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I think that with all of those different steps, we try to think about all of the things we do as designing human experiences, because that’s what they are. I think that really, really helps so that they know what to expect, and when to expect it.Įvery single new hire sits down with my business partner, the president of the company, and they walk through all of our company values together, so that it’s really clear that these things are important, they’re upfront and that you have understanding. What that does is it removes the fear of, 'Hey, why do we submit timecards this way?' Or, 'What do we do here? How does this actually work?' I think that’s shown really well, but I think the other thing is we provide them a complete agenda for their entire first week when they’re here. When we bring somebody in-I’ll talk in the case of a developer, but we do this with pretty much everybody-is we assign them a 'dev buddy.' Somebody that they can ask all of the questions that they’re afraid to ask anyone else. Do you have an onboarding process for new employees or new contractors that takes that into account? So, you said People over Process, and People over Projects. What do we know? What do we don’t know? Asking the question and inevitably the answer becomes, Oh, yeah. It’s like, I don’t know if I should make the decision.

IVAN: You know, I found that sort of liberating. Waiting until the last responsible moment to make decisions. IVAN: This might be a Harrism as well, the thing that I remember you saying that I’ve implemented since Manage Digital, is 'Can we postpone that decision? Do we have the information now? Can we put that decision off?' Is that a Harrism as well? Things that remind me and are simple ways to communicate like bigger, more complex ideas. Someone bought a wood type of thing that says 'Living the Dream.' I’ve got a shirt that says that. Just things like that that reframe the conversation. Is the juice worth the squeeze? Punt to future self. So, we decided to take those Harrisms and sprinkle them throughout the talk, or I did. And, 'Juice Worth the Squeeze' is one of those things. She had this idea of centering the whole talk around what she refers to and the team refers to around here as 'Harrisms'-things that I say over and over and over again that when I say them to the team, they know what I’m talking about. So, let me work it out,' and I started writing about the things I wanted to talk about, and I wrote up the abstract, and there’s someone internal here at Sparkbox named Emily who is our communications director and she is amazing. Do whatever you want, just tell me what it is, and we’d love to have you.' I was like, 'This is great. ROB: That was actually somebody I work with here at Sparkbox. IVAN: When Lynn asked you to do the talk, who came up with the title of the talk, 'Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze'? Was that yours or hers?

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I think we have tons of people out there in this industry talking about how to create better checklists, or to do this, or make sure this gets done, but a lot of times those conversations leave out what I think is the most important element-the humans involved. I have this core belief that process and all of these constructs that we’ve come up with, they’re not for projects, they’re for people, because it’s the people that either mark the success or failure for our projects. ROB: That whole talk came about looking at all of the things that have become core to things I believe about projects in this industry, and how we work with the people, and that it’s really all about the people.

It’s obviously something you’re passionate about. But I wanted to hear a little bit about the genesis of that talk that you gave. You touched on all the things I hope my own company is striving towards. I really enjoyed listening to you speak that day. You had that 'iron triangle' of scope, timeline and budget up on the screen. IVAN: Now, I saw your keynote at Manage Digital this year, and you talked a lot about people over project management. Welcome Rob, it’s a great pleasure to have you on the podcast. Sparkbox is a web design and development studio in Dayton, Ohio that focuses on long-term partnerships with clients and creating a better web through education.

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With a background in software development, Rob is always ready to challenge the development process, and on any given day Rob meets with prospective clients, works with employees and continues to evolve the business of Sparkbox. My guest today is Rob Harr, who is Vice President of Sparkbox, where he is responsible for the operations and financials of the company. IVAN STEGIC: Hey everybody! You’re listening to the TEN7 podcast, where we get together every fortnight, and sometimes more often, to talk about technology, business and the humans in it.

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