The document discusses strategies for small web teams to have a big impact. It suggests taking a pragmatic approach by focusing on what works rather than dogmatic principles. Some key recommendations include ignoring restrictive job titles, setting clear expectations when defending schedules from interruptions, doubling estimates to account for unpredictability, prioritizing tasks, and building features incrementally starting with minimum viable products. The goal is to release features faster through progressive enhancement, make estimation easier, and allow for constant upgrades.

1. MAKING A BIG IMPACT
with a small web team

2. MATT WONDRA
@mattwondra
mattwondra.com

3. OBLIGATORY BACKGROUND INFO
2004 2007–2011 2011–now2003

4. APARTMENT THERAPY
Saving the world, one room at a time.
THE KITCHN
Inspiring cooks, nourishing homes.

5. 12EDITORIAL
+90 active contributors
7ADVERTISING
4OPERATIONS
7TECHNOLOGY

6. 7 PEOPLE!?
You call that small?

7. 64 M monthly pageviews
25 pageviews per second
monthly unique visitors19 M

8. WEB TEAM SIZE COMPARISON
7
20
39
9.6M
19M
WEB TEAM SIZEMUU (UNIQUES)
16M

9. big small teams

10. big small teams
IGNORE JOB TITLES

11. Senior Web
Designer
Sr. Front-End
Web Developer
Front-End
Engineer
Senior Web
Engineer
Senior Web
Engineer
Operations
Engineer
Chief Technology Officer

13. 330 employees
100% flat hierarchy

15. http://www.valvesoftware.com/jobs/

16. “Traditionally at Valve, nobody has an actual
title… [W]e all take on the role that suits the
work in front of us. Everyone is a designer.
Everyone can question each other’s work.
Anyone can recruit someone onto his or
her project.”

18. JOB TITLE
GENERAL WEB SKILLS

19. Job titles should be
descriptive, not restrictive.

20. NEW FEATURE ASSIGNMENTS
BACKEND FRONT-END DESIGN

21. BUILDING A T-SHAPED TEAM
1. TEACH EACH OTHER
Code reviews / Group bug fixes / Swap jobs for a day
2. LOSE YOUR EGO
Give up full control
3. TAKE OWNERSHIP OF EVERYTHING
Don’t hide behind title / Jump in and help

22. big small teams
DEFEND THEIR SCHEDULE

23. Site visitors
Editorial
Advertising
CEO
Us
STAKEHOLDERS

24. EFFECTS OF INTERRUPTIONS

25. DEFEND?

27. It’s about setting
good expectations.

28. 1. DON’T REACT

32. 2. CHANNEL SUPERNANNY

34. You need to put on your pajamas
and brush your teeth.
Which would you like to do first,
put on your PJs or brush your teeth?
I DON’T WANNA GO TO BED!

35. Invite a conversation.
Give them a choice.

36. We’re in the middle of another
project right now. No.
That will delay our current project.
Which would you rather have first?
GIMME PHOTO GALLERIES!

37. 3. WORK IN PUBLIC

38. WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN

39. Share it with everyone.

41. big small teams
ARE TERRIBLE ESTIMATORS
(AND THEY KNOW IT)

43. SKELETON CREW
Fewer people = less experience
SHIFTING TIDES
Interruptions
UNKNOWN DANGERS
Browser bugs / Hidden complexity

44. SO HOW DO WE GET BETTER?
1. EXPERIENCE
...but that takes time
2. MORE TIME PLANNING
...can’t predict interruptions and scope changes
3. SMALLER FEATURES
...we’ll get to that in a minute

45. Make your estimate.
Then double it.

46. big small teams
PERFORM TASK TRIAGE

49. Manage tasks by
assigning priority.

50. TASK TRIAGE
Small Task Large Task
High
Impact
Low
Impact
LOW-HANGING
FRUIT
BASEMENT
CLOSET
MAJOR
FEATURES
IN-BETWEEN
TASKS

51. big small teams
TAKE TINY BITES

52. PHOTO GALLERY SPEC
Captions on images
No JS required
Editable in CMS
Embed on any page
Full-screen popup
Swipeable
PROJECT ESTIMATE
8 weeks

53. Start with the
minimum viable product.

54. Embed on any page / No JS required
VERSION 1
2 weeks

55. +
EDIT GALLERY
+
+
+
++
+
+
+
Editable in CMS
VERSION 1
2 weeks
VERSION 2
2 weeks

56. Full-screen popup / Captions on images
This is a caption for my image!
+
CLOSE
VERSION 1
2 weeks
VERSION 2
2 weeks
VERSION 3
2 weeks

57. Swipeable
a caption for my image!
+
CLOSE
Look! I’m swipeab
VERSION 1
2 weeks
VERSION 2
2 weeks
VERSION 3
2 weeks
VERSION 4
2 weeks

58. Progressive
enhancement.

59. WHY TAKE TINY BITES?
1. FASTER RELEASES
Happy users / Happy stakeholders / Happy team
2. EASIER ESTIMATION
1 large task vs. 4 small tasks
3. BECAUSE WE CAN
Server deploy = instant upgrade

60. big small teams
ARE PRAGMATIC,
NOT DOGMATIC

61. dog·mat·ic
inclined to lay down principles as
incontrovertibly true

63. prag·mat·ic
dealing with things sensibly and realistically
in a way that is based on practical rather
than theoretical considerations

65. Focus on what works
instead of what’s “right.”

66. RESPONSIVE LAYOUT — IMAGES

67. RESPONSIVE LAYOUT — IMAGES
It’s not any worse than before.
We can solve that problem later.
Smaller screens must be served
smaller images before we launch.

68. NAMING CONVENTIONS
PRESENTATIONAL
.pull-left
.pull-right
.aside
.aside-alt
SEMANTICLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur
adipiscing elit. Donec aliquam eleifend
egestas. Quisque a elit neque. Pellentesque
eleifend nisi placerat, porttitor mi a, venenatis
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur
adipiscing elit. Donec aliquam eleifend
egestas. Quisque a elit neque. Pellentesque
eleifend nisi placerat, porttitor mi a, venenatis
tellus. Nullam tempor orci magna, eget fringilla turpis tristiq
aliquam eleifend nec.
tellus. Nullam tempor orci magna, eget fringilla turpis
tristique aliquam eleifend nec.

69. NAMING CONVENTIONS
PRESENTATIONAL
.pull-left
.pull-right
.aside
.aside-alt
SEMANTICLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur
adipiscing elit. Donec aliquam eleifend
egestas. Quisque a elit neque. Pellentesque
eleifend nisi placerat, porttitor mi a, venenatis
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur
adipiscing elit. Donec aliquam eleifend
egestas. Quisque a elit neque. Pellentesque
eleifend nisi placerat, porttitor mi a, venenatis
tellus. Nullam tempor orci magna, eget fringilla turpis tristiq
aliquam eleifend nec.
tellus. Nullam tempor orci magna, eget fringilla turpis
tristique aliquam eleifend nec.
Either way works, as long as we
agree to stay consistent.
Classes shouldn’t describe
presentation! Semantic naming!

70. Use best practices, but
only when they’re helpful.

71. IGNORE JOB TITLES
Job titles should be descriptive,
not restrictive.
DEFEND THEIR SCHEDULE
It’s about setting
good expectations.
ARE TERRIBLE ESTIMATORS
(AND THEY KNOW IT)
Make your estimate.
Then double it.
PERFORM TASK TRIAGE
Manage tasks by
assigning priority.
TAKE TINY BITES
Start with the
minimum viable product.
ARE PRAGMATIC,
NOT DOGMATIC
Focus on what works
instead of what’s “right.”
BIG SMALL TEAMS...

72. thanks!