Workflows for a Small Software Company with In-House Designers Kyle Bollinger & Kristin Burkhart — The Busy Creator Podcast 83

The Busy Creator Podcast with Prescott Perez-Fox

Kyle Bollinger (@WhoaKB) and Kristin Burkhart are the in-house design team for PureChat, an software tool enabling websites to offer chat-based support. Dividing their duties between product and marketing, Kyle and Kristin have developed a workflow that allows them to work swiftly and efficiently, while still experimenting with new industry practices.

In this conversation, we discuss company culture for a small SAAS startup, how the designer collaborate with internal stakeholders, and some unravel technical challenges around versioning and fast iteration.

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Show Notes & Links

• Kyle is a product-focused UI/UX designer
• Kristin is a marketing and web focused-design
• PureChat is chat software for websites
• SAAS
• Both Kyle and Kristin started at agencies, working for multiple clients, before going in-house with PureChat

  "Creating something from scratch is very different than iterating on something."

  —Kyle Bollinger

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• Prescott hates calling software-as-a-service a "product"
• Austin Kleon
• Show Your Work by Austin Kleon on Amazon
• Self-licking ice cream cone

  "We're creating a living document through each other's work."

  —Kyle Bollinger

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• TechCrunch

  "The speed at which a company can operate is inversely proportional to how much time it takes to find the answer to a question."

  —Prescott Perez-Fox

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• AxoSoft
• Nerf Guns
• Gangplank, co-working space in Chandler, AZ
• RIP LayerVault
• Wake
• Split-testing aka A-B testing
• The Information Diet by Clay A. Johnson on Amazon
• Sidebar.io by Sasha
• Medium, and the occassional article about Millennials and their cereal-buying habits
• Audible
• The Three Laws of Performance by Steve Zaffron & Dave Logan on Amazonand on Audible
• Sprint by Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky on Amazon and on Audible
• KyleBollinger.com
• KristinAshley.org
• Kyle Bollinger on Twitter
• Kyle Bollinger on LinkedIn
• Kristin Burkhart on LinkedIn

Tools

• Slack
• InVision
• Illustrator
• Photoshop
• Sketch
• Google Docs
• Moleskine
• AxoSoft
• GitHub
• Medium

Techniques

• Continuous gather user insight, even if it's only images or screenshot review
• Find a "theme" with each release or feature-set
• Get quick feedback from your teammates; no need for formal gatherings
• Work off the same agile board as your dev team
• Screenshare with your remote teammates
• Use InVision to create Brand Guidelines
• Try to answer the questions "Who do I talk to ..." before they arise
• Keep your micro-iterations in a document; use a version-style naming system, eg. screen1a-kyle-001

Habits

• Prank your officemates
• Continually monitor the site (heatmaps, split testing)
• Wake up early, get into the office and be creative
• Join office workouts and activities
• Share resources and findings with teammates

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