Note: I first posted this story on my personal blog about one month ago. I have since gone back and read it a few more times and decided that I want to share it with the dynamIt community as well. I believe that I did a fairly good job articulating my attitude toward projects and life in general. To give you a quick update, I still continue to put in hours on this project, hours that I do not have. But we’re close and I’ve certainly learned a thing or two about choosing projects wisely. I am curious though, how are such situations avoided? Is it simply analyzing the project before we take off running? I also wonder, did my ego get in the way? Were my eyes bigger than my mouth, so to speak? I am not sure, but I will note that my hour estimate for the original scope of work was actually very accurate. What do you think?

At dynamIt we partner with many marketing firms and ad agencies. Often these firms call upon us to hit insane deadlines. Such is the industry, or so it seems.

Many shy away from these projects, I imagine, turned off by the added stress of a near impossible task. But not me. I want…no, I crave these challenges. My mindset is simple: throw me your best curve ball, I’m going to knock it out the park.

I’ve spent all this week on such a charge: 2 sites, each with a unique design that needs markup, each with 30 pages of static HTML content to write, each with an e-commerce module to integrate, each with about 30 products to load into the store, due Sept 21.

Ok, two steps back, let’s rearrange my schedule, let’s create an action plan in my head, take a deep breath, dive in. All the while, I remain focused on my goal: write good, clean, functional code, rock it out a day early, hence save the day for this firm. This is what I want to do, I want to take what I am given and deliver, but not just slap something together, do it right.

So, imagine the frustration when the following goes down.

It’s Monday, I have the xhtml/css all written for both designs, I look at the provided sitemaps and realize there is no navigation to over half of these pages, 80% of the content is missing, and their dev server with the e-commerce module installed is down.

It’s Tuesday, e-mails and phone calls fly around, nothing gets actioned, still missing content, still no access to the dev server, a whole days is stolen from me.

It’s Wednesday, the firm and myself both starting pushing the client, more direction is given for a navigation, I design it, not what the client wants, I redesign it, it passes. We start to get more content and as end of day rolls around we finally have access to the dev server.

It’s Thursday, content is still being delivered at noon, finally I can start building templates for the e-commerce module. We discover that there are not a just 60 pages of HTML content to be written for these sites, rather the total is closer to 160.

It’s Friday, we begin to load products into the database only to discover we are missing half of the product descriptions. Yes, this is the last business day we have to work on it, and the client has still not provided all of the data on their products.

How do I deal with this? I am very good at what I do, I am incredibly efficient, I am well organized, and I pay a fair amount of attention to detail. Moreover, I am pushing, pushing hard, giving a sincere effort. I want to be your rockstar. I want to roll this out for you a day early needing little to no tweaking and stand back and act like it was a piece of cake. I want to, I really do, but how can I possibly make it happen in this situation? I feel like I’ve been asked to complete a jigsaw puzzle that is missing half of its pieces.

Still frustrated.

Dynamit was honored as one of the “Best Places to Work” in 2010 & 2011 by Columbus Business First newspaper and Interactive Agency of the Year. Times are even better in 2012 and we’re hiring a Web/Graphic Designer for our aggressively growing team.

This is an exciting opportunity to work on cutting edge projects for well-known brands in a dynamic, entrepreneurial and highly creative environment. Please email resumes/cover letters and portfolio information (documents or links to online examples) to Gary Moneysmith via gmoney@dynamit.us.

A web/graphic designer on the Dynamit team will:

• Be well versed with Adobe Creative Suite: Strong knowledge of Photoshop, experience with Illustrator and InDesign.
• Have a strong understanding of Usability & Web Trends: Experience with user interface design, knowledge of best practices & examples of this in a portfolio or live site/application design. They will also be up-to-date on web trends and design tactics with examples.
• Have experience in user experience design (UXD) designing application and system interfaces. This experience is crucial for this position.
• Have Basic Programming Knowledge: We’re not looking for a developer here, but the designer should have the ability to design for web with a knowledge of the boundaries and how to design for execution by a programmer.
• Have a Strong Portfolio: We’d like to see much more web work than print.
• Be eager to learn, with a passion for design & the web. The designer should have a strong internal drive for industry knowledge and be committed to furthering the craft.

Experience is important, but personality is key. Our culture is what drives us, and we’re looking to build our team with someone who both fits and contributes to it.

The position is full time at our office in the Arena District in Columbus, Ohio. We offer a competitive salary and benefits package as well as a fun, high-energy, intellectually-stimulating work environment.

Benefits Include

• Competitive salary (compensation will be based on skills and experience)
• Fully paid medical/dental insurance for employees
• Paid parking
• Unlimited vacation time (within reason)
• Office bar + climbing wall — not recommended together

Don’t sit back. If you want to work in a fast paced work environment with great people who love what they do, apply today.

About Dynamit
Dynamit is a digital agency based in the Arena District in Columbus, Ohio. We work with clients and brands on digital initiatives that include strategy, design, user experience and development. We influence communication and commerce. Client work includes Hilton Worldwide, Charley's Grilled Subs, McGraw-Hill, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), E-Z-GO, American Electric Power (AEP), Columbus College of Art & Design and the Ohio State Medical Center (OSUMC) to name but a few.