At Happy Cog, the structure and scope of each project is different. Sometimes we architect, design, build and integrate everything into a content management system. Sometimes we only design. Sometimes we only code. Lots of times we hand off templates to our client to implement on their own.

Before we deliver our design and code to a client, it goes through hours and hours of QA. We don't ship something we're not proud of. We may need to make a few compromises here and there that causes the end result not to be exactly how we would prefer, but we're not doing anything that we aren't comfortable standing behind. Not every client agrees with us on every point we try to make, but we do everything we can to make a compelling case.

Sometimes, after we deliver our template code, our clients face their own challenges. Compromises can be made to meet a business objective, or to make code play nicely with a publishing platform. Like making copies of a mix tape in the good ol' days, fidelity can also be lost if something is passed from one person to another. And these actions can have downstream adverse effects on accessibility, usability, findability, and any other '-ability' you can think of. So you have to have a plan.

When we announce that a site we worked on launched, for better or for worse, we're put under the microscope. Our colleagues and critics scrutinize every last detail. Most of it is very positive, and it feels good after such a ton of work. However, if they see something that raises a red flag, breaks a rule or best practice, or is simply misspelled, we hear about it. And frankly, we love it. This feedback helps us tremendously as we perform our post-launch audit and prepare for our post-mortem. We don't see our job as finished once a site launches. We continue to work with our clients to resolve any issues we (or anyone else) finds. When you build a new house and move in, things break. Drywall cracks, lights flicker, pipes leak. Then, the builder comes back with a punchlist and fixes that stuff. You can't anticipate those things in advance.

So, in short, thanks for helping us do our job.

I am so glad I'm not the one assembling this stuff.

You should see the gum my coworkers stick under them.

Do they have TV shows that are opposite of 'Hoarders: Buried Alive'? I'd like to audition.

I tweeted about this recently, but it bothers me too much not to blab about it a little bit more.

We talk to a lot of people about working on projects with them. Sometimes, we even get on a train or plane and present to them in person if we think there's some real synergy. Doing that requires time and money, is a bit of a gamble, and it takes us away from other work. But that's all part of it.

I totally understand if we're not the right fit, and there's been many occasions where that's been the case. Most often, a prospect will call or email us to explain why they're moving in a different direction and we'll all move on. However, there are occasions when a prospect will simply drop off the planet. We'll call, we'll email, we'll send notes via carrier pigeon. Crickets. It makes you wonder if (God forbid) something happened to the person we had been talking to.

This is one of the most frustrating parts of business development. No, strike that - it's frustrating on simply a human level. I'd rather lose a dozen jobs and be told about straight up about it than to be simply left hanging forever. You can apply this example to a million other life events as well.

I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. Sprawl out on my virtual couch and tell me your stories.

Adorning our office wall.

At the Phillies Businessperson's Special. My coworkers Kevin M. Hoffman, Dave DeRuchie, and Mark Huot.

Along with the glorious start of the Major League Baseball season, it's employee review season at Happy Cog. I always perform employee reviews on each employee's yearly anniversary, so I guess I ended up hiring a lot of people in the months of April and May in past years.

There are currently 11 full time employees and 3 contractors in working in our Philly office. Before I started running my own shop, I never really anticipated I'd be knee deep in such things as employee health plans, safe harbor 401(k)s, accidental death & dismemberment coverage, business tax strategies, and so on. To be honest, organizing and maintaining this stuff is as fun as hanging out in a construction site porta-john. On the flip side, I really enjoy the employee review process. I always find it enlightening and I hope my coworkers feel the same way. If they don't, I'll note that on their next review.

I was a management major in college, with a focus in entrepreneurship. I think I had a human resource management class or two, but I'll be damned if I can remember anything from them. Such classes must have been on Friday mornings, because Thursday nights usually involved plenty of Keystone Light followed by solo walks home at 4 AM. As a result, I have learned to rely on real-world experience to inform my process. Sure, I've managed people before running my own firm, but I was never solely responsible for their professional growth, determining their salaries, or making sure they were challenged and happy.

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Our company has built a solid reputation teaching about the web, doing good work, getting projects done on time and on budget, and treating clients respectfully. Building a solid reputation over time naturally leads to folks wanting to work with you. It's an enviable position to be in, and one I never take for granted.

I wrote an article back in October last year for A List Apart called 'Getting to No'. It detailed some common warning signs one should look for when considering project opportunities. I suppose this post can be considered a short addendum to that.

We like leads where a prospect knows who we are and what we bring to the table. They've done their homework. They know that our founder has written the web design bible, they know we speak at SXSW and conferences across the country, and they realize we have some of the smartest folks in the industry on our payroll. When we work with folks like this, we spend less time evangelizing our position and more time working toward solutions.

There are occasions, however, when even if the prospect sought us out directly it's amazingly difficult to convince them that we're the firm for them. Even if we put our people on a plane to pitch the job in person or modify our approach a couple of times, they'll still ask for more detail or clarity. We'll give them references, and they'll ask for more references. We'll show them work we've done, and they'll say, 'Great. What else you got?'. They'll send us multiple follow-up emails chock full of questions.

So, is this simply a prospect being thorough, or is this a prospect being difficult?

I can certainly appreciate an organization performing their due diligence, and I can also appreciate someone who comes to the table saying, 'You know, I don't care who you are, I am going to make damn sure you are the right firm.' However, when you're presented with this kind of pushback before you've even reached the starting gate, is it worth it?

I've said it before - the prospect you're considering is the client you'll have. My gut tells me that come project time you'll spend an extraordinary amount of time justifying yourself every step of the way. Every deliverable will have a magnifying glass applied to it (moreso than usual). Even if you feel the work is spot on, the client will likely think it's off.

Have you had this experience? Am I being too selective? Am I whining? Am I on the money? Do tell.

I'm not as bad as Mr. Pitt on Seinfeld, so let's get that out of the way first.

I worry about things like fonts being consistent in my spreadsheets. These are my spreadsheets, mind you - no one else even sees them. If one cell is bold where it shouldn't be, I spend the unnecessary time to fix it. I obsess over cables being tied (ask my snickering coworkers about that), computer operating systems being up-to-date, and work surfaces not looking like they were just KFC'd. I worry about not having enough paper clips and hand soap. I spend too much time deciding who sits in which airplane seat on business trips. I even considered trying to build an app that automatically checked our folks in for flights on Southwest (and I still think that would be pretty boss).

You see, I overly concern myself with the itty-bitty details. Some people argue that that's a good thing. Well, it can be. But worrying about stuff like that pulls me away from more important things at work. Not to the point of anything catastrophic, but enough that I know it has to stop.

I'm the type of guy who subscribes to the philosophy of 'if you want it done right, you have to do it yourself'. It has only taken me 5 years after I started running my own business to discover that if I want to do everything myself, I have to start buying massive amounts of supplements from GNC and/or invent Breathe Right® strips for eyelids.

I have learned this though: by conveniently surrounding myself with smart people, they can actually do some of the stuff that I thought I was the only one who could. Like managing projects. Or selling our services at Happy Cog. And they do all of that stuff better than I ever did. If I was to step back into that world, I'd need them right next to me showing me how it's done. So it's not all that bad. I can let go.

Almost.

The last holdout for me has been simply managing the office, the books, and the paperwork. I guess I always thought that those tasks were so small that they could be something I handled in my spare time, or something I could set Fridays aside for. You know, ordering supplies, booking travel, running payroll, creating fancy spreadsheet graphs, copying and pasting stuff between documents, and so on and so on.

When I speak to some of my contemporaries about this, they're usually all like, "Dude, you don't have someone doing that for you?". And then I say "Nah, not yet, but I will, mister!" I guess I always considered people who have people helping them do the basics as being too lazy to do it themselves. I now realize that that's not the case at all. They're too smart to do it themselves.

Well, as Popeye says, "I've had all I can stands, and I can't stands no more."

I need an office assistant. A personal assistant. A personal assistant in the office. Whatever the hell you call it, I need one.

I need someone who is ready, willing and able to:

• Order supplies
• Organize meetings
• Manage schedules
• Book travel
• Process payroll
• Manage expenses
• Keep things tidy
• Invoice clients
• Process benefits stuff

So I guess you can consider this a job post in addition to a public airing of personal defects. I'd imagine this person would start as a contractor, with the potential, based upon my gradual acceptance that it's okay for me to let go, for this to be a full time gig.

I know a couple of people I think could fit the bill, so I'm gonna speak to them first. If you're in Philly and think you would be up for something like this too, do let me know.

Whoever it ends up being, please be gentle. And please, the cable ties need to be spaced every inch, okay?