Podcasts

Today in the TenSpot, we are taking Agile to a new level. Members of our staff recently underwent ScrumMaster and Product Owner training with Certified ScrumMaster extraordinaire Mike Cohn.

Cohn is a leading Agilist, having been involved with the process on an executive level since 1995. He has authored three books and led Scrum conferences and events around the world.

LevelTen transitioned to Scrum and Agile processes after searching for the best method of completing client work efficiently. Findings about the benefits of the Agile process are documented below:

• LevelTen Agile Concepts
• BDUF Waterfall vs Lightweight Agile vs the Cowboy Way

This week's panel experts are Rachel Scott, Kayla Wren and Tom McCracken. Join them as they walk through their training experience to help explain how your company can become more efficient and effective through scrum and agile processes.

Power Tip

When working in a team, prioritize tasks by ranking the scope, budget, time frame and quality of the project. Specify which element is fixed, that is, which will be the biggest key to success. Then, rank one as firm, or something that needs to stay in place, but could wiggle just a bit. Give the remaining two elements a "flexible" tag to allow for more agility during the work process. Assigning these qualities will help teams as they endeavor to complete successful client projects.

Related Articles:

• Product Owner Team Approach
• Turning a Chicken Into a Pig
• LevelTen's Scrum and Agile Challenges in 2010

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Site performance is one of those oft overlooked components of a website that's more important then many think. In the scope of a web design project, typical requests tend to focus on looks and functionality. Rarely do conversations turn to requests for streamlined performance.

Besides the obvious usability reasons for wanting a fast, high performance Drupal website, Google has begun to emphasize the idea of site speed as an important factor in search rankings.

So how do you do it? In this podcast, Tom McCracken and Dustin Currie discuss the tips and strategies you can use to improve your website's performance.

Power Tip

Look for hosting providers that provide you with the ability to add additional functionality to your server and give you plenty of optimization options.

Photo Credit

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This week, the team takes their best stab at Nostradamus impressions, as we attempt to predict the future for Drupal in 2010. Joining us on this podcast are Rachel Scott, Chris Sloan, Dustin Currie, and Tom McCracken.

Rachel predicts:
Drupal popularity will boom due to increasing government interest and the launch of Drupal Gardens.

Chris predicts:
Many more large companies will be making the switch to Drupal, for a variety of reasons.

Tom predicts:
2010 will be the year that Drupal goes enterprise, due in part to the continued weak economy, and desire for companies to become more human, while integrating social media and community building components.

Dustin predicts:
Faster migration times from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7 due to advanced development and coordination for Drupal 7 modules.

Dustin also predicts that 2010 will be the year that the site-building role matures. The site building role is for someone who doesn't have knowledge of programming, but know how to construct a website through Drupal's admin interface. Typically, this is where the bulk of Drupal development time is spent, and will only become more important as the Drupal framework advances.

Power Tip

Be on the lookout for Drupal in 2010. Also, if you're thinking about building a new Drupal website, don't worry about waiting until Drupal 7 is released. The functionality changes won't be enough to warrant the wait. If you know you'll eventually upgrade to Drupal 7 down the road, be sure to only use modules that have pledged to develop versions for Drupal 7.

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There's a project management revolution going on today, and it goes by the name of Agile.

Agile project management methodologies are an alternative to traditional waterfall project management, which is the style of project management used in the majority of web development and design projects today.

Large companies like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, IBM, and Salesforce.com have already made the switch to Agile.

Why?

Because Agile processes encourage new ideas, promote a harmonious relationship between clients and agency partners, ensure that the most valuable features get delivered first, and ensure that vendors get paid for the value they deliver.

Join panelists Chris Sloan, Kayla Wren and Dustin Currie as we discuss all things Agile. In this podcast, we'll cover the origins of Agile, talk about the Agile Manifesto, and discuss why Agile makes sense from a development standpoint, as well as how to overcome difficulties in selling Agile projects to upper management or potential clients.

Power Tip

Check out NoFixed.org, to learn more about selling and executing Agile based projects. If you're looking to hire a team to execute your web projects, or you lead an internal team looking to make the switch to Agile, check out NoFixed.org for educational resources.

Image from Dilbert.com

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Let's be honest for a minute. As much as the Internet marketing industry talks about building community and participating in the conversation, most of us are in the game for one reason, and one reason only. We want to make money.

There are the select few who don't care about making money, and are truly happy with trying to change the world. But for 90% of us, that just isn't the case.

And for those of us who are fortunate enough to be working with Drupal, the options for making money with your Drupal website are nearly limitless. From Ubercart installations to membership driven websites and advertising driven revenue streams, Drupal can do it all.

Listen as Brandon Manbeck, Chris Sloan and Rachel Scott discuss expert strategies and tactics for making money with your Drupal website.

Power Tip:

Set up a Google AdSense account for your website. If you're using Drupal, install the Google AdSense module.

Also, be sure to check out one of the oldest and best affiliate programs, Amazon.com.

Related Articles

• $3500 Only Took 3 Years to Earn Online with Google, Affiliate & Text-Link-Ads
• Making Money with Your Drupal Website
• How to Create Memberships with Drupal Ubercart

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Contrary to popular belief, I say the best day of the week is Monday. Not Friday, not Thursday, and certainly not Saturday... Monday. Why is it my favorite day, you might ask? Because on Mondays, I get to review and edit our fantastic weekly podcasts. Sure, I usually know the topics ahead of time, and most days, I even participate in the podcasts, but in a world where yesterday's news may as well be last year's news, a refresher is always good.

This week, we've got a varied lineup of topics up for discussion on The TenSpot.

Renee Dobbs, discusses the decision to move office management tasks into an official Office Scrum. So far, the early returns have been very positive. If resources at your company are tight (as most are), and office tasks are starting to pile up, you may want to consider a switch to scrum, to get that list whittled down.

Continuing with the scrum discussions, Kayla Wren discusses the quandary of the Product Owner. Specifically, in the agency environment - who plays the product owner? Is it the client or the account manager? If it's the client, how do you budget and plan for that extra time drain? Learn the answers to these questions, and more in the podcast!

Finally, Rachel Scott, on the heels of some big announcements from Bing, Google, Twitter, and Facebook, discusses the state of the Real TIme Web. Why is it important, and what exactly do you need to know about this burgeoning web trend.

As always, Tom McCracken moderates.

Business Power Tip

The product owner is the single minded voice defining what the product should be. Or - the single throat to be strangled when the project goes wrong. Be sure to designate someone as the official product owner, if you're an agency, this should preferably be on the client side.

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This week's podcast features a collection of top minds in the Dallas area Interactive Marketing field. Guests on this week's panel include Eric Feitel and Nate Christman. Eric and Nate both work for TM Advertising in Dallas. Eric serves as TM's Creative Director and Nate as the Art Director.

In past podcasts, we've had discussions about new trends in Interactive Marketing, and plenty of social media best practices tips. What we haven't discussed are the many challenges in Interactive Marketing. We felt a podcast devoted to this topic was necessary to shed some light on important industry issues.

Some of the points we discuss are:

• How do you measure and benchmark social media efforts? What will prove value to the client?
• Who should be responsible for social media work - the client or the agency partner?
• What are some of the ethical considerations for today's Interactive Marketer?

Power Tip:

If you're getting into social media for the first time, keep your approach agile. Plan just enough to get started, but don't over analyze or over plan. Start with a single channel and get good at using it before moving onto others. If you're trying to get your company involved with social media, try to get other co-workers involved too.

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This week we're featuring Craig Fisher, owner of A-List Solutions, and Chris Hoyt, the Associate Director of Talent Attraction for AT&T. During the podcast, they share their top tips for job seekers in today's economy, and share some recent trends in the recruiting and staffing industry, including a brief discussion on mobile recruiting.

About Craig Fisher

Craig Fisher is a founding partner of A-List solutions, and an 18 year sales veteran who has been an innovator in the Recruiting Industry since 1995. He has been a top performer and sales leader in start-ups as well as large, high growth companies. Craig specializes in Information Technology Staffing, and Executive Search services.

Craig also trains HR and staffing organizations as well as job seekers on Social Networking and Branding strategies for employment and career growth. He writes about it at his blog, www.fishdogs.com. He is a regular contributor to technology and career forums, and has authored articles that have been published internationally and featured in HR journals, industry newsletters, and career web sites.

About Chris Hoyt

As a mobile marketing/recruiting evangelist and self proclaimed Social ‘X’ addict, Chris Hoyt has been pushing the boundaries of each aspect of full-cycle recruiting for over 14 years – most recently as the Associate Director of Talent Attraction at AT&T.

In his current role he leads the full scale integration of social media and mobile marketing within a workforce strategy that included search engine marketing and optimization for talent attraction long before it was fashionable.

With a passion for breaking out of traditional recruitment practices and a background that includes training it’s no mystery that the combined teams of recruiters and sourcers working with Chris are constantly evolving and pushing the envelope of non-traditional talent attraction and recruitment. Whether functioning as a coach, team lead, or individual contributor it’s his top notch results using ‘out of the box’ strategies that have established him as a recruiting expert amongst peers and clients alike.

In a time where the return on investment for social media struggles to be defined within the recruiting and staffing world, Chris moves forward in an effort to show impact, scope of reach and brand influence by engaging and tracking both the candidate’s involvement and experience.

It’s this focus on Interactive Recruiting within social and mobile channels, big picture results and measurable gains that make Chris one of a handful in corporate America that can speak with authority on the topic of social media and recruitment.

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Joining us this week for Speak Easy Drupal:

• Rachel Scott
• Lee Rainey
• Brent Bice
• Dustin Currie

This week's podcast will show you how to extend a base installation of Drupal to include powerful social media functionality. Our panelists discuss how to create Drupal clones of popular Social Media websites like Digg, Reddit, and Facebook. We also discuss several popular modules like Feed Element Mapper and Activity Stream.

Power Tip

Look into the Activity Stream module. It's easy to install and integrate into your Drupal website.

Photo Credit: Morphomir

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