The Perfect Project

Published at Oct 26, 2020

You can try to get every project. Or you can select your projects wisely and use them to challenge yourself and grow with every partner you have. I want to share how we decide which projects we want to work on and which inquiries we tend to decline.

Over the last years, we learned to select our project partners and use every project to advance our company and skills. From the beginning, we enjoyed collaborating with our partners and getting better with every single project, instead of working on one project after the other.

You’ve got mail.

New inquiries come in all forms. Some need a new website, and that’s all they ask us for. Some attach an extensive briefing with all details. To evaluate a new project, we need just a few basic: What needs to be solved, why, and for whom is mostly enough to get the conversation started.

We know that we can help the most with technologies we are used to, so if it’s too far away from what we do, it’s just not for us, and that’s fine. All inquiries receive a friendly, valuable response. If we’re not the right team, we try to recommend a team that is a better fit.

No assholes.

Also, we do a background check for all companies that approach us. If we can find articles or other hints that a company is working against society’s interest or our values, we are not the right partner. No violence, no drugs, no shady business, and no assholes. It’s as easy as that.

What’s in it?

If we think we’re the right to help and want to help, all projects need to have some value for us too. At least two of the three mentioned things should be in for us.

#1 Challenge

We like to challenge ourselves. Maybe it’s more complex than what we built already, or perhaps we have the chance to use a technology we love to try out - that’s great!

#2 Noteworthy reference

We want to talk about our projects and want to be proud of our work. If we think it’s a cool thing to have worked on the bespoken project - that’s great too!

#3 Budget

If it’s a cool challenge, we’d love to add to our references, and there is a reasonable budget, that’s good enough. But for all other kinds of projects, we want to get paid for every single hour we put in. Time is precious, and our resources are limited, after all.

Sticking to our values.

All of that helps to decide about new inquiries quickly. But there is something more important to us: We love to work with teams with the same values. We want to work on equal terms, in a fair partnership, with reliable people. If all of the above applies, but they strive for different values, that won’t work well. But those inquiries also receive a respectful and honest response. That’s what we think is natural.

That kind of framework helps us to find great projects. We hope that enables you to decide about new project inquiries and work on the things that matter to you. If you want to partner with us, reach out to Philip Isik, who loves to hear about your idea.

Thanks for reading!