you shouldn’t depend sorely on communication tools. The most basics of communication delivery is also important to master. Firm messages are easiest to understand while properly composed questions will encourage productive discussion and further attention to details. Keep your communication clear and concise. Without it, misinterpretation is bound to happen and I have seen plenty of problems resulting from the tiniest of misunderstanding.

Any successful project accounts for delivery of work product on time and with agreed and planned quality. Poor communication can result in severe delays, uneven workload and consequently, hinder a company’s growth. Good communication, on the other hand, will attract great clients and bring about the happiest of team to work with.

(Image from MIX’s brilliant Building a Website, Explained)

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