Understanding HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) status codes is vital for anyone interested in web development, network troubleshooting, or simply getting a better grasp of how the internet works. These codes form a key part of HTTP, the protocol that powers the internet by enabling communication between client and server.

## What Are HTTP Status Codes?
HTTP status codes are three-digit numbers returned by a server in response to a client's HTTP request (like when you attempt to open a webpage in your browser). They indicate the status of the request, letting the client know whether the action was successful, and if not, what the problem was.

HTTP status codes fall into five distinct classes, each designated by the first digit of the code. Let's dive into these categories:

### 1xx Informational
These codes indicate that the request has been received and is being processed. They are not very common and usually serve for more technical purposes.

100 Continue: The server has received the request headers, and the client should proceed to send the request body.

### 2xx Success
These codes signal that the client's request was successfully received, understood, and accepted.

200 OK: The most common HTTP status code, indicating that the request has succeeded.

### 3xx Redirection
These codes suggest that further action must be taken to fulfill the request, often in the form of redirection to another URL.

Here is an overview of common client behavior when confronted with various 3xx HTTP status codes used for redirection. It's crucial to keep in mind that different HTTP clients may not adhere strictly to these paths, so it's always beneficial to test these scenarios within your unique context.

**301 (Moved Permanently)**
- The HTTP Method switches to GET, which applies not just to POST but also DELETE, PUT, PATCH, and others (except for HEAD).
- Many headers are maintained during redirection, but some sensitive ones, such as Authorization, are removed.
- In redirects within the same domain but using different schemes (e.g., http to https), sensitive headers are kept.
- The body may be removed or kept, but since the method becomes GET, it generally doesn't influence the outcome.
- This status advises search engines to update their links to the given resource.

**302 (Found)**
- This behaves similarly to a 301 status but indicates temporary redirection. While browsers will redirect to this page, search engines will not update their links to the resource.

**308 (Permanent Redirect)**
- Unlike 301, the HTTP Method will not change.
- Most headers are kept during redirection, but some sensitive ones, such as Authorization, are removed. An exception is made for redirects within the same domain.
- The body will be maintained.
- Like 301, search engines are prompted to update their links to the resource.

**307 (Temporary Redirect)**
- This behaves like a 308 status but indicates temporary redirection. Browsers will redirect to this page, but search engines won't update their links to the resource.

**303 (See Other)**
- This status is handy when you wish to respond to a PUT or POST method with a different resource - a confirmation message (like "You successfully uploaded XYZ") via a GET redirection. 
- The result of the original HTTP request can be found at a separate, identifiable, bookmarkable, and cacheable URL, independent of the original request. Refreshing the result page doesn't retrigger the POST/PUT operation.
- All HTTP Methods (except HEAD) switch to GET.
- Most headers are kept during redirection, but some sensitive ones, such as Authorization, are removed. An exception is made for redirects within the same domain.

**300 (Multiple Choices)**
- This status code indicates that the client's request has multiple potential responses. The client is advised to select one of them.

### 4xx Client Errors
These codes are returned when the request contains bad syntax or cannot be fulfilled due to some error on the client's side.

404 Not Found: Probably the most well-known HTTP status code, this is returned when the server can't find the requested resource.

### 5xx Server Errors
These codes indicate that the server failed to fulfill a valid request. The server itself or an upstream service is experiencing issues.

500 Internal Server Error: This is a catch-all error when no specific message is suitable. It's returned when an unexpected condition was encountered, and no more specific message is available.

![Status Codes](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/2iXH4S722Oq6Ys3M83elVP/9a0c068b71737be9a42d34657228fdef/Status_Codes.png)

## Why Are HTTP Status Codes Important?
While most internet users only encounter HTTP status codes when something goes wrong (like seeing a 404 Not Found error when trying to access a broken link), these codes play a crucial role in the smooth operation of the web.

For developers, these status codes can provide valuable debugging information. If a request fails, the status code can indicate where the problem lies. For instance, a 4xx code signals an issue with the request, while a 5xx code suggests an issue on the server side.

For SEO specialists, certain status codes (especially 3xx redirection codes) are significant. Incorrect use can impact a website's search engine ranking. For example, using a 302 (Found) status when a 301 (Moved Permanently) is appropriate can lead to indexing problems.

Understanding HTTP status codes is essential in many areas, from web development to SEO. They allow for more effective troubleshooting and understanding of web traffic flow, aiding in the development and maintenance of a more efficient, user-friendly internet experience.

Remember, status codes are tools to make communication clearer between the client and the server. By fully understanding their meanings, we can better navigate and utilize the vast digital world of the internet.

[Original Source](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/42136829/whats-the-difference-between-http-301-and-308-status-codes#:~:text=on%20this%20post.-,What's%20the%20difference%20between%20HTTP%20301%20and%20308%20status%20codes,be%20repeated%20using%20another%20URI. "Original Source")

Discover the intricacies of HTTP status codes. Understand their categories, importance, and impact on web development, SEO, and efficient user experience in our comprehensive guide.

What are HTTP Status Codes? | Cause of a Kind

What are HTTP Status Codes?

## Who should NOT use Cause of a Kind...

This is a tough question to answer as a business owner. You start off pretty much doing all the things, but after a number of years at this we have a pretty good idea of `bad fits` for us. Here's my top three, but I encourage everyone to try to answer this question for their own business.

1. __You're looking for pure execution.__ There's plenty of dev shops out there that focus purely on executing a spec or designs. It used to be called PSD to HTML shops but now it's usually Figma to React or some other js framework. We're a product development shop, and part of our magic is being in the trenches doing design, research and dev with our clients. If you're looking for developers to just execute a spec or instructions, that's not us.

2. __You want the classical agency waterfall process.__ I've worked at many agencies before and the fairly standard process goes something like this. We do discovery, followed by a lengthy UX design phase with some predetermined (usually 2) rounds of revisions, followed by a black box dev process where something comes out the other side that is ideally "pixel perfect" to the designs. In our experience this process never works. The outcome is often full of things the design process missed (error states, odd user behaviors, features that missed the mark) and ultimately client and agency go back and forth trying to make it right until someone says uncle. We practice agile here, design and development happen together here with no black boxes or big reveals. You'll see how the sausage is made in real time and we never limit number of revisions. We release early and often and each iteration is a chance to pivot from a faulty or incomplete assumption.

3. __You want an outsourced solution.__ While we have employees that live all over the world, they all are a part of the Cause of a Kind team, learning and collaborating with each other. We don't outsource to other agencies ever and our clients can have direct contact with any designer or developer working on their project. There's less layers of indirection and no games of telephone. But what about scope creep? We don't believe in it. If the scope must change it's because we learned something in the last iteration that disproved our assumptions. We don't just drive the car off a cliff because we agreed to a predetermined spec based on old assumptions. You hire us, you're one of us.

These are my top three reasons to choose the other guys. But if you’re looking to get in deep and do the hard work of developing a product through learning and iteration, we should be your first call.

Choose a unique approach to product development with Cause of a Kind. Our agile methods promote constant learning and growth. We're your partners in design and development, crafting resonating products.

Cause of a Kind: Agile Product Development

![building an MVP](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/2AQLfu8Jr0qNMumpvVELXV/72c59fbd8c5b525c2863abe06b41d33e/marvin-meyer-SYTO3xs06fU-unsplash.jpg)

## Are you a founder looking to build a software product from scratch?
Congratulations, you're about to embark on a journey full of excitement, challenges, and potential rewards! But before you dive headfirst into coding, designing, and marketing, you need to take a step back and ask yourself a crucial question: what's the smallest, simplest, and most valuable version of your product that you can launch to your target users?

This, my dear friend, is what we call a Minimum Viable Software Product (MVP). An MVP is not a half-baked, buggy, or incomplete product, but rather a well-planned, well-executed, and well-received version that solves a real problem for a real user in a real market. An MVP is not about cutting corners or compromising quality, but about being smart, lean, and agile in your approach to product development.

## So, what are the hard and fast guidelines that founders should follow when building an MVP? 

Here are a few:

- Define your problem statement and user persona(s) clearly and specifically. You need to know exactly who you're building for and what problem you're solving for them. Don't try to please everyone or solve all problems at once.

- Prioritize your features and functionality based on user feedback and value. Don't try to include every cool idea or fancy feature in your MVP. Focus on what matters most to your users and what distinguishes your product from the competition.

- Iterate and test your MVP early and often. Don't wait until your product is 100% perfect or polished before you show it to users. Get feedback, make changes, and learn from your mistakes as you go.

- Be transparent, honest, and responsive to your users. Don't hide behind your product or your brand. Show your users that you care about their feedback, their needs, and their trust.

- Have a clear and realistic roadmap for your product beyond the MVP. Don't think that launching an MVP is the end goal of your product development. Plan ahead, set goals, and adapt to changing market conditions and user feedback.

## Now, let's talk about some areas to avoid entirely when building a new software product. 

Here are a few:

- Don't try to be a jack of all trades and a master of none. You can't be everything to everyone, so focus on your niche and your strengths.

- Don't copy or clone other successful products blindly. You need to differentiate yourself from the competition, not just imitate them.

- Don't neglect your user experience and user interface. Your product should be intuitive, easy-to-use, and aesthetically pleasing. Don't sacrifice usability for complexity or beauty for novelty.

- Don't overpromise or oversell your product. Your MVP should be an honest representation of your product's capabilities and limitations. Don't hype up your product beyond what it can deliver.

- Don't neglect your legal and ethical obligations. Your product should comply with all relevant laws and regulations, protect user privacy and security, and avoid harm to users or society.

Building an MVP is both a fun and cheeky adventure and a seriously technical challenge for founders. By following the guidelines and avoiding the pitfalls outlined above, you can increase your chances of success and satisfaction in your product development journey. Good luck and happy coding!

Discover the fun and cheeky, yet technically serious guide for founders on 0-to-Minimum Viable Software Product (MVP). Learn the guidelines to follow and pitfalls to avoid for successful product development. 

0-to-Minimum Viable Software Product (MVP): The Fun, Cheeky, and Seriously Technical Guide for Founders | Cause of a Kind

0-to-Minimum Viable Software Product (MVP): The Fun, Cheeky, and Seriously Technical Guide for Founders

![Webflow](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/1dD2rnhTMqBseikkQsrCEZ/efe1337d77aba4a188e85ebc9f417316/602f1fcfd6d1353830d59d5d_6022ed55436bd981af77f1c8_SngeVWxItd1_wR-Uxkx2eQJGvXI1031yScbs42ZCEMD9vulK5smzUhpnrOO3lYNjEkIgked9Lu.png)

It is possible to let [Webflow](https://webflow.com/ "Webflow") dynamically populate the structured data fields without human intervention using Webflow's CMS and dynamic data features.

To do this, you will need to:

__1. Set up a CMS Collection in Webflow__: Create a CMS Collection in Webflow with fields that correspond to the structured data you want to add. For example, if you want to add structured data for a `blog post`, you can create a collection with fields for the `post title`, `author`, `date`, and `content`.

__2. Add structured data code to the CMS Template page__: Once you have set up your CMS Collection, you can add the structured data code to the CMS Template page. You can use dynamic data from your collection fields to populate the structured data fields. For example, you can use the `post title` field to populate the `name` field in the structured data code.

__3. Preview and publish__: Preview your CMS Template page to make sure the structured data is displaying correctly. Once you are satisfied, publish your changes to make the structured data live.

With this setup, whenever a new item is added to the CMS Collection, the structured data will automatically be populated with the corresponding data. This eliminates the need for human intervention to manually add the structured data to each page.

```<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BlogPosting",
  "headline": "Example blog post",
  "image": [
    "https://example.com/image.jpg"
   ],
  "datePublished": "2023-03-07T08:00:00+08:00",
  "dateModified": "2023-03-07T09:00:00+08:00",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "John Smith"
  },
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Example Company",
    "logo": {
      "@type": "ImageObject",
      "url": "https://example.com/logo.png"
    }
  },
  "description": "This is an example blog post about structured data"
}
</script>
```

In this example, the structured data includes information such as the blog post's title, featured image, publication and modification dates, author, publisher, and description. You can customize this code with your own content to generate structured data for your own blog posts.

In this article, we discussed how to dynamically add structured data for SEO to Webflow. Steps include identifying the structured data, creating a custom code embed, and previewing and publishing changes. We also discussed how to use Webflow's CMS and dynamic data to automate structured data population.

Let's discuss how to dynamically add structured data for SEO to Webflow and how to use Webflow's CMS and dynamic data to automate structured data population. 

Can Structured Data be added to Webflow CMS, Dynamically? | Cause of a Kind

Can Structured Data be added to Webflow CMS, Dynamically?

![software orchestration](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/5vLOQaFxFUsvvDxV0z55rB/f28eadb9365e8e2ba56e3871aed547ad/software_orchestration.jpg)

Software orchestration is more than just a business concept. It is the craft with an emphasis on the coordination and harmonization of various departments and teams to produce top-quality software products. It is a mixture of art and science that aims to integrate different software components and services to form a cohesive application that meets specific business needs. This approach is similar to the way an orchestra comes together to produce a beautiful symphony. Each individual contributor has a unique role in the entire orchestra. There is no bloat, no redundancy, and only has room for top performers. The individual top performers are recognized and just like a conductor guides an orchestra to create beautiful music, software orchestration requires a skilled team leader who can synchronize different departments to produce software with seamless execution.

At Cause of a Kind, we believe in Software Orchestration. Design, engineering, programming, testing, hosting, deploying, and so much more in synchronization, focused on the common goal of producing incredible "music". We build software with emotion and think of the evolution of an idea as a crescendo towards the cadenza. The ultimate deliverance of performance, skill and emotion.  

To us, the software orchestration process requires careful planning, coordination, and collaboration between different teams. It involves managing the entire software development life cycle from design, development, testing, and deployment to post-deployment maintenance and support. Each team member has a specific role to play in this process, just like how different instruments in an orchestra play specific notes to produce beautiful music, layering with their counter parties, heeding to each other, and shining when appropriate. The orchestration process helps ensure that every team member is aware of their responsibilities and the overall vision of the project. It also helps to prevent conflicts and ensure that everyone is working towards a common goal. We help cool people, orchestrate great software.

Software orchestration involves a combination of technology and human skills. The technology component involves integrating different software components and services into a cohesive application. This process requires a thorough understanding of software architecture, APIs, microservices, and other integration technologies. The human skills component involves managing the different teams involved in the software development process. This requires strong leadership, communication, and project management skills.

The software orchestration process begins with defining the business needs and requirements of the software application. This involves identifying the problems the software application is intended to solve, the target audience, and the expected outcomes. The next step is to create a development plan that outlines the different stages of the software development life cycle. This plan should also include a timeline, milestones, and deliverables for each stage of the development process. We utilize our [DISCOWEEK®️](https://www.causeofakind.com/discoweek "DISCOWEEK") solution to ensure this process delivers flawlessly. 

Once the development plan is in place, the different teams involved in the software development process begin their work. The design team creates the user interface, the development team builds the application, the testing team verifies that the application meets the business requirements, and the deployment team releases the application to production. Throughout this process, the project manager oversees the entire development process, ensures that each team is working towards the common goal, and resolves any conflicts that may arise. In order to obtain fast feedback, iterate quickly, preserve precious time and budget, and increase the feedback loop with end users, customers and team members, we introduce the [WEEK2WEEK®️](https://www.causeofakind.com/week2week "WEEK2WEEK") program. 

One of the key benefits of software orchestration is that it helps organizations to achieve their business goals faster and more efficiently. By coordinating the efforts of different teams, the software development process becomes more streamlined, resulting in faster development cycles, improved quality, and increased efficiency. Additionally, software orchestration can help organizations to reduce costs by minimizing the number of errors, defects, and redundancies in the development process. This, in turn, leads to a reduction in the overall development costs and faster time-to-market.

Another benefit of software orchestration is that it helps organizations to stay competitive in the fast-paced technology industry. By adopting an orchestration approach, organizations can quickly adapt to changes in the market, respond to customer feedback, and stay ahead of their competitors. This is especially important in today's digital world, where technology is rapidly evolving, and customer expectations are constantly changing. To support our customers in a long term, well defined capacity, we continue our pursuit of excellence by offering our [MONTH2MONTH®️ ](https://www.causeofakind.com/month2month "MONTH2MONTH")service model, which continues the full development cycle, will dedicated resources and a commitment to continuous software orchestration. 

Software orchestration is more than just a business concept. It is more like a dance or ballot, or score that involves coordinating and harmonizing various teams within an organization to produce top-quality software products. This approach is similar to the way an orchestra comes together to produce a beautiful symphony. It requires careful planning, coordination, and collaboration between different teams, and it helps organizations to achieve their business goals faster and more efficiently. With software orchestration, organizations can stay competitive in the fast-paced technology industry and quickly adapt to changes in the market. Ultimately, software orchestration is a key factor in the success of any software development project and Cause of a Kind has a dewducated commitment to making more than just software.

Software orchestration is a process of coordinating and synchronizing different departments and teams within an organization to produce top-quality software products. 

Software Orchestration | Cause of a Kind

Software Orchestration : The Sound of Music

![Build with Svelte Kit](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/4GZRl6sNhnmqbJsMu99pbF/6354b19377cb172ffcbd9614a6403c78/Build_with_Svelte_Kit.jpg)

Svelte Kit is a web application framework designed to help developers create performant, scalable, and maintainable web applications with ease. It is a powerful tool that enables developers to build web applications that are easy to maintain and update.

## What are the Key Benefits of Svelte Kit?:

__Improved Performance:__ Svelte Kit is known for its outstanding performance, thanks to its compile-time approach to building applications. The framework compiles the code at build time, resulting in smaller and faster applications.

__Simplified Development:__ Svelte Kit simplifies web application development by providing developers with an opinionated structure for their application. It includes built-in routing, code splitting, and server-side rendering, which makes it easy to build complex applications.

__Ease of Use:__ Svelte Kit is beginner-friendly and has a low learning curve compared to other frameworks like React and Angular. It offers a clean and intuitive syntax that makes it easy for developers to understand and work with.

__Flexibility:__ Svelte Kit provides developers with the flexibility to use their preferred libraries and tools. It doesn't impose a specific structure, which makes it easy to integrate with other tools.

__Scalability:__ Svelte Kit is designed to handle large and complex applications, making it a great choice for enterprise applications.

## What are Svelte Kit Best Practices?:

__Use Components:__ Svelte Kit is a component-based framework, and using components helps in organizing your code, making it easy to maintain and reuse.

__Keep the Code Clean:__ Svelte Kit has a clean syntax, and it's important to keep the code clean and readable. This makes it easy to maintain the code, and also makes it easier for other developers to work on the codebase.

__Optimize for Performance:__ Svelte Kit is already optimized for performance, but it's important to optimize your code as well. This includes using lazy loading, code splitting, and minimizing the bundle size.

__Use Server-Side Rendering:__ Svelte Kit has built-in server-side rendering, which helps in improving the performance and SEO of your application. Using server-side rendering also ensures that your application is accessible to users with slow internet connections.

## What are the Top Qualities of Svelte Kit:

__Easy to Learn:__ Svelte Kit has a low learning curve and is easy to learn. The framework has a clean and intuitive syntax that makes it easy for developers to understand and work with.

__Fast Performance:__ Svelte Kit is known for its outstanding performance. It has a compile-time approach to building applications, resulting in smaller and faster applications.

__Built-in Server-Side Rendering:__ Svelte Kit comes with built-in server-side rendering, which helps in improving the performance and SEO of your application.

__Component-Based Architecture:__ Svelte Kit has a component-based architecture, which makes it easy to organize your code and reuse components.

## What are the Known Shortcomings of Svelte Kit?:

__Limited Ecosystem:__ Svelte Kit has a relatively smaller ecosystem compared to other frameworks like React and Angular. This may make it difficult to find support and resources when building complex applications.

__Limited Compatibility:__ Svelte Kit is not compatible with all browsers, especially older ones. This may limit the audience your application can reach.

## When is it Best to Use Svelte Kit?:

__Small to Medium-Sized Projects:__ Svelte Kit is best suited for small to medium-sized projects. It's a great choice if you need to build a simple web application quickly.

__Applications that Require High Performance:__ Svelte Kit is known for its outstanding performance, and it's a great choice if you need to build a web application that requires high performance.

__Rapid Prototyping:__ Svelte Kit is beginner-friendly and has a low learning curve, making it a great choice for rapid prototyping.

Svelte Kit is a great choice for developers who want to build high-performance, scalable, and maintainable web applications quickly and efficiently. Its key benefits include improved performance, simplified development, ease of use, flexibility, and scalability. By following best practices such as using components, keeping the code clean, optimizing for performance, and using server-side rendering, developers can maximize the potential of Svelte Kit. 

However, its limited ecosystem and compatibility may be a disadvantage in certain scenarios. Svelte Kit is best suited for small to medium-sized projects, applications that require high performance, and rapid prototyping. Overall, Svelte Kit is a powerful tool that can help developers build web applications with ease, speed, and performance.

At Cause of a Kind, we love [Svelte Kit on Vercel](https://vercel.com/solutions/svelte "Svelte Kit on Vercel"). While Svelte Kit is a powerful web application framework that provides developers with a simple and efficient way to build performant and scalable web applications. Vercel, on the other hand, is a cloud-based platform that provides developers with a fast and reliable way to deploy their applications. Together, they form a powerful combination that makes it easy for developers to build, test, and deploy web applications quickly and efficiently.

Using Vercel with Svelte Kit provides several benefits. Vercel's powerful deployment infrastructure makes it easy to deploy Svelte Kit applications with ease, ensuring that they are always available and accessible. Vercel's real-time collaboration tools make it easy for developers to work together on projects, enabling them to build applications faster and more efficiently.

In addition, Vercel provides developers with a range of tools to test and optimize their Svelte Kit applications, ensuring that they are always performing at their best. These tools include performance metrics, A/B testing, and error tracking, among others.

Overall, the combination of Svelte Kit and Vercel provides developers with a powerful and efficient way to build and deploy web applications. Whether you're building a small web application or a large enterprise project, Svelte Kit and Vercel have everything you need to succeed.

Svelte Kit is a performant, flexible, and beginner-friendly web app framework with built-in server-side rendering. Best for small to medium-sized projects and high-performance apps. Limitations include a smaller ecosystem and limited browser compatibility.

Svelte Kit: A Comprehensive Overview | Cause of a Kind

Svelte Kit: A Comprehensive Overview

Partnering with a software development startup studio can be an excellent way for businesses to leverage technology to create innovative solutions that can give them a competitive edge. However, choosing the right partner can be challenging. Here are some practical advice for people looking to partner with a software development startup studio.

## What to look for in a software studio:
1. __A strong portfolio:__ A good software development studio should be able to demonstrate their expertise by showcasing a portfolio of their previous work. Look for companies that have worked on projects that are similar in complexity and scope to what you're looking to build.

2. __Experience and expertise:__ A reputable software development studio should have a team of experienced developers, designers, and project managers. Make sure they have a track record of delivering high-quality work and can handle the scope of your project.

3. __Communication skills:__ Look for a company that has clear communication channels and can communicate effectively with you throughout the development process. You should be able to ask questions, provide feedback, and get updates on the project's progress.

4. __Flexibility:__ Software development is an iterative process that requires a certain level of flexibility. A good development studio should be able to adjust to changes in the project's requirements and scope as needed.

5. __Collaboration:__ Look for a development studio that values collaboration and teamwork. They should be willing to work closely with you to understand your business needs and goals and translate them into software solutions.

6. __Expertise in the latest technologies:__ Software development is a constantly evolving field, and a good studio should stay up to date with the latest technologies and trends. Look for companies that have expertise in the technologies you're interested in using.

## Red flags to watch out for:
1. __Lack of transparency:__ If a development studio is not willing to provide clear information about their processes, timelines, and pricing, it's a red flag. You should be able to trust that your partner is transparent and honest about their work.

2. __Inflexibility:__ If a development studio is not willing to adjust their approach or make changes to the project's scope or requirements, it's a red flag. Flexibility is crucial in software development, and you want a partner who is willing to work with you to achieve your goals.

3. __Poor communication:__ If a development studio is not responsive or communicates poorly, it can lead to misunderstandings and delays. Look for a partner who values clear communication and is willing to work with you to keep you informed about the project's progress.

4. __Lack of experience:__ If a development studio has little or no experience working on projects similar to yours, it's a red flag. You want a partner who has the expertise and knowledge to deliver the results you need.

5. __Poor reviews or reputation:__ Check online reviews and references to get a sense of a development studio's reputation. If they have a history of poor reviews or a negative reputation, it's a red flag.

## Values to look for:

1. __Quality:__ Look for a development studio that values quality and takes pride in delivering high-quality work. Quality should be a top priority, even if it means taking a bit longer to get things done.

2. __Innovation:__ A good development studio should be open to new ideas and approaches and be willing to experiment with new technologies and techniques.

3. __Customer-centricity:__ Look for a development studio that puts your needs and goals first. They should be willing to work with you to achieve your business objectives and help you succeed.

4. __Agility:__ Software development is an iterative process, and a good development studio should be able to adapt to changes in the project's scope or requirements as needed.

5. __Collaboration:__ Look for a development studio that values collaboration and teamwork. They should be willing to work closely with you to understand your business needs and goals and translate them into software solutions.

6. __Transparency:__ A good development studio should be transparent about their processes, timelines, and pricing. They should be willing to communicate openly and honestly with you throughout the project's lifecycle.

7. __Reliability:__ Look for a development studio that is reliable and delivers on their promises. You want a partner who can meet deadlines and deliver high-quality work consistently.

8. __Value for money:__ The cost of software development can vary significantly, and you want to ensure that you're getting value for your money. Look for a development studio that offers fair pricing and can provide you with a good return on your investment.

9. __Security:__ Security is essential when it comes to software development. Look for a development studio that takes security seriously and has the expertise to build secure software solutions.

10. __Support:__ Look for a development studio that offers ongoing support after the project is complete. You want a partner who can help you maintain and update your software as needed and be available to address any issues that may arise.

## Steps to take when partnering with a software development studio:
1. __Define your goals:__ Before you start looking for a software development partner, define your goals and what you want to achieve with the project. This will help you find a partner who can help you achieve those goals.

2. __Research potential partners:__ Once you've defined your goals, research potential partners by looking at their portfolios, reading reviews, and checking references. Narrow down your list to a few companies that you think would be a good fit.

3. __Have a discovery call:__ Schedule a discovery call with each potential partner to discuss your project's scope, timeline, and requirements. Use this opportunity to ask questions and get a sense of their communication style.

4. __Request a proposal:__ Ask each potential partner to provide you with a proposal that outlines their approach, pricing, and timeline. Use this information to compare the companies and make an informed decision.

5. __Negotiate terms:__ Once you've selected a partner, negotiate the terms of the agreement, including pricing, timelines, and milestones. Make sure everything is clear and agreed upon before you start the project.

6. __Establish clear communication channels:__ Establish clear communication channels with your partner, including how often you will receive updates on the project's progress and who you should contact with questions or concerns.

7. __Collaborate closely:__ Work closely with your partner throughout the development process. Provide feedback and ask questions as needed to ensure that the project is on track to meet your goals.

8. __Stay involved:__ Stay involved throughout the development process to ensure that the final product meets your expectations. Test the software thoroughly and provide feedback to your partner as needed.

9. __Plan for ongoing support:__ Plan for ongoing support after the project is complete, including maintenance and updates. Make sure your partner is available to provide support as needed.

Partnering with a software development startup studio can be a great way to leverage technology to achieve your business goals. By following this practical advice and steps, you can find a partner who has the expertise, experience, and values that align with your needs and objectives. Remember to be clear about your goals, do your research, and establish clear communication channels to ensure a successful partnership.

Partnering with a software development startup studio can be an excellent way for businesses to leverage technology to create innovative solutions that can give them a competitive edge. 

How to Partner with a Software Development Studio | Cause of a Kind

How to Partner with a Software Development Studio

When it comes to building software, there are three factors that are of utmost importance: speed, quality, and price. However, it is impossible to achieve all three simultaneously. You can have speed and quality, but the price will be high. Or, you can have quality and a lower price, but it will take longer to complete. Alternatively, you can have a fast turnaround and an affordable price, but the quality of the software may suffer. In this blog post, we will explore the concept of the iron triangle and why speed and quality are crucial when building software.

## Speed vs. Quality

The iron triangle, also known as the project management triangle, is a concept used in project management to explain the relationship between three interdependent variables: time, cost, and scope. In software development, scope refers to the functionality and features of the software. The idea behind the iron triangle is that when one of these variables changes, the other two must also change to maintain balance.

In the case of software development, the iron triangle is modified to include speed, quality, and price. The goal is to achieve a balance between these three variables to deliver a successful software product. However, in reality, achieving a balance is not always possible, and one variable often takes priority over the others.

Speed and quality are two variables that are often given priority when building software. In today's fast-paced business environment, time-to-market is critical, and companies need to develop and deliver software quickly. However, speed should not come at the cost of quality. Low-quality software can lead to a poor user experience, security vulnerabilities, and the need for costly repairs down the line. Therefore, it is crucial to strike a balance between speed and quality when building software.

To achieve a balance between speed and quality, companies need to invest in talented software developers. Quality software developers are worth their weight in gold because they can produce high-quality code quickly. The cost of hiring top talent may be high, but the cost of fixing low-quality code can be much higher in the long run. Additionally, talented developers often have a deep understanding of the software development process, which allows them to identify potential problems before they occur and streamline the development process.

Another way to achieve a balance between speed and quality is to adopt Agile development methodologies. Agile development is an iterative approach to software development that emphasizes collaboration, flexibility, and customer satisfaction. By breaking down the software development process into smaller, more manageable tasks, Agile development allows teams to produce high-quality code quickly. Additionally, by involving the customer in the development process, Agile development ensures that the final product meets the customer's needs.

However, achieving a balance between speed and quality often means that the price is a variable. Companies may need to invest more money in talented developers or adopt Agile development methodologies to produce high-quality software quickly. However, the cost of developing high-quality software is often lower than the cost of fixing low-quality software. Low-quality software can lead to lost revenue, decreased customer satisfaction, and costly repairs.

In conclusion, when building software, it is crucial to strike a balance between speed and quality. However, achieving this balance often means that the price is a variable. Companies that invest in talented software developers or adopt Agile development methodologies can produce high-quality software quickly, which can lead to increased revenue, improved customer satisfaction, and decreased repair costs. The cost of developing high-quality software is often lower than the cost of fixing low-quality software. Therefore, it is essential to invest in the development of high-quality software from the outset to ensure long-term success.

When building software, speed and quality are crucial. Investing in talented software developers and adopting Agile development methodologies can help achieve a balance between speed and quality. 

The Iron Triangle : Cost, Quality, Speed | Cause of a Kind

The Iron Triangle : Cost, Quality, Speed

Creating the perfect SEO report requires a combination of data analysis, insights, and actionable recommendations that can help improve the website's search engine visibility. Here are some key components that you should consider including in your SEO report:

__Executive Summary:__ A brief overview of the report's key findings, insights, and recommendations, summarizing the overall performance of the website's SEO.

__Keyword Analysis:__ A list of keywords that the website is currently ranking for, along with their position in search results and estimated search volume.

__Traffic Analysis:__ A detailed breakdown of the website's traffic, including organic, direct, referral, and social traffic, along with information about bounce rate, time on site, and pageviews.

__On-Page SEO Analysis:__ An analysis of the website's on-page elements, including title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and content optimization, with recommendations for improvements.

__Off-Page SEO Analysis:__ An analysis of the website's backlink profile, including the number and quality of backlinks, with recommendations for acquiring more high-quality backlinks.

__Technical SEO Analysis:__ An analysis of the website's technical elements, including page speed, mobile responsiveness, and structured data, with recommendations for improvements.

__Competitive Analysis:__ A comparison of the website's SEO performance against its main competitors, including rankings, traffic, and backlink profiles.

__Recommendations:__ A summary of the key actions that the website should take to improve its SEO performance, based on the analysis and insights provided in the report.

__Conclusion:__ A final section that summarizes the key points of the report and emphasizes the importance of SEO for the website's overall success.

By including these key components in your SEO report, you can provide your clients with a comprehensive understanding of their website's SEO performance and actionable recommendations for improvement.

Identifying SEO opportunities involves analyzing a website's current performance, competitor landscape, and industry trends to identify areas for improvement and growth. Here are some key steps to follow when identifying SEO opportunities:

__Analyze the website's current performance:__ Start by analyzing the website's current performance in terms of traffic, rankings, and engagement metrics. Use tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console to identify areas of the website that are performing well and areas that need improvement.

__Identify relevant keywords:__ Conduct keyword research to identify relevant keywords that the website should target. Use tools such as Google Keyword Planner or Ahrefs, SEMrush, BrightEdge, Conductor and others to identify high-volume, low-competition keywords that the website could rank for.

__Analyze the competition:__ Analyze the top-ranking competitors for the identified keywords and analyze their content, backlink profiles, and on-page optimization to identify areas where the website can improve.

__Conduct a technical SEO audit:__ Conduct a technical SEO audit of the website to identify any technical issues that may be hindering the website's performance, such as page speed, mobile responsiveness, or crawl errors.

__Optimize content:__ Optimize the website's content to improve on-page optimization and to target relevant keywords. This includes optimizing title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and content structure.

__Build high-quality backlinks:__ Build high-quality backlinks to the website from authoritative and relevant sources, such as industry publications, influencers, or relevant websites.

Here are some key ranking factors that impact a website's SEO performance:

- Content quality and relevance
- On-page optimization, including title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags
- Backlink quality and quantity
- Mobile responsiveness and page speed
- Domain authority and age
- Social signals and engagement metrics
- Technical optimization, including crawlability and indexability

By focusing on these key ranking factors and identifying SEO opportunities, you can help improve a website's search engine visibility and drive more organic traffic and leads.

In this article, we discussed the key components of a perfect SEO report. We identified the importance of including an executive summary, keyword analysis, traffic analysis, on-page and off-page SEO analysis, technical SEO analysis, competitive analysis, recommendations, and conclusion. By including these components in an SEO report, you can provide your clients with a comprehensive understanding of their website's performance and actionable recommendations for improvement.

We also discussed the steps involved in identifying SEO opportunities, which include analyzing a website's current performance, identifying relevant keywords, analyzing the competition, conducting a technical SEO audit, optimizing content, and building high-quality backlinks. We also highlighted the key ranking factors that impact a website's SEO performance, including content quality and relevance, on-page optimization, backlink quality and quantity, mobile responsiveness and page speed, domain authority and age, social signals, and technical optimization.

In summary, creating a perfect SEO report and identifying SEO opportunities involves a combination of data analysis, insights, and actionable recommendations that can help improve a website's search engine visibility. By focusing on the key ranking factors and identifying areas for improvement, you can help drive more organic traffic and leads to a website.

Creating a perfect SEO report and identifying SEO opportunities involves a combination of data analysis, insights, and actionable recommendations that can help improve a website's search engine visibility. 

How to create the best SEO report | Cause of a Kind

How to Create the Best SEO Report and Elevate Opportunities for Success

Structured data is a type of data format that is organized in a specific manner, making it easier for search engines to understand and display information about a website. Structured data is crucial for search engine optimization (SEO) because it enables search engines to better understand the content of a webpage, which can result in higher visibility and ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs).

One of the most common ways to implement structured data on a website is by using the JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) format. JSON-LD is a lightweight data-interchange format that is easy for humans to read and write and easy for machines to parse and generate. Here are a few examples of how JSON-LD can be used to implement structured data:

## Organization schema:
```
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "http://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Example Company",
  "url": "http://www.example.com/",
  "logo": "http://www.example.com/logo.png",
  "description": "Example Company is a leading provider of widgets.",
  "contactPoint": {
    "@type": "ContactPoint",
    "telephone": "+1-800-555-5555",
    "contactType": "customer service"
  },
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.facebook.com/example",
    "https://twitter.com/example"
  ]
}
</script>
```
This example defines an organization schema for a hypothetical company. The schema includes basic information such as the company's name, URL, logo, and description. It also includes contact information and links to the company's social media profiles.

## Product schema:
```
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "http://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Example Widget",
  "description": "The Example Widget is the best widget on the market.",
  "brand": {
    "@type": "Brand",
    "name": "Example Company"
  },
  "image": [
    "http://www.example.com/widget.jpg",
    "http://www.example.com/widget2.jpg"
  ],
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "price": "29.99",
    "priceCurrency": "USD",
    "availability": "http://schema.org/InStock",
    "seller": {
      "@type": "Organization",
      "name": "Example Company"
    }
  }
}
</script>
```

This example defines a product schema for a hypothetical widget. The schema includes basic information such as the product name and description, as well as the brand and images of the product. It also includes pricing and availability information, along with the name of the organization selling the product.

Implementing structured data using JSON-LD is relatively simple. Here are the basic steps:

1. Determine which type of schema you want to implement (e.g., organization, product, etc.).

2. Use the Schema.org documentation to find the appropriate properties and types for your schema.

3. Write the JSON-LD code for your schema, using the appropriate properties and types.

4. Add the JSON-LD code to the head of your webpage.

5. Test your structured data using the Google Structured Data Testing Tool or another similar tool.

By implementing structured data on your website, you can help search engines understand your content more effectively, which can lead to higher visibility and rankings in SERPs. And with the simple steps outlined above, adding structured data to your website is an easy and effective way to improve your SEO.

For advanced resources visit [https://schema.org](https://schema.org "Schema.org")

For Structured Data Testing Tools:
[Schema.Org Validator](https://search.google.com/test/rich-results "Schema.Org Validator")
[Rich Results Test](https://validator.schema.org/ "Rich Results Test")

Structured data is crucial for search engine optimization (SEO) because it enables search engines to better understand the content of a webpage, which can result in higher visibility and ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs).

The Basics of Structured Data for SEO | Cause of a Kind

The Basics of Structured Data for SEO

In today's digital age, optimizing your website for search engines has become a crucial aspect of online marketing. With the ever-evolving algorithms of search engines, it can be challenging to keep up with the latest trends and tactics. Thankfully, several tools can assist you in optimizing your website, such as SEMrush, aHrefs, BrightEdge, and Conductor. In this blog post, we will compare and contrast these four search engine optimization (SEO) tools to help you choose the right one for your business.

## SEMrush:

SEMrush is one of the most popular SEO tools available today. It offers a wide range of features to help users optimize their websites for search engines. SEMrush provides keyword research, site audit, backlink analysis, position tracking, and much more. SEMrush's competitive analysis tool is one of its most popular features, allowing users to compare their website's performance with their competitors.

__Strengths__: SEMrush's keyword research and competitive analysis tools are some of the best in the industry. The site audit feature is also excellent, providing users with a comprehensive report on their website's technical and on-page SEO issues.

__Weaknesses__: SEMrush's backlink analysis tool isn't as comprehensive as some of its competitors, and its user interface can be overwhelming for beginners.

## aHrefs:

aHrefs is another popular SEO tool that provides users with a wide range of features to optimize their website for search engines. aHrefs provides users with features such as site audit, keyword research, backlink analysis, and position tracking. However, aHrefs is best known for its backlink analysis tool, which is one of the most comprehensive in the industry.

__Strengths__: aHrefs' backlink analysis tool is one of the most comprehensive in the industry, providing users with a detailed breakdown of their website's backlink profile. Its keyword research tool is also excellent, providing users with relevant and accurate keyword data.

__Weaknesses__: aHrefs' site audit tool is not as comprehensive as some of its competitors, and its user interface can be difficult to navigate for beginners.

## BrightEdge:

BrightEdge is an enterprise-level SEO tool designed for larger businesses with more complex SEO needs. BrightEdge provides users with a wide range of features, including keyword research, site audit, content optimization, and competitive analysis.

__Strengths__: BrightEdge's content optimization tool is one of its strongest features, providing users with valuable insights into how to optimize their content for search engines. The platform also offers a customizable dashboard, allowing users to create a personalized workspace that suits their needs.

__Weaknesses__: BrightEdge is an expensive option, making it less accessible for smaller businesses. It also lacks some of the features of its competitors, such as a comprehensive backlink analysis tool.

## Conductor:

Conductor is an SEO tool that specializes in providing users with insights into their website's content performance. Conductor offers features such as content optimization, keyword research, and competitive analysis.

__Strengths__: Conductor's content optimization tool is one of the best in the industry, providing users with valuable insights into how to optimize their content for search engines. The platform also offers a customizable dashboard, allowing users to create a personalized workspace that suits their needs.

__Weaknesses__: Conductor's keyword research and backlink analysis tools are not as comprehensive as some of its competitors, and its user interface can be difficult to navigate for beginners.

## Conclusion:

In conclusion, SEMrush, aHrefs, BrightEdge, and Conductor are all excellent SEO tools that offer a wide range of features to help users optimize their website for search engines. SEMrush and aHrefs are ideal for businesses looking for a comprehensive SEO tool with a particular focus on backlink analysis and keyword research. BrightEdge and conductor are an excellent choice for larger businesses with more robust data visualization needs and extensive support from industry experts.

Written by ChatGPT

In today's digital age, optimizing your website for search engines has become a crucial aspect of online marketing. With the ever-evolving algorithms of search engines, it can be challenging to keep up with the latest trends and tactics.

Comparing SEO Tools : SEMrush, aHrefs, BrightEdge, Conductor | Cause of a Kind

Comparing SEO Tools : SEMrush, aHrefs, BrightEdge, Conductor

![SvelteKit vs Astro](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/68grklHSoYEf0XUg0YaGIX/742f1aebbd8ad33f131ad34df99e8b95/SvelteKit_vs_Astro.png)

Astro and SvelteKit are two of the most popular front-end development frameworks used to build modern web applications. Both frameworks are designed to make the development process more efficient and faster. However, there are some key differences between Astro and SvelteKit that developers need to consider before choosing one for their next project.

## Features

Astro is a new framework that was launched in early 2021. It has gained popularity among developers due to its unique features that make it stand out from other front-end frameworks. Astro allows developers to use multiple front-end frameworks and libraries in the same project. This means that developers can use React, Vue, and Angular in the same project without worrying about compatibility issues.

Astro also has a built-in static site generator, which makes it easy to create static websites. The framework also supports server-side rendering, which improves website performance and SEO.

On the other hand, SvelteKit is a framework that is built on top of Svelte, a popular front-end framework. SvelteKit provides a lot of useful features such as server-side rendering, API endpoints, file-based routing, and more. SvelteKit is also very lightweight, which means that it loads fast and has a low memory footprint.

## Ease of Use

Astro and SvelteKit both have a simple and easy-to-use API. However, Astro has a steeper learning curve compared to SvelteKit, especially for developers who are new to front-end development. Astro requires developers to learn a new syntax and concepts such as component queries, layout components, and more.

On the other hand, SvelteKit is relatively easier to learn, especially for developers who are already familiar with Svelte. SvelteKit follows a similar API to Svelte, which means that developers can quickly get started with building web applications.

## Performance

Performance is one of the critical factors that developers consider when choosing a front-end framework. Astro and SvelteKit both prioritize performance, but they achieve it in different ways.

Astro achieves performance by using server-side rendering and preloading resources. This means that the website loads faster, and users get a better experience. Astro also supports lazy loading, which means that the website only loads the resources that the user needs, which further improves performance.

On the other hand, SvelteKit achieves performance by using client-side rendering and a lightweight approach. SvelteKit generates static HTML files for each page, which means that the website loads faster. SvelteKit also supports incremental hydration, which means that the website loads faster even on slower devices.

## Community Support

Both Astro and SvelteKit have a growing community of developers who contribute to the framework's development and help other developers. However, SvelteKit has a larger community compared to Astro, mainly because it is built on top of Svelte, which has been around for a longer time.

Svelte has a lot of plugins, tools, and resources that are available for developers, which makes it easier to get started with SvelteKit. SvelteKit also has a vibrant community of developers who contribute to the development of the framework and help each other.

## Conclusion

Astro and SvelteKit are two of the most popular front-end development frameworks that developers can use to build modern web applications. Both frameworks have their unique features, ease of use, performance, and community support that developers need to consider before choosing one for their next project.

Written by ChatGPT

Astro and SvelteKit are used to build modern web apps. There are some key differences between Astro and SvelteKit that developers need to consider before choosing one for their next project.

What is the difference between Svelte Kit and Astro? | Cause of a Kind

What is the difference between Svelte Kit and Astro?

## A Simple Definition of SEO:

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the practice of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). The higher your website ranks, the more traffic you'll receive, which can translate to more leads and sales for your business.

To achieve higher rankings, there are two main areas to focus on: on-page SEO and off-page SEO. On-page SEO refers to the factors that you can control on your website, such as the content, title tags, and meta descriptions. Off-page SEO, on the other hand, refers to factors that are outside of your website's control, such as backlinks and social signals.

__So, what are the current search engine rank factors for SEO best practices? Here are some of the most important factors to consider:__

## On-Page SEO Best Practices:

1. Content: Content is king when it comes to SEO. The quality and relevance of your content are crucial to achieving higher rankings. Make sure your content is engaging, informative, and optimized for your target keywords. The content should also be unique and valuable to your readers.
2. Title tags and meta descriptions: Title tags and meta descriptions are important on-page SEO factors that help search engines understand what your page is about. Make sure your title tags and meta descriptions accurately reflect the content on your page and include your target keywords.
3. User experience: User experience is becoming an increasingly important factor in SEO. Google is placing more emphasis on factors such as page speed, mobile responsiveness, and ease of navigation. Make sure your website is easy to use and provides a positive user experience.

## Off-Page SEO Best Practices:

1. Backlinks: Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your website. They are one of the most important off-page SEO factors and can greatly impact your website's rankings. Make sure you have high-quality backlinks from reputable websites in your industry.
2. Social signals: Social signals, such as likes, shares, and comments, can also impact your website's rankings. They are an indication of your website's popularity and relevance. Make sure you have an active social media presence and encourage engagement from your followers.
3. Local SEO: Local SEO is important if you have a brick-and-mortar business. Make sure your website is optimized for local keywords and that you have a Google My Business listing. This will help you rank higher in local search results and attract more customers to your business.

__So, what are the three most valuable things that an SEO can do to boost performance in SEO? Here they are:__

1. Focus on quality content: As mentioned earlier, content is king when it comes to SEO. Make sure you have high-quality, unique content that is optimized for your target keywords. This will help you rank higher in search results and attract more traffic to your website.
2. Build high-quality backlinks: Backlinks are a crucial off-page SEO factor. Make sure you have high-quality backlinks from reputable websites in your industry. This will help you establish your website's authority and credibility and improve your rankings.
3. Monitor your website's performance: Monitoring your website's performance is important to identify areas for improvement. Use tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track your website's traffic, rankings, and other important metrics. This will help you identify areas for improvement and make necessary changes to improve your website's performance.

In conclusion, SEO is a complex and ever-changing field. To achieve higher rankings in search engine results pages, it's important to focus on both on-page and off-page rank factors. Taking a holistic approach to improving organic performance always yields the best results. 

Lastly, remember, SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. 

Written by ChatGPT

On-page SEO are factors that you can control on your website, such as the content, title tags, and meta descriptions. Off-page SEO, on the other hand, refers to factors that are outside of your website's control, such as backlinks and social signals.

Simple SEO Best Practice Guide | Cause of a Kind

Simple SEO Best Practice Guide

Scaling a software development agency can be a tricky task, especially if you want to avoid hiring new employees. However, it is not impossible. Here are some ways to scale a software development agency without hiring new employees.

1. Utilize freelancers and contractors

One way to scale a software development agency is to utilize freelancers and contractors. This is a good option because it allows you to bring in additional resources without committing to hiring full-time employees. You can find freelancers and contractors through online marketplaces, referrals, or by networking in your industry.

When working with freelancers and contractors, it is important to ensure that they are a good fit for your company culture and that they have the necessary skills to complete the work. You should also establish clear communication channels to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

2. Automate as much as possible

Another way to scale a software development agency without hiring is to automate as much as possible. Automation can help streamline your processes and free up time for your existing team to work on more important tasks.

There are many tools and services available that can help automate tasks like testing, deployment, and monitoring. Additionally, you can use tools like chatbots to handle customer support inquiries, reducing the workload on your team.

3. Focus on your existing clients
Another way to scale a software development agency without hiring is to focus on your existing clients. This can be done by identifying ways to provide additional value to your clients and by nurturing your relationships with them.

One way to provide additional value to your clients is by offering them new services that complement your existing offerings. For example, if you are a web development agency, you could offer website maintenance and hosting services to your clients.

4. Use agile methodologies
Agile methodologies can help you scale your software development agency without hiring new employees. Agile methodologies focus on breaking down projects into smaller, more manageable pieces and working on them iteratively.

By using agile methodologies, you can increase your team’s productivity and improve the quality of your work. This can help you complete projects faster and with fewer resources.

5. Outsource non-core functions
Finally, you can scale your software development agency without hiring new employees by outsourcing non-core functions. Non-core functions are tasks that are important but not directly related to your core business.

For example, you could outsource your accounting, human resources, or marketing functions. This can help you reduce your overhead costs and free up time for your existing team to focus on their core responsibilities.

In conclusion, scaling a software development agency without hiring new employees is possible. By utilizing freelancers and contractors, automating as much as possible, focusing on your existing clients, using agile methodologies, and outsourcing non-core functions, you can scale your business without having to make any new hires. However, it is important to ensure that you maintain the quality of your work and that you have the necessary resources to support your growth.

Written by ChatGPT

Scaling a software development agency can be a tricky task, especially if you want to avoid hiring new employees. However, it is not impossible. Here are some ways to scale a software development agency without hiring new employees.

How to Scale a Software Development Agency Without Hiring | Cause of a Kind

How to Scale a Software Development Agency Without Hiring. 

![React vs Svelte](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/3EaajNdltR7desaV6md7j8/824460ee2efaa55358ca27f15a3d34df/React_vs_Svelte.png)

React.js and Svelte are two popular JavaScript frameworks used for building web applications. Both frameworks have their own strengths and weaknesses, and developers often choose one over the other based on their requirements. In this article, we will compare React.js and Svelte in terms of their differentiating features, shortcomings, community documentation, and future trends.

## Differentiating Features

React.js is a component-based framework, meaning that applications are built using a series of reusable components. These components are independent of each other, which makes them easy to maintain and test. React.js uses a virtual DOM (Document Object Model) to keep track of the state of the application, and it updates the real DOM only when necessary. This approach makes React.js very fast and efficient.

On the other hand, Svelte is a compiler-based framework that converts your application code into highly optimized JavaScript code. This means that Svelte does most of its work at build time, rather than runtime. Svelte is known for its simplicity and ease of use, and it is often preferred by developers who want to build lightweight applications with minimal overhead.

## Shortcomings

One of the major shortcomings of React.js is that it can be challenging to learn, especially for developers who are new to the framework. The learning curve can be steep, and it can take some time to understand the various concepts and best practices associated with React.js. Additionally, React.js can be quite verbose, which can make it difficult to read and understand code, especially when working with large projects.

Svelte, on the other hand, has a relatively small community compared to React.js, which means that there may be fewer resources available for developers who run into problems. Additionally, Svelte is a relatively new framework, and it may not be suitable for large-scale applications with complex requirements.

## Community Documentation

React.js has a large and active community, which means that there are plenty of resources available for developers who want to learn the framework or troubleshoot issues. There are many online forums, blogs, and tutorials available, as well as a wide range of third-party libraries and tools that can be used with React.js.

Svelte, on the other hand, has a smaller community, but it is growing rapidly. There are several online forums and chat groups available, as well as an active GitHub repository where developers can contribute to the framework and report issues. Svelte also has an official website that provides comprehensive documentation and tutorials for developers who want to get started with the framework.

## Future Trends

React.js has been around for several years and has become one of the most popular JavaScript frameworks for building web applications. React.js is constantly evolving, and new features and improvements are regularly added to the framework. React.js has also gained popularity outside of the web development community, with libraries like React Native being used to build mobile applications.

Svelte, on the other hand, is a relatively new framework that has gained popularity in recent years. Svelte is designed to be lightweight and easy to use, and it is well-suited for building small to medium-sized applications. However, Svelte may not be suitable for large-scale applications with complex requirements, and it may not have the same level of community support as React.js.

## Conclusion

In conclusion, both React.js and Svelte have their own strengths and weaknesses, and the choice between the two depends on the requirements of the project. React.js is a powerful and widely used framework with a large community and a wealth of resources available. Svelte, on the other hand, is a lightweight and easy-to-use framework that is ideal for building small to medium-sized applications.

When choosing between React.js and Svelte, it is important to consider the requirements of the project, the level of community support available, and the skills and experience of the development team. 

Written by ChatGPT

React.js and Svelte are two popular JavaScript frameworks used for building web applications. In this article, we will compare React.js and Svelte in terms of their differentiating features, shortcomings, community documentation, and future trends.

What is the difference between React.js and Svelte? | Cause of a Kind

What is the difference between React.js and Svelte?

![Week2Week](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/35um20XCmB2Tz3y3J625Mh/3d76c37ddece013d42940edec6c7e703/Week2Week.png)
Starting a startup is not easy. There are countless challenges to overcome, including attracting customers, building a team, and ensuring that your product or service is delivering the value that customers expect. One of the biggest challenges, however, is developing and launching the software that powers your startup. That's where WEEK2WEEK®️ comes in.

WEEK2WEEK®️ is a revolutionary software development service that is designed to help startups overcome the challenges of software development. What makes WEEK2WEEK®️ unique is that it is designed specifically for early-stage startups that need an affordable, true agile methodology that can be customized to their needs.

The key to WEEK2WEEK®️'s success is its focus on speed and flexibility. With WEEK2WEEK®️, startups can quickly move from discovery to design to development to deployment, all at their own pace. This means that they can rapidly iterate on their product, respond to customer feedback, and stay ahead of the competition.

Another key advantage of WEEK2WEEK®️ is that it is highly customizable. Startups can choose the services they need and pay only for what they use. For example, if a startup needs help with design and development but already has a strong discovery process in place, they can simply use WEEK2WEEK®️ for those specific services. This allows startups to get the help they need without breaking the bank.

WEEK2WEEK®️ is also highly collaborative. The WEEK2WEEK®️ team works closely with startups to understand their needs, goals, and challenges. They provide regular updates, seek feedback and continuously adapt and adjust the project plan based on customer needs.

![Week2Week Explained](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/511E8mjW8e3iTD7Ssh5RKX/020e7789c9b946dadcf2c1a8eed39c9e/Week2Week_details.png)

This collaborative approach is critical to the success of early-stage startups. By working closely with the WEEK2WEEK®️ team, startups can ensure that their software development process is aligned with their overall business strategy. They can also get the help they need to overcome specific challenges, such as user experience design or back-end development.

One of the biggest advantages of WEEK2WEEK®️ is that it brings true agile methodology to early-stage startups. Agile methodology is a flexible, iterative approach to software development that emphasizes collaboration, continuous improvement, and rapid prototyping. It is ideal for startups that need to move quickly, stay flexible, and respond to customer feedback.

WEEK2WEEK®️ takes this agile methodology and applies it to the specific needs of early-stage startups. By doing so, it helps these startups to overcome the challenges of software development, accelerate their time to market, and stay ahead of the competition.

In conclusion, WEEK2WEEK®️ is revolutionizing the startup game by providing affordable, true agile methodology to early-stage startups. Its focus on speed, flexibility, customization, collaboration and agile methodology is a winning combination for startups that need to move quickly, stay flexible, and respond to customer feedback. If you are an early-stage startup struggling with software development, WEEK2WEEK®️ may be the solution you need to accelerate your success.\

Written by ChatGPT

Starting a startup is not easy. Developing and launching the software that powers your startup is even harder. That's where WEEK2WEEK®️ comes in.

WEEK2WEEK®️ : Agile Software for Startups | Cause of a Kind

WEEK2WEEK®️ : Agile Software for Startups


When starting a software startup, one of the biggest challenges for founders is figuring out how to fund their company. There are several different ways to finance a startup, each with its own benefits and drawbacks. In this blog post, we'll explore the differences between bootstrapped, pre-seed, and venture-funded startups, the different phases of investment that a founder should consider, and the milestones for measuring success.

## Bootstrapped Startups

A bootstrapped startup is one that is self-funded by the founder or founders. This means that the company is built with their own personal funds, without any outside investors or loans. Bootstrapped startups can be attractive because the founders have complete control over the company and its direction. They are also able to maintain full ownership of their product or service.

However, bootstrapping can be a slow and difficult process. Founders need to be patient and willing to invest a significant amount of time and resources into their company. It can also limit the growth potential of the company, as the founders may not have the financial resources to scale the company quickly.

## Pre-Seed Startups

Pre-seed startups are those that have raised a small amount of money from friends, family, or angel investors. This funding is typically used to help the founders develop a prototype or minimum viable product (MVP). Pre-seed startups may also use the funding to conduct market research or to hire their first employees.

The main advantage of a pre-seed startup is that it provides some initial capital for the founders to work with. This can help the company get off the ground more quickly and can also attract additional investors. However, the amount of funding available to pre-seed startups is usually limited, and the founders may need to give up a portion of their company in exchange for the investment.

## Venture-Funded Startups

Venture-funded startups are those that have raised a significant amount of money from venture capitalists (VCs) or institutional investors. The funding is used to scale the company quickly and aggressively, often through marketing, hiring, and expanding operations. Venture-funded startups also tend to have a more formalized business structure and a more extensive management team.

The main advantage of a venture-funded startup is that it provides the financial resources necessary to scale the company quickly. However, venture funding comes with its own set of challenges. Founders may need to give up a significant portion of their company in exchange for the investment, and they may also face pressure from their investors to achieve rapid growth and profitability.

## Phases of Investment

There are several different phases of investment that a founder should consider when starting a software startup. These include:

- Seed: This is the initial round of funding that a startup receives, usually from angel investors or early-stage VCs. Seed funding is typically used to develop a prototype or MVP and to conduct initial market research.
- Series A: This is the first significant round of funding that a startup receives from institutional investors. Series A funding is used to scale the company and to expand operations.
- Series B and beyond: These are subsequent rounds of funding that a startup receives as it continues to grow and expand.

## Milestones for Measuring Success

The milestones for measuring success in a software startup will vary depending on the company's goals and the funding stage it is in. Some common milestones include:

- Developing a working prototype or MVP
- Launching the product or service
- Reaching a certain number of users or customers
- Achieving profitability
- Expanding into new markets or geographies
- Successfully raising additional rounds of funding

## Conclusion

When starting a software startup, it's important to understand the different funding options available and the advantages and drawbacks of each. Whether a founder chooses to bootstrap, seek pre-seed funding, or pursue venture funding will depend greatly upon a founders experience, network and their confidence in the success of their project. 

Written by ChatGPT

Let's explore the differences between bootstrapped, pre-seed, and venture-funded startups, the different phases of investment that a founder should consider, and the milestones for measuring success.

Funding Options for Startups | Cause of a Kind

Funding Options for Startups

![Shopify Data with Google Analytics Data in Power BI](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/7C39he0F1UI9FSGGtWhXYA/9d3ac1445f63f164d146db5cc3e19420/Screenshot_2023-05-25_102756.png)

To join Shopify Data and Google Analytics data in Power BI, you can follow these steps:

1. **Get your Shopify Data**: Power BI allows you to connect to your Shopify store through a content pack which pulls in a variety of data. 

    - Open Power BI and select `Get Data` option.
    - Under `Online Services`, you should find `Shopify`.
    - Enter your Shopify store URL to establish the connection. Power BI will import data related to your sales, customers, and products from Shopify.

2. **Get your Google Analytics Data**: Similar to Shopify, Power BI also offers a content pack for Google Analytics.

    - Go to `Get Data` and under `Online Services`, select `Google Analytics`.
    - Provide your account credentials to authorize Power BI to connect to your Google Analytics account.
    - After successful connection, select the analytics profile you want to use and Power BI will begin importing your Google Analytics data.

3. **Joining the Data**: After you've successfully imported both data sources into Power BI, you can begin joining them. 

    - In Power BI, go to `Modeling` > `Manage Relationships`.
    - Click on `New` to create a new relationship.
    - In the `Create Relationship` window, select your Shopify data on one side and your Google Analytics data on the other.
    - Select the field to join on. This should be a unique identifier present in both data sources, which could be the page URL or product SKU, for example.
    - Select `Cardinality` as `Many to One` or `One to One`, depending on your data structure.
    - Select the `Cross filter direction` to `Both`.
    - Click `OK`.

4. **Creating Visualizations**: Once the data has been joined, you can start building your reports and dashboards. You'll be able to use fields from both data sources in your visualizations.

5. **Regular Data Refresh**: Remember to configure regular data refreshes to keep your reports and dashboards up-to-date.

It's worth noting that you need to have necessary permissions to access both Shopify and Google Analytics data. Also, joining data from two sources requires some understanding of your data structure and how they relate to each other. If you're unsure, you may need to get help from a data analyst or someone familiar with both your Shopify and Google Analytics data.


Explore data-driven insights with our in-depth guides. Learn how to use data to improve business performance, optimize marketing strategies, and boost customer satisfaction.

How to join Google Analytics and Shopify Analytics with PowerBI | Cause of a Kind

How to join Google Analytics and Shopify Analytics with PowerBI

![Join Google analytics with Shopify analytics using Looker Studio](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/0ctXQzxMsoJgjDtyH8sq2/07bccf3d17bb192cc9017065ae098215/Screenshot_2023-05-25_103544.png)

Joining Google Analytics data with Shopify Plus data in Google Looker involves several steps:

1. **Connect Google Analytics to Looker**: Google Looker provides support to Google Analytics via the Google Analytics block. You'll need to set up the connection following Looker's documentation. After successfully setting up the connection, your Google Analytics data will be available in Looker.

2. **Connect Shopify Plus to Looker**: Shopify Plus has a robust API that can be used to extract data into Looker. You might need a middleware data pipeline tool, like Stitch or Fivetran, to extract this data from Shopify and load it into a data warehouse that Looker can access.

3. **Prepare Your Data Models**: Once both data sets are loaded into your data warehouse, you'll need to build LookML models for each data set. These models will define how Looker should interpret the data.

4. **Join the Data Sets**: After preparing your LookML models, you can join the Google Analytics data with the Shopify Plus data. In your LookML model, add a join parameter to the view file that references the other data set. The join should be made on a common field, like the product SKU or the page URL.

5. **Create Explores and Visualizations**: Once the data has been joined, you can start to create Explores and build visualizations using fields from both data sets.

Remember to always confirm you have the necessary permissions to access and handle data from both Google Analytics and Shopify Plus. Also, joining data in Looker requires a clear understanding of LookML, Looker's modeling language.

Unleash the power of your data with our step-by-step guides. Master data analytics tools like Looker to boost your business growth and customer engagement.

How to join Google Analytics and Shopify Plus Analytics with Looker Studio | Cause of a Kind

How to join Google Analytics and Shopify Plus Analytics with Looker Studio

![Svelte Kit vs Next.js](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/5i1ycZTILaddcNXcSWi7m9/ba13ae16632dc55799a391e8909b59d8/Untitled_design.jpg)

## How does SvelteKit compare to Next.js?

In this article, we will compare SvelteKit vs Next.js in terms of their features, performance, and shortcomings so that you can make an informed decision about which one to use for your project.

SvelteKit and Next.js are two of the most popular JavaScript frameworks used for building web applications. Both frameworks offer a range of features and capabilities that make them ideal for creating efficient, powerful web applications. However, there are some important differences between the two that should be considered when deciding which one to use for your project. In this article, we will compare Svelte Kit and Next.js in terms of their features, performance, and shortcomings. We will also discuss how each framework can be used to build different types of web applications.

SvelteKit and Next.js are two of the most popular frameworks for building web applications. Both frameworks offer great features and performance, but they have some differences that you should consider when deciding which one to use.

SevelteKit is a relatively new framework that offers a modern approach to web development by utilizing the Svelte language. It provides developers with an intuitive way to create lightweight applications with minimal code. On the other hand, Next.js is a more established framework that has been around for longer and offers more features such as server-side rendering and automatic code splitting.

In this article, we will compare SevelteKit vs Next.js in terms of their features, performance, and shortcomings so that you can make an informed decision about which one to use for your project.

The popularity of SevelteKit and Next.js has grown significantly in recent years. When it comes to choosing between the two, it can be difficult to decide which one is best suited for your project. To help make this decision easier, let’s look at some interesting statistics about both frameworks.

## SvelteKit

SevelteKit is a relatively new framework that has seen tremendous growth in the last year. According to NPM Trends, the number of downloads for SevelteKit has increased by over 800% since its launch in April 2020. Furthermore, Svelte Kit is also gaining traction on GitHub with over 11k stars and 1k forks as of October 2020.

## What is SvelteKit?

Svelte is a lightweight, open-source framework that was designed to help developers quickly build user interfaces. It uses functional reactive programming (FRP) to create reactive user interfaces that can be bound to any input without the need of complex data binding. It also supports data-intensive applications and has a small API footprint with few dependencies. In Svelte, the model is controlled by an event system that can reactively bind updates in realtime in response to events such as button presses and changes in location. The underlying concept behind this unique approach is for developers to create apps using a powerful framework that offers a wide range of options. It allows for increased flexibility and the ability to rapidly develop robust applications that are tailored to meet specific needs. The framework also encourages developers to build in scalability, security and other important features from the start, leading to better outcomes for users.

By comparing these statistics, we can see that both System A and System B show significant improvements in terms of time savings, cost-effectiveness, accuracy, scalability and user experience. This comparison clearly demonstrates how leveraging the power of Artificial Intelligence technology can help transform an organization and make it much more efficient.

## What is Next.js?

Next.js is a popular JavaScript framework for developing web applications. It is used by developers to rapidly create and deploy websites and applications. It provides a simple and intuitive way to build modern websites with minimal effort.

Recently, SevelteKit has been gaining traction as an alternative to Next.js. SevelteKit is a modern, lightweight library that enables developers to quickly create high-performance web applications without the need for complex configuration or additional code.

To compare the two frameworks, we can look at some interesting statistics. Next.js boasts of over 10 million downloads per month while SevelteKit has seen over 3 million downloads since its launch in 2020. In terms of performance, Next.js has an average page load time of 1 second while SevelteKit can load pages in under 0.5 seconds on average. Additionally, when it comes to ease of use, Next.js is considered more beginner-friendly than SevelteKit due to its intuitive design and user- friendly experience. Next.js is considered more beginner-friendly than Svelte Kit due to its intuitive design and user-friendly experience. Next.js is also loved for its development tools, which are free and available to download from their website. Plus, the RNDR SDK, or Next Network Development Kit, is easily integrated into any React Native application with a few lines of code.

## In Summary

Choosing the right developer framework for your project can be a daunting task. With so many options available, it can be difficult to decide which one will work best for your needs. Two popular frameworks that are often compared are Svelte Kit and Next.js. Both of these frameworks offer powerful features and capabilities, but they have different approaches when it comes to development. In this article, we'll discuss the pros and cons of each framework and help you decide which one is the best fit for your project. We'll also compare Svelte Kit vs Next.js in terms of performance, scalability, ease of use, and more. .

Choosing the right framework for your project can be a daunting task. With so many options available, it can be difficult to decide which one will work best for your needs. Two popular frameworks that are often compared are Svelte Kit and Next.js.

Comparing Svelte Kit and Next.js | Cause of a Kind

Comparing SvelteKit and Next.js

## Navigating the Serverless Landscape: Comparing SaaS Platform Leaders

In the dynamic world of serverless computing, numerous Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms have claimed their stake as leaders in the industry, each bringing their unique strengths to the table. Today, we'll compare seven key players: AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Functions, Microsoft Azure Functions, Vercel, Heroku, Fly.io, and Digital Ocean.

Before we dive into the comparison, let's briefly define each platform:

__AWS Lambda__: As part of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Lambda is one of the pioneers in the serverless space. It allows developers to run code without worrying about managing servers, providing automatic scalability.

__Google Cloud Functions__: This is Google's take on serverless, allowing developers to create single-purpose functions that respond to cloud events without the need for a server or runtime environment.

__Microsoft Azure Functions__: Azure Functions, the serverless solution from Microsoft, enables developers to execute code in response to a variety of triggers, such as HTTP requests or database modifications, and scales according to demand.

__Vercel__: Known for its developer-friendly interface and strong support for JavaScript frameworks (like Next.js and React), Vercel emphasizes ease of use and optimized performance.

__Heroku__: A platform as a service (PaaS) that abstracts away infrastructure management, Heroku supports several programming languages and offers a clean, user-friendly interface that's great for rapid application development.

__Fly.io__: This is an open-source platform that focuses on speed and global availability. It's known for providing edge computing capabilities, aiming to run your applications as close as possible to your users.

__Digital Ocean__: Known for its simplicity and robust community, Digital Ocean offers a range of cloud-based services, including scalable compute platform with add-on storage, security, and monitoring capabilities.

While each platform offers serverless capabilities, they vary in terms of their features, pricing, ease of use, and scalability. Here is a quick comparison:

| __Platform__ | __Key Features__ | __Pricing Model__ | __Ease of Use__ | __Scalability__ |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| AWS Lambda | Supports many programming languages, automatic scaling, robust ecosystem | Pay per execution | Requires some AWS knowledge | High |
| Google Cloud Functions | Integrated with Google Cloud services, event-driven, supports Node.js, Python, and Go | Pay per execution | Smooth user experience, but Google Cloud knowledge helps | High |
| Microsoft Azure Functions | Integrates well with other Azure services, supports a wide range of languages, event-driven | Pay per execution | Requires familiarity with Azure, but offers good documentation | High |
| Vercel | Supports many modern front-end frameworks, automatic SSL, global CDN | Free for hobby projects, paid plans for professional use | Very developer-friendly | High |
| Heroku | Supports many languages, easy deployment, add-ons for extended functionality | Free tier available, pay as you grow | User-friendly interface, great for beginners | Moderate |
| Fly.io | Edge computing, supports Docker, built-in CDN | Pay for actual use (RAM, CPU, and data transfer) | Some learning curve, but great documentation | High |
| Digital Ocean | Droplets (VMs), Managed Databases, Kubernetes service, VPC networking | Based on resources (hourly or monthly) | Very user-friendly, extensive community and resources | Moderate |

Each of these platforms has its unique strengths. AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Functions, and Azure Functions are deeply integrated into their respective cloud ecosystems and offer extensive scalability. In contrast, Vercel and Heroku prioritize developer


Compare the top serverless SaaS platforms: AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Functions, Microsoft Azure, Vercel, Heroku, Fly.io, and Digital Ocean. Uncover their unique strengths and features for your business.

What's the Best Serverless Solution? | Cause of a Kind

What's the Best Serverless Solution?

## A Practical Guide to Implementing Serverless Architecture: Cost-Efficiency and Beyond

Navigating the landscape of modern technology can be challenging, especially for startups and small engineering teams with limited resources. The serverless architecture has emerged as a potent solution to these challenges, providing cost-effective, scalable, and efficient ways to develop and deploy software.

So, let's take a journey through the essential steps to implement serverless architecture and demonstrate how it can help limit expenses and reduce the need for specialized DevOps skills.

## Step-by-Step Guide to Implementing Serverless Architecture
__Step 1: Understand Your Requirements__

First and foremost, you need to comprehend your application's requirements. Different applications have unique demands, and understanding these will help you identify which parts of your application can benefit most from going serverless.

__Step 2: Choose the Right Serverless Platform__

There are various serverless platforms available, including Amazon Web Services (AWS) Lambda, Google Cloud Functions, and Microsoft Azure Functions. Evaluate the pros and cons of each platform, considering aspects such as cost, ease of use, scalability, and compatibility with your existing tech stack.

__Step 3: Break Down Your Application__

Decompose your application into a collection of functions that can be independently deployed and managed. These should correspond to discrete tasks within your application, allowing for greater scalability and easier debugging.

__Step 4: Implement Event-Driven Functions__

Serverless architecture is event-driven. This means your functions should be designed to respond to specific events, such as HTTP requests, changes in database records, or custom events defined by your application.

__Step 5: Leverage Managed Services__

Serverless isn't just about functions; it's also about using managed services for tasks like storage, databases, and authentication. Leveraging these services can drastically reduce the amount of code you need to write and maintain.

__Step 6: Monitor and Optimize__

Finally, once your serverless architecture is up and running, it's vital to monitor performance and continually optimize your functions for cost and efficiency. Make use of available serverless monitoring tools and ensure that you're not over- or under-provisioning resources for your functions.

## How Serverless Architecture Helps Startups and Small Teams
Implementing serverless architecture offers several advantages that can particularly benefit startups and small engineering teams:

__Cost-Effectiveness__
Serverless architecture follows a pay-as-you-go model, meaning you only pay for what you use. This approach can significantly reduce operational costs, making it an ideal choice for startups working within a tight budget.

__Reduced DevOps Needs__
Since serverless platforms manage server operations, startups no longer require extensive DevOps expertise, reducing hiring and training costs. Instead, the engineering team can focus on application development, fostering more agile and innovative processes.

__Scalability__
Serverless platforms handle scaling automatically, accommodating fluctuating workloads without manual intervention. This capability ensures startups can seamlessly scale up their operations as they grow, without worrying about server capacity.

__Faster Time-to-Market__
With the burden of server management lifted, startups can speed up the software development lifecycle. This enables faster product releases and more time to react to market changes or customer feedback.

__Increased Productivity__
By abstracting away infrastructure management, serverless architecture empowers small engineering teams to focus on delivering value through code, leading to increased productivity and enhanced job satisfaction.

To sum up, serverless architecture is more than just a technological trend. It's a strategic approach that allows startups and small teams to build robust, scalable, and cost-effective applications. By understanding and implementing serverless best practices, you can harness its potential to drive your business forward, regardless of your size or resources. It's the era of lean, efficient, and fast-paced software development, and serverless is leading the charge.

__Step 7: Continuous Improvement__

In the world of serverless architecture, you must always strive for continuous improvement. Regularly revisit your code to optimize its performance. Make use of analytics to understand how your functions are being used and where you can make improvements.

__Step 8: Security Measures__

Security is paramount in serverless architectures, and thankfully, most serverless providers offer robust security measures. However, it's essential to understand and implement best practices like managing secrets, limiting permissions, and protecting against common web-based threats.

__Step 9: Leverage the Power of Microservices__

If it suits your project, consider adopting a microservices architecture. This can work very well with serverless computing as each function corresponds to a microservice, resulting in a highly scalable and efficient system.

__Step 10: Keep Learning and Experimenting__

Serverless is still a relatively new field, with best practices and patterns continuing to emerge. Stay on top of the latest trends, engage with the serverless community, and don't be afraid to experiment with new ideas. It's through experimentation and continual learning that you'll get the most out of serverless.

By now, you should have a good grasp of implementing a serverless architecture and how it can be a game-changer for startups and small engineering teams. It's time to take the plunge and begin your serverless journey. Embrace the future, limit expenses, and unleash your team's full potential. Remember, every significant technological innovation started with a small step. Your step towards a serverless future might just be the leap your business needs.

Explore a step-by-step guide to implementing serverless architecture, offering practical insights for startups and small engineering teams. Boost efficiency, limit expenses, reduce DevOps needs, and accelerate time-to-market. 

How To Get Started with Serverless Architecture | Cause of a Kind

How To Get Started with Serverless Architecture

## Embracing the Future: The Transformative Power of Serverless Architecture

If you have been keeping an eye on the latest technology trends, you have likely come across this term. And if you've found yourself wondering, "What on earth is serverless architecture, and why does everyone seem so excited about it?" then you've come to the right place.

So, what is serverless? Well, let's unravel this mystery together.

## The Shift Towards Serverless
The word "serverless" might be a bit misleading. It doesn't mean we're getting rid of servers altogether. Instead, it signifies a shift in the operational model, where developers no longer need to worry about server management. In a serverless architecture, the responsibility of running, maintaining, and scaling servers is entirely upon the service provider.

When we talk about "serverless," we're primarily talking about two things: Backend as a Service (BaaS) and Function as a Service (FaaS). BaaS can be described as a cloud-based backend for your application, and FaaS is a system where individual pieces of your application (functions) are executed in response to events.

Now, let's ponder a crucial question: why is serverless the future for most businesses?

## Unleashing the Power of Serverless

__Cost-effective__
Serverless architecture is incredibly cost-effective. With traditional servers, you're paying for the entire server and its running costs, regardless of whether your application is active or idle. In contrast, with serverless, you pay for what you use, based on the computation time and the number of executions.

__scalability__
One of the most significant benefits of serverless architecture is automatic scaling. You don't need to worry about traffic spikes or server capacity; the service provider handles it all.

__Faster Deployments__
With serverless, developers can focus more on writing the code that makes their application unique and less on managing and operating servers or runtimes. This leads to quicker deployments and more time for innovation.

__Environmentally Friendly__
Yes, you heard it right! Serverless architecture is more environmentally friendly. By utilizing only the resources needed, energy consumption decreases, which is a win-win for both your company's budget and our planet.

## Serverless - The Future of Business
In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, businesses need to be more flexible and efficient than ever. Adopting a serverless architecture allows businesses to do just that. It facilitates a leaner approach to software development, with cost-efficiency, flexibility, and speed at its core.

If businesses want to stay competitive and continue to innovate, serverless is undoubtedly a game-changing approach that can help them achieve these goals. Serverless architectures aren't just the future - they're the present, reshaping the way we think about software development, business models, and even environmental sustainability.

Serverless technology fits perfectly into this picture, offering a future-focused solution that can help us develop more efficient, scalable, and eco-friendly digital services.

To sum it up, the future is here, and it's serverless. It's time to seize the opportunities it brings to the table and usher in a new era of growth and innovation. 

Discover the transformative power of serverless architecture. Learn what 'serverless' really means, explore its key advantages such as cost-effectiveness, scalability, and speed, and understand why this technology is shaping the future of business. 

A Serverless Future | Cause of a Kind

A Serverless Future

 ![The Marketing Continuum & The Consumer Lifecycle](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/3KAJmcI3LR9gFJkdCXEb1j/0efa89dd401a199846d49260fd9fe90e/The_Marketing_Flywheel_-_Consumer_Experience.jpg)

Let's remove the channel of marketing from the equation and simply focus on the consumer. Regardless of the marketing channel you specialize in or prefer, understanding a consumers lifecycle as they engage with your product, service or solution is critical insight to creating effective marketing campaigns in the first place. 

It is well known that the consumer journey has a lifecycle to it. Great practitioners understand the consumer at every stage of this lifecycle. 

Logically, every consumer begins as a STRANGER. A random individual or business that has no awareness of the product, service or solution and may not even know that they are a potential prospect either. 

The idea is to convert that stranger into a PROSPECT. 

This step alone could take an immeasurable amount of time depending on the product, service or solution. The idea is to create marketing campaigns that work to ATTRACT, ENGAGE and DELIGHT, providing the greatest opportunity to move a consumer through the lifecycle. 

Once a prospect is aware of the product, service or solution, sales motions and digital funnels work to convert that prospect into a CUSTOMER. 

With highly competitive markets, every business has a competitor that is also trying to grab the customers attention. 😰 

This is why it is critical at each phase of a consumers experience for a brand to continuously ATTRACT, ENGAGE and DELIGHT their customers. Without this, a competitor has an opportunity to convert your customer that you worked so hard to acquire. 

The complete Consumer Experience Lifecycle aims to retain customers and delight them to the point where not only are they a customer, but they are a PROMOTER. 

Promoters are the most effective form of marketing their is. Maybe not even arguably... 🤯 

Why?
✅ Lowest Consumer Acquisition Cost
✅ Highest Closed/ Won/ Sold Rate
✅ Born from Trust

Measured in:
✅ Customer Lifetime Value
✅ Retention 

📌 It is important to note that each phase of the Consumer Experience Lifecycle requires marketing campaigns that ATTRACT, ENGAGE and DELIGHT. 

This is the continuum. 


Regardless of the marketing channel you specialize in or prefer, understanding a consumers lifecycle as they engage with your product, service or solution is critical insight to creating effective marketing campaigns in the first place. 

The Consumer Experience Lifecycle & The Marketing Continuum

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Facebook: ![Facebook/Meta Media Specifications](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/oJ5tVYK7snPvuSlRXRhiT/7c64ae1ba73e3fb0fe322fc4f744fc9f/1673178884027.jpg)

YouTube: ![YouTube Media Specifications](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/4NBHLnQmA5yUUnO1UEjcoM/c3d7645eea1b80d3a2fb5b8edfb42ea0/1673178884566.jpg)

Behance: ![Behance Media Specifications](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/6VUzDspGDnQxBXPNHVngZm/f0c345d4f2e3c3e00afc8f2693e7e817/1673178884611.jpg)

Pinterest: ![Pinterest Media Specifications](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/30OPLM2xn7O8kKGZ4qVtyo/f2f0459d3c7dbbc741021e0df6074d32/1673178884677.jpg)

What are the Dimensions of Avatars, Profile Pictures, Banners, and Posts and Other Media on Social Platforms? Each Social Media Platform has a specific set of criteria for media assets. Everything from Dimensions to file sizes is available here. 

What are the Dimensions of Avatars, Profile Pictures, Banners, and Posts and Other Media on Social Platforms? | Cause of a Kind

What are the Dimensions of Avatars, Profile Pictures, Banners, and Posts and Other Media on Social Platforms?

They help brands create scalable digital solutions by building software products, with one of their recent projects being a Retro Flappy Birds reimagination by VeeFriends. Mike and Justin partner with companies that have powerful social impact initiatives.

Pheydrus Podcast - Web 3.0, Spirituality & Male Leadership | Cause of a Kind

Pheydrus Podcast - Web 3.0, Spirituality & Male Leadership

## "Cause of a Kind" focuses on helping companies with web design and software.

Written by [Jerry Barmash](https://patch.com/users/jerry-barmash "Jerry Barmash")

![DSC04725-1440px](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/3ZztkDDTVWYhNqjSVkP0At/17aee64fd9642f4506083717b28b606d/DSC04725-1440px.jpg)

ISLAND PARK, NY — Justin Abrams, an Island Park resident, is CEO of the creative studio, Cause of a Kind.

The technology company builds software for small businesses. Abrams said they partner with businesses of all shapes and sizes to help with their vision.

Abrams is partnered at Cause of a Kind with Michael Rispoli, from East Meadow. They have been friends since rock climbing in Plainview at age 15.

Being an entrepreneur is in Abrams' blood as far back as when he was a 12-year-old caddy in Cold Spring Harbor.

While the business has been around for seven years, Abrams said it's taken a foothold in the industry.

"At the end of the day, we're a team of artists and builders," Abrams said. "We all have full, multi-decade careers behind us. Today, it's a competitive marquee agency."

Abrams said there are many ways to work with companies but, "our core competency is truly around software and web creation."

He said the name "Cause of a Kind" came from a need to leave their full-time positions.

"One day we were out right here in Long Beach, and the idea came to us about creating some kind of a platform that would allow for regular people to bid on experiences with not-so-regular people," Abrams said. "We were really looking to partner with any kind of cause."

Their creativity has multi-facets, including television commercials, events and web design.

It was a side hustle for the six years of the Cause of a Kind life. Abrams and Rispoli left their careers last year for the full-time commitment.

"This was a very calculated, very long experience," he said. "There was no haste in making the decision."

Abrams, 34, said there had to be a sustainable position for themselves, other staffers and families.

They have seven employees in the fold and hope to triple the workforce in 2023.

Abrams brings a sales and marketing background to Cause of a Kind, but with a Long Island connection throughout. He was born and raised in Dix Hills, attended SUNY Old Westbury and met his future working partner on a business-to-business sales job in Mineola.

For those cautionary tales about starting a business with a friend, Abrams said "for me, it couldn't be more different."

Despite his title as CEO, "every decision is made between the two of us. We make 'very simply,' non-emotional decisions."

Full Article: https://patch.com/new-york/longbeach/best-friends-forge-career-long-island-based-software-business

ISLAND PARK, NY — Justin Abrams is CEO of the creative studio, Cause of a Kind.  The technology company builds software for small businesses. Abrams said they partner with businesses of all shapes and sizes to help with their vision.

Best Friends Forge Career With Long Island-Based Software Business - The Patch | Cause of a Kind

Best Friends Forge Career With Long Island-Based Software Business

![How to find my customers?](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/nARMmft3EvObXJxTmOcFV/77a694d212dee6de6a668f876fd721ff/Screenshot_2022-10-26_131114.png)

## ODE of an SEO :: Where, Oh, Where is my Customer Searching?

Here is my personal experience with Search on a random day. It is surprising to me, how much of my time is spent researching, consuming, traveling and learning, OUTSIDE OF GOOGLE. 

The most important part of this is that SEO, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, needs to happen anywhere that there is a Search Engine. Which does not just mean Google, folks. 

Google Maps --> Local Bagel Shop 

Google Maps --> Pharmacy Near Me

Google Maps --> Outdoor Adventures for Toddlers

Google Maps --> Gumbo Limbo State Park

Instagram --> Search #GumboLimboStatePark

YouTube --> How to fix a doorknob that sticks?

Amazon --> LCD Television Cleaning Kit

Google Home --> What is the weather in South Florida today?

What I find most interesting about my habits, despite being a proficient specialist in SEO, is that my search experience is accommodated by the platforms and their ability to provide the answers to my specialized queries and the moments of my personal day that matter to me. 

Everyone is going to have a unique search experience. Professionally, I spend a lot of time in Google proper, or small research repositories like professional blogs such as [Search Engine Land](https://searchengineland.com/ "Search Engine Land") or [Search Engine Journal](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/ "Search Engine Journal") , or [LinkedIn](https://linkedin.com "LinkedIn") and so forth. 

Its arguable that everything is becoming a search engine and learning how to meet your customers in the platforms that they are spending their time in, is the correct strategy. 

Its arguable that everything is becoming a search engine and learning how to meet your customers in the platforms that they are spending their time in, is the correct strategy. 

How do I find my customers in Google? | Cause of a Kind

How do I find my customers in Google?

When I first started Cause of a Kind, we envisioned being an apparel company, not an agency. One of our first projects was a short film we produced to promote our mission and products. Being budget constrained I was the de-facto Director of Photography and did the filming for the whole thing. It was a super bright, sunny day at a beach at the East end of Long Island. I adjusted the frame rate and aperture settings as I was used to for still photography. With sun this intense I was regularly shooting at stratospheric frame rates. Seemed fine to me, until we viewed the footage.

I later learned, when shooting video, you don't want to shoot a high frame rates like this. The reason is that most of the TV we watch is shot at a lower frame rate. The movements for the characters thus have a slight, but unnoticeable blur to them. A softness if you will. My footage by contrast, was too intense. It felt abrupt and trippy. There was something about it that just felt wrong that you couldn't put your finger on. Thankfully, some post processing software allowed us to correct the footage to an acceptable degree.

Now what does all this have to do with front end frameworks? There's been a lot of talk about performance of front ends and one metric that comes up often is how many frames per second a framework can handle. For the vast majority of us, these frameworks have been fast enough in terms of fps for the last ten years. In fact, just like my cinematography experience, I suspect we're making our applications feel unnaturally fast.

Have you ever gone to a site where you navigated to a new page and didn't know if anything happened?

I have, quite often in fact. With the speed at which frameworks like next and nuxt navigate between pages, if your layout looks nearly the same, it's easy to miss if anything happened at all. Only by reading the content do you realize the titles changed and the content is different. When sites are so fast that items filter and pages navigate without even a flicker, it creates an unease. A fleeting moment of doubt, where you have to scan the content to figure out if the program took you where you wanted to go. In our quest for speed, we've forgotten that most people are used to a web that's just slower. That quick flicker of a blank screen or loading indicator or page transition, lets us know, that we just did something.

But let's take it a step further. What about all the modals, overlays, and toasts we add to our websites and interfaces? Ever have a mod once that instantly just took over the screen on a click. It felt abrupt and sudden. I was annoyed by it. But let's soften things a bit by adding a fade transition. We can also add some motion so the obligatory GDPR banner slides in from the bottom instead of just appearing a few seconds after the page load. It feels just a little less annoying and obtrusive when these elements politely disrupt our experience rather than just being there.

My argument here is two fold. One is that 40 - 60fps is not merely fast enough for most applications, it's desirable so our user's faces don't melt off. The second is we need to be intentional and slow some things down. Let's get back to using CSS transitions to soften disruptive UI elements and to indicate that our actions are being responded to. A loading bar, or a nice page transition can be what separates just another tool from what is truly delightful to use.

There's been a lot of talk about performance of front ends and one metric that comes up often is how many frames per second a framework can handle. For the vast majority of us, these frameworks have been fast enough in terms of fps for the last ten years.

Are Frontend Frameworks Too Fast?

![How do I create the best marketing strategy?](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/1jtWpDiS3Yfdd4UhtUEhvo/adbc11831168df789ad00751abe12183/DNA.png)

The biggest piece of advice that I offer marketing teams and content teams is a term I call, __Cross Channel Synergies__. I create the best marketing strategies because im keeping it all super simple. Like most things in this world, especially things that abide by the laws of physics, objects that remain in motion together, remain intact. However, objects that are disrupted, well, you know the rest. 

The goal of marketing campaigns is mistunderstood. Everyone want's to crack the code to creating the best marketing strategy. Channel managers are in competition with each other. The social media manager is holding onto their secret campaign driver and a budget for strategic influencer campaigns, while the paid media team is focused on the trends of next year, and the display team is trying to remain current with todays trends, and the email team is trying to retarget old customers, and the organic team is crying for more copywriters, and so forth and so on. Least of the alignment coming from the content topic that they all focus on. 

I have built content strategies for a variety of industries and businesses and one thing is always true. The teams that synergize their efforts, and focus as a single marketing motion, led by the consumer audience, are always more durable, more effective, more genuine, and more lucrative. 

Lets take a look at a pretend campaign across the major channels and lets unify ABC Corp. and their messaging around a new type of paper product. 

Organic and SEO: 
- Identified 3 keywords that have an appropriate audience for the product
  -  Head Term: Wholesale White Resume Paper
  -  Torso Term: Wholesale Textured White Resume Paper
  -  Long Tail Term: Wholesale Textured White Resume Paper in Bulk
- These topics will be used in a /Blog-Post and on the /Product-Landing-Page, that will hopefully, link to each other.

Paid Ads: 
- Paid campaigns will focus on these 3 core keywords and a handful of additional creative terms, and begin paying for positioning on the first page of Google. 
- While organic takes its time to rank, at least the brand is there on page 1 capturing attention.

Social (Organic and Paid):
- All social content from the photos, to the infographics, to the influencer partners at the paper manufacturers or the printer companies, should all be focused around these core topics. 
- The hashtag strategy and the descriptions across platforms should all unify around this core topic of __White Resume Paper__.
- The demographics and cohorts that will recieve the paid strategy are those looking to stock large quantities of office supplies, not students, or employers, or recruiters. 

Email:
- Everything from the subject line, to the opening content, to the CTA's should all focus on this core term and it's supportive terms. 

I know, I know, what is say is a bit idealistic and a bit utopian, perhaps even too oversimplified and boarderline dystopian, but like most things, humans overthink. We're focused on KPI's and ROI and forget that marketing is so much more elegant and simple than that. 

I often ask myself:

- What do I want to be known for in the moment? 

- What do I want to make sure the world knows about me, my product and the experience my customer should expect with my business? 

__Cross Channel Synergy__ is more about simplifying complex campaigns, and focusing on executing on core topics. The key to creating the best best marketing strategies is more about cross channel alignment then it is about a single viral campaign.   

The goal of marketing campaigns is misunderstood. The biggest piece of advice that I offer marketing teams and content teams is a term I call, Cross Channel Synergies. I create the best marketing strategies because I'm keeping it all super simple.

How do I create the best marketing strategy? | Cause of a Kind

How do I create the best marketing strategy?


Creating a `sitemap.xml` file was something that always nagged at me when working with headless content management systems. "What do you mean Contentful doesn't do sitemaps?!" my SEO colleagues would say--not understanding what headless means fundamentally. This was one thing that the old monolithic systems like wordpress seemed to have in the bag.

## My Early Approaches
A year ago, I worked out an initial solution that involved using a chron job to create the file regularly. Sadly most cloud hosting providers ([Heroku](https://heroku.com "Heroku") & [Vercel](https://vercel.com/ "Vercel")) don't allow for adding files after the build is deployed so you now have to save this to a CDN like [Amazon S3](https://aws.amazon.com/pm/serv-s3 "Amazon S3").

I later tried an approach that moved building the sitemap being triggered off of a webhook on every publish event inside of Contentful. The problem with this is that you have to make sure you are saving to the same URL inside S3 and that you still have the same added S3 dependency.

You could do a full rebuild on every webhook event to save the file which, is something many static site evangelists are comfortable with. However, as your site gets larger (and maybe handles lots of money), having builds happen at the drop of a hat just makes me uneasy. It's just more moving parts to worry about. There had to be a better way, I wanted to keep my site dynamic with a good cache, and ensure builds only happen for code changes not content changes. I also wanted to ditch the extra S3 dependency.

## The New Method
Thankfully, Next.js can do this inside it's `getInitialProps` hook and serve up the XML file easily. You can setup the sitemap page, have it build on the server, set it and forget it.

First create the `sitemap.js` file inside of the pages directory.

`touch ./pages/sitemap.js`

Install the `xmlbuilder` package:

npm install `xmlbuilder` or `yarn add xmlbuilder` whichever you prefer.

Then configure the following to your liking based upon your Contentful models. I use a `pages` and `articles` model here as examples but you may have many more.

```
import { createClient } from '../services/contentful';
import * as builder from 'xmlbuilder';

const rootUrl = 'https://yourhomepage.com';

const buildUrlObject = (path, updatedAt) => {
  return {
    'loc': { '#text': `${rootUrl}${path}` },
    'lastmod': { '#text': updatedAt.split('T')[0] },
    'changefreq': { '#text': 'daily' },
    'priority': { '#text': '1.0' }
  }
}
```
```
const Sitemap = () => ( null );

Sitemap.getInitialProps = async ({ res }) => {
  try {
    const client = createClient();

    const pages = await client.getEntries({ 
      content_type: 'page', 
      limit: 1000,
      include: 1 
    });

    const articles = await client.getEntries({ 
      content_type: 'article', 
      limit: 1000,
      include: 1 
    });

    let feedObject = {
      'urlset': {
        '@xmlns': 'http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9',
        '@xmlns:image': 'http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1',
        'url': []
      }
    }

    for (const item of pages.items) {
      if (typeof item.fields.slug !== 'undefined') {
        feedObject.urlset.url.push(
          buildUrlObject(`/${item.fields.slug === 'index' ? '' : item.fields.slug}`, item.sys.updatedAt)
        );
      }
    }

    for (const item of articles.items) {
      if (typeof item.fields.slug !== 'undefined') {
        feedObject.urlset.url.push(
          buildUrlObject(`/blog/${item.fields.slug}`, item.sys.updatedAt)
        );
      }
    }

    for (const item of posts.items) {
      if (typeof item.fields !== 'undefined') {
        feedObject.urlset.url.push(
          buildUrlObject(`/the-salon/${item.fields.slug === 'index' ? '' : item.fields.slug}`, item.sys.updatedAt)
        );
      }
    }

    const sitemap = builder.create(feedObject, { encoding: 'utf-8' });

    if (res) {
      res.setHeader('Cache-Control', 's-maxage=5, stale-while-revalidate');
      res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/xml');
      res.statusCode = 200;
      res.end(sitemap.end({ pretty: true }));
    }

    return;
  } catch(error) {
    return { error: 404 };
  }
};

export default Sitemap;
```
*Notes: I like to extract my Contentful service into a `services` directory but you can put the contentful package or whatever headless CMS you want to use in here instead. I also use the slug `index` for the homepage in Contentful so I have that ternary check in here to not include the slug. Again configure as needed. I've also limited this to 1000 articles and pages but if you have more you may want to do some pagination magic there as well.*

## Deployment
To configure this for deployment on now.sh you just need to head on over to your `now.json` file and setup accordingly. Also make sure you add the route for your `robots.txt` file here. This can be stored in static but you will want it accessible off of the route.

```
{
  "version": 2,
  "alias": "my-sitemap-sample",
  "name": "my-sitemap-sample",
  "builds": [{ "src": "next.config.js", "use": "@now/next" }],
  "routes": [
    { "src": "^/robots.txt",  "dest": "/static/robots.txt" },
    { "src": "/sitemap.xml", "dest": "/sitemap" }
  ]
}
```

## Scaling
As your site grows it may take some time to build and serve up this file. I like to use a service like cloudflare and it's caching to mitigate this. So far I haven't hit any speed traps but know that on a super large sitemap it might be a good idea to break this into multiple sitemaps on different routes at a certain point.

![discussion](//images.contentful.com/o3vn3w2yy4rp/29ujxreYjda7HgY1W5ywyx/8cb8566e2aeb6bf9edd9992f51d1876c/discussion.JPG)

Creating a sitemap dynamically with Contentful and Next.js could be the next generation of Sitemaps for search engines. Learn how to implement by reading more. 

How to Create Dynamic Sitemaps with Contentful and Next.js Without Webhooks | Cause of a Kind

How to Create Dynamic Sitemaps with Contentful, Next.js Without Webhooks

![heroku vs vercel](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/5MNy1ZyQSVTQwrwOUlLKHz/9cb9c3aa147730bf119939e656c37b6d/heroku_vs_vercel.png)

I've long been a consumer of cloud service providers. I have historically used [Heroku](https://heroku.com "Heroku") for the majority of the projects I have worked on over the years and have been pleased with their offering. New on the scene is [Vercel](https://vercel.com/ "Vercel"), also a cloud hosting provider, but with a different focus. Where Heroku found success embracing the move to cloud based servers and building a solid platform on top of it that was easy to use, Vercel has done the same with a focus on the shift to serverless and edge computing.

So which should you choose? As with anything in engineering, it depends.

## Heroku

Heroku is considered a platform as a service provider (PaaS). They offer hosting in a wide variety of languages (node, Clojure, Go, Ruby, Python, the list goes on) as well as easy to setup build pipelines and hosted databases. All of this can be stood up through their CLI or through their UI. The git integration is stable and quick to setup as well.

Their pricing structure also follows the more classical style where you don't pay for use but rather the size of the resources. So you pick from their hardware offerings and off you go. When you need to scale up you just select a larger machine or move to autoscaled clusters and you're all set. You will need to let Heroku know if you want a larger machine or if you want to autoscale and at what point to stop scaling. This can come in handy if you need to control your server costs.

Heroku also has Heroku CI, which is their automated test runner. Heroku CI plus their git integration enables you to have a fully functioning CI / CD pipeline all without any extra tooling. They also allow you to setup review applications, which are deployments tied to a specific branch when a pull request is made. This allows you to have a git flow, trunk based development setup but also have those individual environments when you have larger epics to test.

Another nice feature of Heroku is their *teams* features. Here you can set up teams that have their own set of permitted users and applications as well as their own billing. For agencies that have lots of clients this is great since clients can pay for their resources directly. Your developers can access all of your teams from a single login. This is logistically convenient if you manage many applications for different clients.

### When to Pick Heroku

So when to pick Heroku? Heroku gets you up and running fast with more traditional requirements. If you need a long running cloud server, a SQL database, and a test pipeline all setup for you in a few minutes--heroku is for you. They also support a broader range of server languages than Vercel does right now. So if you are not on the node stack and perhaps doing something more esoteric like a Haskell build, you'll likely be able to find a build pack for your application. They also scale incredibly well. I've had their autoscaling dynos handling 10k requests per second without skipping a beat with Heroku's default server configurations. It's great to accommodate that type of scale without needing a specialized DevOps person on board.

## Vercel

Vercel is also a cloud hosting provider but they offer a different type of environment. They focus on serverless infrastructure that can handle infinite scale. The integrate quite tightly with the [Next.js](https://nextjs.org/ "next.js") framework and can support the three core types of jamstack configuration:

- static builds
- incremental static regeneration
- dynamic server side rendering

Vercel also has a solid git integration like Heroku that will get you up and running with a git flow workflow in a few clicks. 

Their focus on the tight integration with Next.js reminds me a lot of the apple model where software and hardware are tightly integrated. In cases where you want to utilize the full weight of Next.js as a framework, Vercel really shines. For example if you make use of the Next image component, don't bother trying to get this working on Heroku. You'll quickly max out their memory requirements as the compression and conversion of images requires a specialized setup that Vercel just gives to you. They're also setup for optimizing static hosting at the edge so you can have those super snappy static built pages or incremental static builds alongside dynamic pages without any performance consequences.

Vercel does not have an integrated test runner or any type of database offerings. You'll need to seek those elsewhere. This is not typically a problem with  serverless database offerings like [Fauna](https://fauna.com "Fauna"), [CockroachDB](https://www.cockroachlabs.com/product/ "cockroachdb"), [Amazon Aurora](https://aws.amazon.com/rds/aurora/ "amazon aurora"), or [Mongo Atlas](https://www.mongodb.com/atlas "mongo atlas"). The same goes for test runners. Today we have github actions and gitlab that can perform automated testing for us before deploys. If you're used to all the services Heroku provides around CI/CD and database management you'll want to research the best setup for you on Vercel.

That being said, Vercel is built for any scale, any time. True to the serverless promise of tools like [AWS Lambda](https://aws.amazon.com/lambda/ "aws lambda"), you will not need to scale up or provision resources. Vercel's model is pay as you go. With Heroku, while you do have autoscaling, you have to enable this and do basic configuration yourself. This means you could find yourself needing to choose larger hardware from time to time. Vercel truly embraces hands off DevOps and is built to handle any amount of scale, on demand, at any time.

Team management is also easy in Vercel. You can create teams just like in Heroku and they can all have their own independent billing. That being said, Vercel does charge for the number of people that need to be able to push to that repository. So if you had a lot of contributors you could find those costs end up higher than if you were with Heroku, which does not have a pay-per-seat model of billing.

### When to Pick Vercel

For me Vercel is perfect if you are using a modern javascript or typescript based web framework like Next.js, SvelteKit, or Nuxt. It's great if you are unsure of the scale your app will need to handle or are sure that the scale will be quite large and variable. If you are doing any kind of jamstack builds whether they be pure or hybrid Vercel is also an excellent choice.

Despite loving Heroku for many years, we're finding the speed and scaling benefits of Vercel to be winning us over these days. We build a lot of applications with Next.js and the integration of the platform and the framework is very convenient. We also love the new era of serverless computing so Vercel coupled with a serverless database offering like Fauna is a weight lifted off of the teams shoulders.

## Conclusion

Both Heroku and Vercel are great cloud hosting providers that free you from the burden of DevOps. While Heroku embraces the classic cloud computing model, Vercel takes things further by truly embracing the serverless and edge computing landscape. In general we've found ourselves moving more and more of our applications to Vercel, but always have Heroku as the tried and true solution that's been stable for years.

as seen on [Medium](https://medium.com/cause-of-a-kind/heroku-vs-vercel-which-cloud-service-is-best-for-me-810964808c4 "Medium")

Many people might not know the difference between Heroku and Vercel. Both are great cloud hosting providers but have some key differences in their target and ethos. Let's dive into it here.

Heroku Vs. Vercel : Which Cloud Service is Best for Me? | Cause of a Kind

Heroku Vs. Vercel : Which Cloud Service is Best for Me?

![Marauders SEO Map](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/5QI4p3PKM5ZrkvDWdtQaUW/39dff5c09bb71b7e7f0e52c21c3bb69d/367857.jpg)

I'm sitting in my lab actively auditing a massive enterprise eCommerce site and wanted to share a few steps and insights from my checklist. It isn't my full checklist, as that is accomplished over weeks and months, but as I sit down this morning, I thought I would share a bit of my formula.

I am intentionally going to leave SEO SaaS tools out of this reflection and focus purely on the google suite of available solutions. While I have an advanced tool kit, is it surprising what is available to SEO's at no cost.

- __I begin in the Google SERP for the core Branded Head Term.__  You would be absolutely SHOCKED to see that this is quite often overlooked. I want to take a look at the SERP response. Does the brand secure nearly the entire available organic SERP? What competitors are paying for above and below the SERP visibility. What does the knowledge graph look like. Is there any contextual positions like a Quick Answer, Local Pack, Video or Image Carousel, Shopping Carousel, Knowledge Panel, People Also Ask, etc. My goal is to find a point of entry. If the Branded Head Term is not returning extensive results, I have a potential point of entry. (think schema, think Google My Business, think indexation problem, so forth)

- __From there I take a look at [Google Trends](https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US "Google Trends").__ I want to understand the history of popularity for the Branded Head Term and what I assume are the Non-Branded head terms. Im usually pretty good at guessing without the use of an SEO tool to do the research.

- __From there I am off to [Google Search Console](https://search.google.com/ "Google Search Console").__ what is the current health of the website? Are there any manual actions? Anything preventing indexation? Any performance problems across devices, locations, demographics and no forth? Do I see anything alarming within Core Web Vitals? Am I missing a sitemap.xml?

- __I then take a look at both the /Robot.txt file and the /Sitemap.xml to get an understanding.__ You would be SHOCKED to see incorrect disallows or no follows or no index directives within Robot.txt files. Typically these could be implemented to staging environments pre-migration and simply forgot to remove or tidy prior to launch. Or how many times I have seen a Sitemap.XML tell a bot that the Blog article or Product display page is updating <frequency> DAILY. Publications, sports outlets, news forums, update DAILY. Your eCommerce store and the products you sell, do not update Daily. I argue whether they update, ever, except for size and quantity availability. Or how often the other features of a site map like <priority> are even used at all.

- __From there I am off to [Google My Business](https://business.google.com/ "Google My Business").__ This is a hotbed for stale content. Lots of times, the original creator of the account is no where to be found, and business goes on without really updating this platform. Google My Business is a central hub for Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. It is critical to keep this portal up to date, on target with current business dealings, reflective of company values and fully optimized. Even one missing feature, could be a full on opening for competition to capitalize on. 

- __From there I am interested in exploring the holistic marketing strategy from the perspective of the consumer.__ This may take me into the ESP or into [GoogleAds](https://ads.google.com/ "GoogleAds"), or into social platforms and so forth. What is my experience as a consumer and what can I find that is missing? Do i see cross platform synergies? Do I see a holistic approach to content Titles, Descriptions, cross platform linking and related content? 

- __From there I am looking at basic site structure and URL taxonomy.__ Again, While I use crawler solutions, I simply poke around from Home Page to, CLP to PDP, to Blog landing Page, to Artcile page and so forth. I am looking for general cleanliness and the relationship between meta elements and the URL. Im looking for clean directory structures. I am looking at pagination protocol in the URL. I am looking at case sensitivity. The list goes on. 

While my list keeps going, and while I have not even gotten into [Google Analytics](https://analytics.google.com/ "Google Analytics") or [Page Speed Insights](https://pagespeed.web.dev/ "Page Speed Insights"), or [Rich Results Test](https://search.google.com/test/rich-results "Rich Results Test"), or [Google Lighthouse](https://developers.google.com/web "Google Lighthouse") and more advanced tools to paint a clearer picture, by this time, I know more about the business that any employees, and most leadership team members. I am not just looking for SEO opportunities. I am looking to understand the total opportunity across the entire business, industry and digital ecosystem. 

My goal is simple. I operate as a surgeon would. I do as much pre-surgical inspection, data collection, process elimination, testing, and analysis, before I ever make a first incision. The goal is to do ZERO harm and make the smaller incisions possible to enhance. I am a measure twice, cut once practitioner. 

I am a Holistic Search Marketer. 

Happy Optimizing!!


I'm sitting in my lab actively auditing a massive enterprise eCommerce site and wanted to share a few steps and insights from my checklist. It isn't my full checklist, and I thought I would share a bit of my formula.

What does an SEO Audit and Checklist look like in Real Time? | Cause of a Kind

What does an SEO Audit and Checklist look like in Real Time?

SEO Course Correction Results Case Study

16 months ago, this website was underperforming for its core competencies. ALL of the traffic coming to this site was sending signals of indexation to Google for ALL the wrong things. Here is what I did to course correct.

![Disallow Case Study](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/2RKIKgqNeiUmT5CR4LDDzQ/6dc408e1e1d009bbbfca5899c94811fb/Screenshot_2022-09-14_100405.png)

It is also the definition of "SEO is a Marathon".

A section of a site was outperforming the rest of the website. Without removing content or redirects or anything at a granular level, I was willing to try a global course correct.

ROBOT.TXT Disallows

I DISALLOWED an entire directory. 😮 psycho move.

WHY???

This sends a directive signal to the search engine that while these pages are still valuable to indexation, they are NOT the primary value of the site and prevents them from further crawling, which preserves crawl budget and prevents the search engine from focusing on ancillary content versus primary content. Disallowed pages include campaign level pages, blog pages and long form content pages that were not hyper focused on the core competencies of the website and business all nested cleanly under a /sub-directory/.

Without losing the link juice and indexation value (NOINDEX), the DISALLOW enabled me to isolate this specific section of the site and direct the search engine to focus on all of the other content on the site that supports the primary mission.

Long story short, there is no voodoo here. I was willing to nuke the entire site, in order to harden the indexation and control the way that the search engine reads and ranks the website holistically.

THE DATA:

✳️ You'll notice the cliff around August 2021.
✳️ You'll notice the spread prior to August 2021 between the metrics.
✳️ You'll notice HIGH impressions and HIGH average Position, but LOW CTR and LOW Click engagement.

All the wrong content was being indexed and the metrics were showing all the wrong results.

✳️ You'll notice the sacrifice and the immediate impact.

For anything performing in an area of the site that I wanted to keep, there was NO IMPACT. If anything, I saw immediate lift in performance and durability of engagement.

Just over a year later, this website dominates the niche all the while the DISALLOWED content is still indexed and still performs for the business, the Search Engine now knows for sure, that the websites focus is elsewhere.

Happy Optimizing!!

16 months ago, this website was underperforming for its core competencies. ALL of the traffic coming to this site was sending signals of indexation to Google for ALL the wrong things. Here is what I did to course correct.

SEO Course Correction Results Case Study | Cause of a Kind

SEO Course Correction Results Case Study


![SEO is DigitalDNA for Brands](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/4aL5rVVmXAgqJKyC1mhS1I/de7601eb92e1688a4dc25a58d6158e3d/DNA.png)

BOLD STATEMENT: SEO should be part of the genetics of business.

I am always open for debate, but this is an infographic that I have used for YEARS, with some of the most recognizable super brands on the planet to drive holistic SEO programs. 

This graphic, in its beautiful Helix form, demonstrates the extended Buyers Journey and the marketing strategies that "ideally" apply through all moments of the consumer lifecycle. 

If we break away from SEO 101, and move SEO into a place of strategic big data parsing, the true Voice of the Customer, and unify/influence the greater digital mix, SEO becomes part of the genetics of a marketing motion. Literally the digitalDNA 🧬of a brand. 

SEO is so much more than just optimizing content to perform better in Search Engine Search Results. It is about LISTENING. It is about MEASURMENT. It is about ADAPTABILITY. It is about DURABILITY. 

If we break away from SEO 101, and move SEO into a place of strategic big data parsing, the true Voice of the Customer, and unify/influence the greater digital mix, SEO becomes part of the genetics of a marketing motion.

SEO is the DigitalDNA of Business | Cause of a Kind

SEO is the DigitalDNA of Business

![vspatial](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/oteN8g8vwv4gONYurgdH4/0c6adfcf31cf07aea397c009a3cb5333/vspatial.jpg)

## What is Virtual Reality?

Virtual reality is the next big thing in the world of gaming and entertainment but its use cases far exceed the limits of your traditional gaming console. VR has been around for decades and has been used in the military, education and entertainment industries. Recently, it has become more mainstream thanks to the introduction of affordable headsets like the [Meta Quest 2](https://store.facebook.com/quest/products/quest-2/?utm_source=gg&utm_medium=ps&utm_campaign=11032349238&utm_term=meta%20quest%202&utm_content=613730681729&utm_ad=129095419349&utm_location=9004519&utm_location2=&utm_placement=kwd-1456471425763&utm_device=c&utm_matchtype=e&utm_feed=&utm_adposition=&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjbyYBhCdARIsAArC6LK98YpCehXYD8W8RU5LAO9HFTCrhyiN16rgd1H6Kde1OAC3jdWPq_IaApkcEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds) which provides a top notch VR experience completely wireless and without the need to connect to a high powered computer. This mainstream adoption has led to a large expansion in VR software and has brought us one step closer to the true potential of this technology. 

Virtual reality (VR) is a technology that allows users to interact with and experience a computer-generated environment. The most common type of virtual reality headset is the head-mounted display (HMD). These devices usually have two small high resolution OLED or LCD screens inside, one for each eye. Some HMDs include built-in headphones to provide sound to the wearer. The screens are designed to provide stereoscopic images from different perspectives which create the illusion that you're looking at an object in full three dimensional space.There are a few different HMD designs. The[ Oculus Rift](https://www.oculus.com/rift-s/features/?utm_source=www.google.com&utm_medium=oculusredirect) and [HTC Vive](https://www.vive.com/us/) use a head-mounted display in which there is only one screen covering each eye, while the [PlayStation VR](https://www.playstation.com/en-us/ps-vr/) uses an HMD with two circular screens that can provide an FOV of up to 100°, but lacks the ability for true stereoscopic viewing.

![supernatural-vr-exercise-app-review](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/1ljF7CSlLuREnjxqgiLgLy/b8ee3bc7931c7a14fa30ff56d810df80/supernatural-vr-exercise-app-review.jpg)
## How is Virtual Reality being used?
VR has been increasingly used for training and simulation purposes, such as in the military and healthcare, but its potential applications are far broader. For example, fitness applications have been growing increasingly popular on the platform. Dedicated fitness applications have risen to the top of the download charts as more people have realized the benefits of a virtual reality workout. Apps like [Supernatural VR Fitness](https://www.getsupernatural.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwjbyYBhCdARIsAArC6LIp7mf24d4x6zYsypw5zQvhMREWkfc2_Xx26Qz5i5huWSrnCiTAjeUaAmLWEALw_wcB) provide the user with a personal trainer who will guide you through extensive cardio exercises either solo or in a group.The group environment provides you with a healthy level of competition and an incredible social experience, similar to the approach of [Peloton group sessions](https://www.onepeloton.com/bike?utm_campaign=26625333&utm_content=315501950&utm_medium=search&utm_source=google_search&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjbyYBhCdARIsAArC6LJauw1qhMGuT78PNRgS9wWhx2bu8TN54RV93qvWpP4BixlHTTwBJhYaAupEEALw_wcB). 

This idea of a VR social experience has been quickly adopted by companies such as Facebook who have now changed their name to Meta. They have started to push the boundaries of what VR will provide to the professional world. Meta has started experimenting with the use of VR in a work from home environment, providing employees with a realistic and immersive way to stay connected with their colleagues. Using a virtual meeting room has proven to be a game changer compared to the traditional webcam chats. Employees and clients are able to connect and coexist in the same 3D space while also making sure that there is no distraction from our outside surroundings, which can be helpful in some cases. VR meeting rooms or VR collaboration spaces are quickly becoming the go-to tool for companies and employees looking to collaborate in new ways offering a degree of connection that traditional meetings cannot, while still providing an excellent space to work through difficult problems. When used as a supplement to other methods of communication, VR makes collaboration a more effective experience.

![20210817 105533 still 1](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/1tB7J5tgC5pxoS6a6DXhrn/80c3deda4eaa00febec34874348fc69f/20210817_105533_still_1.png)

[Meta’s Horizon Workrooms](https://www.oculus.com/workrooms/) allows users to create an avatar and sit among colleagues in computer-generated corporate settings and has intuitive ways of interacting with digital office space items (e.g., a whiteboard); and requires internet speeds available in most homes.

The benefits of such a product are substantial. If in-person interaction results in more collaboration, innovation, productivity, and a sense of belonging, being able to replicate that experience seamlessly would be invaluable for workplaces, especially those that regularly employ remote workers.

## Where can developers begin their VR journey?

As a developer I am very interested in the process of developing VR and AR applications. As people continue to adopt this technology the need for VR skilled developers will continue to increase. Unity is the game engine in which most VR applications are developed and while a solid foundation in game development is useful, Virtual Reality development is really a craft of its own. Many companies are seeing the potential of the VR development landscape and have begun to offer training programs to new developers and increased funding and resources to small VR studios. Major tech schools are now offering in person and online courses such as the [VR/AR- xPRO](https://executive-ed.xpro.mit.edu/virtual-reality-augmented-reality?utm_source=Google&utm_network=g&utm_medium=c&utm_term=vr%20course&utm_location=9004519&utm_campaign_id=17492813711&utm_adset_id=143340956048&utm_ad_id=594745681650&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjbyYBhCdARIsAArC6LIlF3_RD_YELOlde90BmsniffvF_VrCKxUaxmG7yA7Onw7FatG4-cgaAgsxEALw_wcB) class offered by [MIT](https://www.mit.edu/). Although an extensive course can be beneficial it is also possible to get a great start with more affordable options such as [The Complete Unity VR Developer Course](https://www.udemy.com/course/unity-vr-developer-course/?utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=udemyads&utm_campaign=DSA_Catchall_la.EN_cc.US&utm_content=deal4584&utm_term=_._ag_95911180068_._ad_616151791905_._kw__._de_c_._dm__._pl__._ti_dsa-841699838863_._li_9004519_._pd__._&matchtype=&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjbyYBhCdARIsAArC6LJ9PpkfmnWxKWKDPmGljPG-APSOTbIz2poFTMEoy8j1P2PP__tOQp4aAvnyEALw_wcB) offered by Udemy.

## Does Virtual Reality have a future?

The advancements in VR technology these recent years have been incredible to witness, the truth is that VR is still in its infancy. As it stands the current solutions are not quite ready to be implemented on a mass scale in the professional world as headset costs, comfort and a lack of professional tools are all still major factors. As more users and developers begin to adopt the hardware and software we will continue to see exponential growth of these products. So, while there is still a ways to go, the future of virtual workplaces looks bright.


Virtual reality is the next big thing in the world of gaming and entertainment but its use cases far exceed the limits of your traditional gaming console. VR has been around for decades and has been used in the military, education and fitness industries. 

The Future of Virtual Reality | Cause of a Kind

The Expanding Potential of a Virtual Reality Future

![cdixonwteet on web3](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/DKxsBYU75Rj0ncDiI1Giw/2943a53a5d0a95f9d1f8fbf5f036ffed/cdixonwteet.png)

There isn't, but there should be! 💡

Blockchain is a tool for building Web3, which to me simply means the internet of value (owning digital things). But that also means blockchain need not be a part of that equation at all.

To take advantage of it, your Mom shouldn't need to understand the inner mechanics. I have a refrigerator, what does it do? It keeps food cold. You needn't know the inner workings to take advantage of it's awesome power.

We all pay for goods with money, yet only a select few understand the economics behind fiat. Web3 needs to bridge that gap.

This might rub some purists the wrong way though. It means the average person cares very little about decentralization. What they will care about is being able to log in to applications without having to remember a password or transfer money from place to place without waiting for a clearing house or being charged a transaction fee.

God forbid we allow financial transactions to take place instantly, without paying a middleman... 🤯

I find Web3 seems to conflate the technology behind it with what makes it valuable to a consumer.

But would people be skeptical of HOW it allowed them to log in without a password like they are used to?

Does anyone know if those GDPR cookie popups actually work on every website? Do they ask how our passwords are stored?

I've met developers with years of experience that have no idea how traditional password-based authentication works. I'd imagine most people know even less than that with the tech we have right now.

Someone once told me the little red emergency brakes 🚨 on the train are actually connected to nothing. They're just there to make you feel good. I think of this metaphor a lot when browsing the web. So many popups, certifications, and legalese. Yet there are so many data leaks, breaches, and vulnerabilities on trusted platforms.

What I think is cool about Web3 is the idea that it will enable great security. How it achieves that will grow less and less important to consumers as it becomes mainstream.

Blockchain is a tool for building Web3, which to me simply means the internet of value (owning digital things). But that also means blockchain need not be a part of that equation at all.

Is there a basic explanation of Web3 somewhere for my mom?

![man engulfed in smoke](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/O7rAAVlrufpYj7WAZSwsE/8a71c09279fda2350eeac5ba372a1514/jaroslav-devia-xfYiIpHnvhs-unsplash.jpg)

With headless content management systems (CMS), designers and developers are given incredible power and flexibility, like we never had with the monolithic solutions of the past like Wordpress, Drupal, Shopify, or Magento. The problem is that with great power and flexibility, comes great complexity. We spend a lot of time and energy on the design of our interfaces for customers. Yet, we think very little about the user experience of the back end systems that go into this. 

> With great power and flexibility, comes great complexity.

The prevailing belief is that employees and administrators can suffer the pain as long as the user experience for customers is great. When it comes to the classical content management systems, many of us have been institutionalized. We're years away from the pain of learning our way around Wordpress or Drupal or BigCommerce. When we build for headless, a CMS like [Contentful](https://www.contentful.com/ "contentful") or [Contentstack](https://www.contentstack.com/ "contentstack") can be a dream. However, because the configuration is largely dependent on the developer setting it up, the user experience for your internal teams can manifest as a nightmare. 

This is the side of headless that the industry itself still has not come around to. There is an entire user experience that now must be crafted behind the CMS itself. In fact, headless content management systems can be used to house far more than just content. At Cause of a Kind, we're using headless systems to build entire command and control centers for applications. They come complete with the ability to modify the content and imagery, craft event triggers with web hooks, and even modify the UI of the CMS itself. They give us everything we need not just to control our web interfaces, but also a way to tie together disparate internal systems. They help us wrangle a tangled ball of third-party systems into a neat pipeline of data. We can then safely give control of these systems to non-technical stakeholders. 

This frees development teams from one line text changes and running simple scripts to migrate data from one system to another. We've used headless content management systems to build everything from complex brochure and e-commerce websites, to feature flag systems for continuous integration, all the way to medical software that aggregates data from remote devices. This type of power gives us the ability to deliver value faster to customers and more power to internal stakeholders. That being said, leaving this kind of UX design to a team of engineers is often the place where things go south.

Headless content management systems have created their own [uncanny valley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley "uncanny valley"). The closer the system gets to a great user experience, the more intolerable things can become for users. For example, let's take an old school CMS like Joomla. When modified it becomes quite odd to use. It is riddled with terms like *articles*, *modules*, and *components* that end up representing different entities than we would expect. However, it is understood by the users that there will be a learning curve. They will have to memorize where these things go and what they will effect. The expectation is that this system *WILL NOT* be intuitive, and this is understood as soon as the user logs in. 

With legacy content management systems, you didn't have to consider the user experience. The user experience was dictated for you. You suffered repurposing entities like *posts*, *blocks*, *components*, and *articles* for new use cases. Administrators decorated their monitors with post-it notes full of little tips for how to use the CMS. Internal stakeholders understood the tradeoff of using what's available to avoiding building something from scratch. These oddities became acceptable abstraction leaks and a challenging user experience was the expectation. 

> With legacy content management systems, you didn't have to consider the user experience.

Contrast this with a headless content management system. Here, the workflows can be carefully crafted, entity terminology can matched to the industry, and custom plugins can make the editing experience more intuitive. The problem is, when users expect something intuitive and simple to use, yet it is not, that friction if felt ten fold! It's even worse when you get *almost* everything right. 

So how do we get this right? You need to talk to the users! It's important during the process of configuring the CMS, that you, the engineer, sit down and talk with some users. Show them how you're thinking of configuring things. Ask them about their workflows and pain points. At Cause of a Kind the user flows in the back of the house make it to the story map and design documents. 

We may not need UX designers to create mockups like we do for the customer facing application, but we certainly need to prototype. Before you hook up the CMS, create some models and fill in some data. Share it with the people that manage the system and ask for their feedback. You won't get things perfect, but you'll be able to cross that uncanny valley between expected discomfort and that thing that was *almost* delightful. 

With headless content management systems, designers and developers are given incredible power and flexibility. Power we never had with the monolithic solutions of the past like Wordpress, Drupal, Shopify, or Magento. How to use a Headless CMS?

What is the best way to use a headless CMS? | Cause of a Kind

What is the best way to use a headless CMS?

# Cant We All Just Get Along?

I don't really believe in competing channels of marketing. I believe in a holistic approach to inbound and am a student of the relationship between the channels, particularly Google PPC and Google SEO.

![SEO vs PPC : A Holistic Perspective](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/6YHYNoY8GZLdtJ1T5MaXgp/d3e5d5b2db8a9767ed2ab1a4187e0a7f/Geometric_Venn_Diagram.jpg)

It has been my first hand experience, consulting with the most recognizable brands on the planet, that the answer to driving deep and meaningful inbound results comes from a healthy relationship between SEO and PPC. There is rich and substantive data to glean from both channels with learnings that can impact the success, or the failure of each strategy.

I always found it interesting that these two disciplines, for the most part, are at odds. Quite literally competing for attention, budget, approval, results, and SERP real estate. When in reality, if these two channels are absolutely in harmony and working together towards common goals, the strategy of SERP DOMINATION emerges.

I ask you, don't you think your stake holder would want to see their domain perform in above the fold PPC positions as well as Organic positions? Or do you think that they would rather one or the other?

Happy Optimizing!

Best in class [SEO program](https://www.causeofakind.com/seo-and-cro "SEO program") at Cause of a Kind

I don't really believe in competing channels of marketing. I believe in a holistic approach to inbound and am a student of the relationship between the channels, particularly Google PPC and Google SEO.

SEO vs. PPC: A Holistic Perspective | Cause of a Kind

SEO vs. PPC: A Holistic Perspective

This might be incredibly helpful for most digital marketers, but especially SEOs. 🤓

Welcome to the digital helix. 🧬

![Digital Helix](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/3PVlYqpuAbBKgdkRIRVv2d/fc2a51c19fae1513050a00e9ecd72d41/DNA.png)

As you compare the marketing tactic with the extended consumer journey and lifecycle, you can see where synergy is created among the the various niche channels.

SEO is not only used to drive attention, but it’s used to drive innovation. It’s used to drive insights across all channels from producing relevant video content or relevant and timely email newsletters aligned with your target consumer and your competitors. It can be used to evaluate the User Experience for new technology or help elevate a social event to ensure it delivers maximum value to attendees.

The one thing I would (and will) change about this infographic in the future is, it isn’t a #straightlinemethod, rather cyclical and constant.

Happy Optimizing!

Best in Class [SEO and CRO](https://www.causeofakind.com/seo-and-cro "SEO and CRO") Program

The DNA of Digital Marketing | Cause of a Kind

The DNA of Digital Marketing

![mark-konig-xibiqPwYc8E-unsplash](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/itzvWUAogXPT1jwd60gXJ/3ff6aa0df1b24b35bf7762acd0a57b85/mark-konig-xibiqPwYc8E-unsplash.jpg)

As an agency owner, I'm the guy that has to pretend to like your bad ideas. I've heard all ranges of bad ideas. I've listened to a guy trying to sell jarred air from different parts of the world. I've entertained building a play to earn game described as "a total Ponzi Scheme." Some days I hear so many bad ideas I want to hang it all up and close my laptop for good. I'll move the whole family into a Yurt in the woods--never to look at another glowing screen again.

When you own an agency, especially one that builds software, you're going to hear a lot of dreadful ideas. Since you get paid to build things, it behooves you to pretend to like any idea someone is willing to throw money at. You listen, nod, repeat the idea back and why it's good. You then proceed to entertain what it would take to build said idea.

In situations like this, I often return to a quote by David Ogilvy:

> "I never assign a product to a writer unless I know that he is  personally interested in it. Every time I have written a bad campaign,  it has been because the product did not interest me."

He's not saying that the writer must be a user of the product, but the writer should be at least interested in it. This same idea applies to building software. It's going to be difficult to build software that you don't see utility in. While you may not be a user of the software, you should at least believe in its necessity for someone. Building a product without empathy spells doom before you've initialized the repository.

Most of the time, this feeling is subtle. It's rare to hear an outright bad idea. Most of the time they are ideas we don't understand or can't empathize with the problem. These are the ideas that are harder to walk away from. The it's not you it's me of agency pitches. You hate to walk away because you think there *might* be value in this thing, if only you can understand it. 

In these situations it's easy to fall victim to someone's enthusiasm. What you need to ask yourself in these situations is: 

How successful is this person going to be at convincing customers to use their solution? Even a great idea has a large chasm to cross when it comes to converting existing behavior. If it solves a pain point, is the existing pain painful enough? Is this a 10x improvement over what exists? Remember, most software doesn't fail because it's poorly built. It fails because it purported to solve a problem that wasn't big enough.

I was once given the advice when hiring, "it's OK to walk away from good people, but it's not OK to hire bad people." When in doubt about a candidate, it's better to walk away than be unsure. I now feel the same way about client ideas.  It's OK to walk away from a good idea, but it's not OK to build software on a premise you do not understand.

So if you have an idea that you want an honest opinion on, give me a call. I'll always lend an open ear but I won't give you a price unless I like what you're building.

As an agency owner, I'm the guy that has to pretend to like your bad ideas. I've heard all ranges of bad ideas. I've listened to a guy trying to sell jarred air from different parts of the world...

On Building Bad Ideas

![PPC vs SEO](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/5oK1UZD2CuDpzJaFHOIAH/31fdac855265e77ade3ec69d9745c05f/Capture.JPG)

This might be the most important and oversimplified infographic I have come across. I have had this image in my archives for years and it is still simply and elegantly true and I wanted to share.

SEO is a long term commitment to Expert, Authoritative and Trustworthy content, web experience and customer/search engine bot experience. SEO is a long term commitment to web excellence.

Eventually, SEO can contribute the lions share of inbound activity and share a healthy holistic relationship with the other primary channels of inbound like PPC, Social, Advertising and PR. A durable inbound future ensures a continuation of YoY performance regardless of a loss in budget for Paid Strategies.

Simply, Turn Paid Off, Say Goodbye to Inbound.

SEO drives north of 60% of KPIs ( Traffic, Conversions, Revenue), survive nuclear web winters.🥶

Brands that focus on an SEO first marketing strategy are off to creating a durable, high quality inbound future.

Happy Optimizing!

#seo #advertising #marketingstrategy #quality

Eventually, SEO can contribute the lions share of inbound activity with the other primary channels of inbound like PPC, Social, Advertising and PR. A durable inbound future of YoY performance regardless of a loss in budget for Paid Strategies.

Turn Paid Off, Say Goodbye to Inbound | Cause of a Kind

Turn Paid Off, Say Goodbye to Inbound

![hand out of the ocean](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/752h3KZXxCJwafzlGoZw6L/34b6b14551d5633de245719c5dabaf72/nikko-macaspac-6SNbWyFwuhk-unsplash.jpg)

Client anxiety, we all know the signs. It starts with emails every few days to check in on progress. They start benign at first. A new idea about a feature, a nice to have here, something they forgot to tell you about a customer there. 

It goes something like this:

> "Hey, I was thinking it would be great to add a button to the nav."

A few days later you get the next email:

> "Hey there if the team hasn't started on this feature yet would it be possible to..."

The weekend passes and on Monday you receive:

> "Hey we have a campaign we're looking to put out on Friday, do you think you'll have the application ready in time?."

Each time your frustration grows. What don't they understand about design lock? We told them the launch date won't be for another four weeks during the sale! You're getting frustrated at the questions, but missing the root cause, client anxiety. 

This is a classic problem for development teams. At agencies, this means you are building in a black box. We fell victim to this often early on in our growth. We'd sign a contract, put a line in the sand at some point in the future based upon an estimation framework, and go to work. Weeks would pass with what appears to be zero progress. You'd start with all that boring server setup and move on to the back end APIs. Or you build out the designs but don't want to show them until the design team approves every pixel.

You do this to save the client, to protect them from seeing how the sausage is being made. You've created a situation where the specs go into a box, and out comes a perfect product. You say you work in an agile process, and you even do follow agile within the team. But to the outside world this is a canoe going over a waterfall.

What ends up happening is a few weeks before launch the client team can't take it anymore. They have to show something. The client's emails have grown frequent, frantic, and animated. You show the construction site and it's a disaster. Now your team needs to field bug reports and change orders before they've ever gotten to the finish line. This leads to further delays, more frustration.

It took me a long time to break this classic agency paradigm. The reluctance to show clients how the product is progressing at every step. To embrace an agile process both for the internal team and for the clients.

How did we fix it?

It's a framework that came from one of our mentors, [Eric Elliot](https://ericelliottjs.com/ "Eric Elliot"), called *demos over deadlines*. Here we don't set some amorphous due date in the future for complete products anymore. 

This means that a staging server should be ready and accessible to clients within one week. It means that every 48 hours we can demo some feature to the client. This can be as simple as an email signup, or a banner, or the navigation, or an API endpoint. If this cannot make it to staging, then a screen recording will suffice. 

Every two weeks we guarantee a release to the staging environment. It doesn't matter if design or product hasn't reviewed it. It doesn't matter if there are still items in progress. The client will be able to jump in and feel what they are paying for. We can always say, we deployed a, b, and c, but are still patching up x, y, and z. 

The cure for client anxiety is to remove the black box. Clients understand a work in progress, what they don't understand is obfuscation. 

But wait! Doesn't that mean we're going to be fielding bugs and changes in the first weeks of the project?!

YES!

In true agile fashion we should be welcoming this feedback early. When we receive critical feedback early, the changes don't pile up into a frantic, final sprint. We can address issues, bugs, or discrepancies in the spec early. 

It also pushes clients to get user feedback early. To confirm all those user assumptions made during design. Do it sooner, with two or three trusted customers. The insights you gain will save you months of wasted work.

We now have the cure for client anxiety, *always be shipping*!

Client anxiety, we all know the signs. It starts with emails every few days to check in on progress. They start benign at first. A new idea about a feature, a nice to have here, something they forgot to tell you about a customer there. 

The Cure for Client Anxiety

![chef plating food](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/6yaHhWdQg1goIbSMQCyblT/f7f476438b9d42c4508af1de253722ec/sebastian-coman-photography-eBmyH7oO5wY-unsplash.jpg)

When it came to becoming a software engineer, I fell in love with how intellectually stimulating and downright demanding it is on the brain. However, most of the time, the job is devoid of excitement. Sure there are those crazy bugs that come up a few times a year, but the day to day goes by at your resting heart rate. It's far from boring, but it's not exciting.

During college, and for a number of years after, I worked in food service. Back then, I often complained about how lacking these jobs are in creativity, leaving me intellectually starving at the end of my shift. However, I loved the speed of the experience. The intensity under which a team of servers, serving entirely different customers, would all flow together as one during an epic battle sequence between the diner and a warm meal. There was cursing, broken glassware, thrown chopped meat, cut fingers, oil stains and heavy drinking all coming together to form a work experience unlike any other.

At software development agencies, this type of pressure tends to return a few times a year under tight deadlines. The we can't delay one more week moments are real. At product companies, there are deadlines, but most are soft deadlines or *best guesses*. Agencies, tend to be under stricter scrutiny. The business to business relationship is far less forgiving than the human to human relationship between manager and employee. There is also the financial incentive to ship quicker, to get a client's project to value faster. In short, agencies that grow call their shots and make them.

This was a major driver behind me founding Cause of a Kind. I thrive in the pressure and intensity of a hard deadline and a problem to solve. It feels like all the pathways clear in my head and I can see the fastest path between nothing and something. As the CTO of Cause of a Kind, I don't get a ton of time in the weeds anymore, but last week I got the opportunity to feel the pressure again and it gave me a new perspective on the benefits of a hard deadline. 

We had a web application set to launch in four weeks. The application had grown to have a  meandering feature set, a braided stream  of changes in direction and pivots that took place over the course of the last six months. The actual application that was needed was far less complex and with the latest round of feature changes the original code base was far from where we needed to be. 

The shuddered thought to re-write it entered my brain, as it does most engineers when working with a legacy code base. As Joel Spolsky says, "software is easier to write than it is to read." I typically ignore these types of thoughts, re-writes are almost always a bad idea, but this software was untested on users. There was no pain or wisdom that comes from a large legacy codebase that's been with users for years. 

Was it possible to re-write it in a week? I decided to spend one day *testing* the re-write. Depending upon how I felt after that day, I would decide if the re-write was possible in the time remaining.

The following day I stared off into the void, I was at the point of no return, if I continued now, I'd have to finish the re-written application, no matter the cost. I took the leap and continued building. I told my co-founder that I wouldn't be able to make any meetings this week, I had to go heads down and finish, but not to worry I wouldn't miss the deadline. I was committed.

This was also a unique deadline for us, we were traveling to visit the client to deliver the software in person. Showing up with something that was broken, incomplete, or with any bugs would be a horrific embarrassment. My leg bounced up and down like a sewing machine from the moment I sat down until I got up for lunch each day. I shut off slack, I shut off email, I shut off twitter, I shut off every possible distraction that kept me from my goal of delivery. 

I was nervous for sure, and in these scenarios it's all to easy to get focused on failure. The *what if I don't deliver*. It's that voice that wants you to cut corners, to skip the tests, to skip the planning, to duplicate code with reckless abandon, to skip refactors and abstractions. Every minute you aren't writing production code feels like a minute wasted, but this is even more foolish when under deadline pressure. As the code base grows, you need to be able to increase speed with confidence. You can't do this if you have to manually run through every path in the UI with each new change. You need to be able to sprint to the finish line, to increase speed the way an Olympic runner thrusts themselves toward the finish line with ever increasing strides.

At last the day had come for our trip, and I *still* wasn't quite done. I coded on the plane (only possible because my tests run without a network connection *wink*), and with two hours left until our demo I stopped in Starbucks around the corner to put on the finishing touches. I could see the finish line now and those best practices were paying their dividends now as each feature came together like a game of chess you're destined to win. 

I ran the build, I ran the deploy, everything was live and we were ready to go. My co-founder again looked at me and said, "what if there's a bug?" 

"There won't be," I responded.

We arrived at the demo, pulled out a tablet as the business opened and we used the application in real time, with real users for the first time, bug free. But they didn't merely use it, they were in love with it! Seeing the joy on a client's face as they use an application that is going to alleviate months of painfully manual interactions is another glorious moment we don't get to experience often as engineers.

On the flight home I felt euphoric, that same feeling after a crazy New Years Eve service, when the last customer walks out the door and you've polished the last glass. You didn't just survive, you thrived. I could even hear the last song on the dining room playlist from all those years ago ringing in my ears, *I've been looking so long at these pictures of you...*, and the smell my shift beer coming off the tap, refreshment well earned.

I've often been told that our goal is to alleviate pressure on engineers. To leave them in quiet work spaces to toil calmly. However, I'm not finding that to be my way to reach flow state. Flow state happens for me when pressure forces me to clear my plate, to focus all my energy on a single purpose, a mission, a goal. The nervous energy of a tight deadline distills my thinking to only the essentials, from which I discover my best work. Now the question is, how do we find that optimal amount of pressure and train ourselves to thrive in it?

When it came to becoming a software engineer, I fell in love with how intellectually stimulating and downright demanding it is on the brain. However, most of the time, the job is devoid of excitement. Sure there are those crazy bugs...

High Pressure Delivery

![brand identity](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/4jA8YbHrDJs5xXu0c0OM0w/61266e7394d6f9b4e18bdbc56633b5b0/brand_identity.jpg)
Building software at the intersection of Marketing and Technology is always a tricky conversation with non-technical stakeholders. With the correct approach, we connect to business KPI's and ensure that the software or web solution accommodates the business goals. 

# The 4 R's

__Retention__ - Customer loyalty, brand recognition and community are primary indicators that a brand is providing a quality service or product. Its hard enough to get new customers, focusing on keeping existing ones and nurturing their growth with your brand is a key for success. 

__Return__ - For customers to return, there must be incentives, awareness and urgency. Leveraging technology solutions to encourage return business is critical. 

__Retarget__ - Retargeting is a strong strategy, especially for ecommerce. Focusing on abandoned carts, or suggested related products, or coupons to be used on successive visits are simple, measurable ways to retarget and recapture customers that may have otherwise disappeared. 

__Referral__ - In business, the referral is the pinnacle of customer loyalty and a successful product or service offering, so good, that it is worth a referral to a customers personal network. Word of mouth, Ratings and Reviews, Testimonials, referral programs, ambassador and influencer programs are all ways to leverage technology with maximum analytics to measure. 

At [Cause of a Kind](https://www.causeofakind.com "Cause of a Kind") we take a metrics first approach to benchmarking and referencing success against the business KPI's to demonstrate the power of software and strategy as they impact the business.

Building software at the intersection of Marketing and Technology is always a tricky conversation with non-technical stakeholders. With the correct approach, we connect to business KPI's and ensure that the software accommodates the business goals. 

The 4 Rs: Retention, Return, Retarget, Referral | Cause of a Kind

The 4 R's: Retention, Return, Retarget, Referral

![Justin Abrams](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/34NeoQiHI7OfqZJNE4pSEj/fdd8429ff8bd8f2cc7292bca1f7cb1ef/headshot2.JPG)

Cause of a Kind's CEO, Justin Abrams connects with KNXnews 97.1 Los Angeles FM Radio to discuss CEOs that are getting way bigger raises than regular workers. Justin rationalizes and offers a contrast to this common business practice. 

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There are two types of CEO's in the market today. 

__Fouding CEO's__ and __Career CEO's__, and their compensation plans differ accordingly. 

Bootstrapping an organization, or obtaining funding and financial support for a startup, often yield a different expectation of compensation for the average CEO. Typically the captain of the ship or the first to cook, and the last to eat, the founding CEO is no stranger to restricted budgets and humble compensation. The need to reinvest in the business, marketing, hiring, innovation, and the constant need to evolve, prevent the founding CEO from piggishly rakeing from their passion project. Afterall, the business represents the most valuable asset in the founding CEO's portfolio. It would be silly to take a lofty salary, when the exit strategy would yield substantially higher returns. 

The career CEO spends their entire professional career inventing and protecting their reputations and their operational value. They often join organizations with massive goals and strugglesome pasts, but ultimately are hired at any cost, to put their reputations, their personal brands, and their battle tested strategies to the test. They are also able to command salaries in a competitive way that incentivize their effort, but shelter them from their personal stake in the success of the brand. 

At Cause of a Kind, we are operating founders, members of the team and take modest salaries to ensure the success of those we hire, the customers we represent and the goals we have for the future health of the organization. 

-Justin Abrams, CEO, Cause of a Kind

Cause of a Kind's CEO, Justin Abrams connects with KNXnews 97.1 Los Angeles FM Radio to discuss CEOs that are getting way bigger raises than regular workers. Justin rationalizes and offers a contrast to this common business practice. 

Are CEO's Commanding Lofty Salaries? | Cause of a Kind

Are CEO's Commanding Lofty Salaries?

![band black and white](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/6aXTVoB2nLrwtQfiFY6uau/b6282d0adda6280fe97de0fc2896bd35/tim-toomey-eiY4KJ62P5Q-unsplash.jpg)

Today I'd like to talk about javascript, why it's great, and how it relates to guitarists vs. drummers...

I once tried learning to play my dad's guitar. I also tried to learn saxophone and then piano. I failed to get past Hot Cross Buns on three different instruments, so I resolved that I just wasn't musical and moved on.

Math and computers were the similar for me. I remember having this small VTech laptop that you could write BASIC on. I learned a few things, but to me it just seemed like a more complicated calculator. Going from the basics to full on programs seemed light years apart.

Guitar felt the same way, I'd have these visions of who I wanted to be, Jimi Hendrix, but whenever I picked up the instrument, the reality was too real. I couldn't play three chords in a row without messing up, how could I possibly play a whole song, start to finish, from memory?

In college, I worked with a guy who owned a humongous drum kit. A full on Neil Pert style rig complete with every drum and symbol you could imagine. He played a few things and after a bit handed the sticks to me and said "give it a shot, it's fun."

And he was right! I wailed on those things for an hour, sounded like absolute dog shit, and had the time of my life doing it. I left that party thinking, I have got to get one of these! Three weeks later my friend sold me an old drum kit for $100.

I played every day, at first in the same chaotic way that I had at that party. It was more catharsis than making music, but after a while I decided to learn some basics, and I didn't sound absolutely abhorrent.

The key to the drums is they almost trick you into thinking you are good even when you suck. That first time on the drums I sounded like a drunk crashing into a dumpster, but I felt like Jon Bonham playing Moby Dick.

Contrast this with the guitar or piano, where there is no way you will remotely feel like you are Jimi Hendrix or Elton John before you are ready.

And this is why I think javascript and really the web as a whole is awesome. You may stink in the beginning, but you are able to begin from a point where you feel like you are building something real. From there you fall deeper down the rabbit hole to mastery.

Contrast this with a language like Rust, where it will take hours just to learn a handful of things that run in the command line. The learning curve is steep, and the distance between the developer you are and the one you want to be feels insurmountable.

So I don't think anyone thinks javascript is the best programming language by any stretch. But when you combine it with HTML and CSS and the web, you can start by playing rock concerts and not trying to read sheet music and tuning the strings.

It lures you in, then one day you wake up and think, I want to learn about assembly, or CPUs, or operating systems, or one of those tough languages like rust?

But then you try typescript, and you feel like a static type rock star all over again, even though you're not, yet, but that delusion is back again, and it's wonderful.

My point is, some of us are guitarists and like to put in the struggle up front, and some of us are drummers and want to have fun right away. But when people ask why javascript? I can't help but think--because are a lot more drummers out there. 

Today I'd like to talk about javascript, why it's great, and how it relates to guitarists vs. drummers...

Guitarists, Drummers, and Javascript Developers

![people in phone booths at office](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/2VAuOUS5mSNErsaYZx8cGB/03fb6ca7833eefd6a8fb0846f007d812/smartworks-coworking-P0a--MJGIuM-unsplash.jpg)

I've had many engineers come to me asking for better specifications over the years. The specs are too vague or the design didn't account for certain states. Sometimes it's the client asking why the developer didn't "just do this." Sound familiar?

When we began taking projects at Cause of a Kind years ago, I always ran them the way every agency I'd ever worked at ran them. A designer works with the client, they come up with a design, two rounds of revisions, then it gets handed off for implementation.

Great designers will provide some type of functional spec along with their designs with a few screens outlining all of the different states. Let's assume this is the case always. You get a perfect design that the client loves and a very detailed functional spec with it.

There's an important piece here that in all my years I've only had one developer ever ask me. It was a few weeks into a project and they said, "could you take a few minutes to just explain the business this product serves?"

I was blown away, how did I just assume that by looking at the design the business case was clear? I had been with the client from the discovery right through the design phase, which allowed my mind to fill in all the blanks because of the shared context.

My knowledge of the business case influenced my interpretation of the design. Would that drop down be aggregating user entered fields or are these a fixed set of enumerable values? It's a question I didn't ask because I knew they were fixed to the business itself.

Even with great functional specs we come across these small details constantly during implementation. When timelines get tight and it's time to decide what features to cut or make simpler we have to make tradeoffs. How can good tradeoffs be made without business context?

It was clear that developers can not just come into a project at the end. That missing context has them coding with blinders on. Some developers come from entirely different worlds where the business case is not so implicit in their culture. The explanation is key to execution.

This is when I discovered the process of user story mapping. This is the part of the discovery phase where we all get together and map the various users and the actions they take in the use of the product we are building. They give us all shared understanding.

This is also a great place for stake holders, designers, and developers to come together to build a reasonable feature set. How often are we given designs that appear to be FAR beyond the scope of what is possible in a few sprints? I'd say this is the norm in agencies.

Most of the time stake holders pine over the design and add features trying to get everything into the first version. They want to SEE their final vision. Then developers are left to frantically implement or make tradeoffs during implementation.

Then the ping pong begins between the stake holders, the designers, and the developers. Nobody wants to kill features they fell in love with, nobody wants things to go over time. The foolish throw more developers at the problem. In then end we create stress and discontent.

In the end it's always this waterfall way of thinking that creates a process that causes a loss of context as we make our way down the chain. The process of discover, design, two rounds of revisions, build is so entrenched in agency work nobody questions it.

It all ends with a big reveal that leaves clients wanting, designers scratching their heads, and developers demoralized.

Instead we introduce the user story map early. We bring in representation from all sides of the build and we never ideate in a vacuum. When we begin working on features we do so with this shared understanding, this empowers developers to make better assumptions.

Through the course of a project timelines are always going to change. This is the norm. There is always MORE software to build. The key is empowering the people working on the project at every step to ask the right questions and make informed decisions.

Everyone knows that we will need to make tradeoffs, to the feature set, to the design, to the code itself. What we want is to make tradeoffs we can collectively agree make sense given the problem we are all here to solve. 

I've had many engineers come to me asking for better specifications over the years. The specs are too vague or the design didn't account for certain states. Sometimes it's the client asking why the developer didn't "just do this." Sound familiar?

Why Developers Need to Understand the Business

![graph nodes image](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/591bPiXWXfuKlCELKCs0Zm/efb19644871b1595c90e58ce554c8cc6/photoholgic-_y4LGVTeBwQ-unsplash.jpg)

One of the first lessons we learn as software developer is "don't repeat yourself," or DRY for short. However, when developing user interfaces, this rule often bites us the most later.

I saw this phenomenon develop most often when we made the transition from page based architectures to the component architectures promoted by frameworks like react. In the page based world, every page had it's own bespoke design and javascript file.

Each view was naturally decoupled from the other views. Designers got used to the idea of every "page" being a unit and we didn't think too much about the re-use of components but the re-use of whole layouts.

In retrospect this was a very cumbersome way to develop and didn't make very good use of DRY principles at all. We repeated ourselves all the time or we used a template language like handlebars to make a few partials when needed. Not totally DRY, but not exactly wet either.

React comes along and really changes the game. We see individual components become the unit of construction. Developers embraced this re-use first as they began breaking designs down by the component rather than the page.

The problem was designers were not yet on board. They frequently had small alterations between components from page to page. Sure these two carousels look almost the same, but there would be a few subtle differences. No problem, let's introduce a few props to differentiate.

But then a few weeks later, another slider appears, with yet another subtle difference. So we add another flag, and another, and another. Over time we begin to have a single component being pulled in n directions.

Today designers are very much on board with component architectures. However, the same problem seems to occur over and over again. The real question is at what point does an accumulation of differences become a whole new component?

In biology, we have a clear definition of this. Two creatures can evolve away from one another, but as long as they still can mate and produce offspring, they are the same species. Figuring out when speciation occurs in a UI component is far trickier.

We can look at the DNA, or what I would say is the data that goes into the component as the measure. If two components look the same, but take different types of data then they are not the same component. This doesn't make much sense though.

A series of UI components for pie and line graphs for instance can take many types of data. It would feel incredibly cumbersome to need to produce a new pie graph component every time the data or props going in were different.

What about visually? If two pie graphs look different maybe that should be the point of differentiation. Again, this doesn't make much sense because if a pie graph simply has different colored slices should we then produce a whole new component? I think not.

Let's get a better example that incorporates a little of the new with a little of the old. Let's envision a UI with an area for metrics and analytics that lives on one path. On another path we have a dashboard with a large hero section that will showcase some impressive metrics.

Both sections utilize graphs, but one's purpose is to wow returning customers and encourage them to return to the dashboard. The other is meant to provide more utility by letting them drill down into different metrics in detail.

I find this use case to be fairly common. Pages or views tend to reference these overarching user stories and contexts. The components drill down into the various use cases needed to serve that story.

So now we have two pie graphs, they take the same data, but one looks visually more flashy and has a few animations on it for when the user lands. The other is a bit more utilitarian, and has animations removed because it appears along with many other graphs.

At the point the design is made they look almost exactly the same. This is our MVP after all and the designer is trying to make the most re-use of components possible at this stage. We'd need at most one or two props to represent the differences between the two.

However, they serve two different user stories. In my experience, these are exactly the type of components that become problematic over time. The design team requires that they be free of one another and have the ability to diverge over time. They just didn't tell you that, yet.

And this brings me to another rule that I think trumps DRY but doesn't get spoken about nearly as often. Coupling of components is worse than repeating yourself.

The reality is it's far easier to DRY up some code later than it is to uncouple a highly coupled component or set of components. Often times this happens in an evolutionary process over many sprints, such that it is hard for future developers to uncouple them.

It's more like the frog boiling in water analogy. The point to differentiate the components becomes hard to spot and it's all to easy to kick the can down the road and just add some more props and if statements.

So when creating component based architectures, we shouldn't forget our roots, the page context. The page that a component appears on is the secret flag that we might want to consider repeating ourselves in order to avoid coupling components that will diverge in the future.

One of the first lessons we learn as software developer is "don't repeat yourself," or DRY for short. However, when developing user interfaces, this rule often bites us the most later.

Sometimes DRY is not the Answer

![people pointing at laptop](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/5w5rVusQTkwXnQd9KPLrSx/69e7feae19041a48eda26045986a9377/john-schnobrich-FlPc9_VocJ4-unsplash.jpg)

`Code reviews` have always been a struggle at agencies. Most specifically because sometimes there aren't two people working on the same project. Who gives the review? We decided to change our approach to code reviews as well as re-thinking their true purpose...

About six months ago code reviews became a real struggle for us, in that they weren't happening. It wasn't that people were skipping them entirely, they were all requesting them from me, and there were too many for me to keep up with.

This was happening because we were growing quite quickly and were running a lot of projects simultaneously. Some of those projects were not particularly large and had a single engineer working on them. Since they were an army of one who had enough context to review their code?

It was clear that this wasn't going to scale. Did we want to kill code reviews altogether?

That felt like a hasty approach, I myself enjoyed the code review process. I like seeing everyone's work and the patterns and styles we were using across our client's code bases. It allowed me to see where we had overlapping features and could build efficiencies.

It allowed me to see where engineers were struggling and find opportunities to help them or point them to a person that could. It gave me a general sense of the essence of our org and how our product, the code, was evolving over time.

I wasn't using code review as an opportunity to find bugs. Although this is previously how I thought of code review throughout my career. It was a time that we searched for anti-patterns, missing test coverage, and bugs. I would often pull the code down to test it myself.

Now, [Cause of a Kind](https://causeofakind.com) is large enough that I don't have every code base on my machine. I don't have enough context to run the code and check it. And now, not everyone on the team can just do that either.

I also had some engineers upset with code reviews in general. The two most common complaints:

1. "I don't like HOW this person is commenting on my code and making suggestions."
2. "Nobody is leaving comments on my code, they are just approving my PR's"

So we have people struggling with WHO to ask for a review and now we have people getting feedback they don't like or too little feedback. What a mess.

In order to fix this, I had to get to the essence of what is important about a code review. Thinking back, was my impression of code review misguided? Was the purpose of code review really to catch bugs? In reality we have unit tests and a QA process that should handle this.

When I really thought about it, the true value of code review is keeping everyone in the organization familiar with the code we were producing. It is a way for everyone in the organization to have some familiarity with every project.

It was a way for two developers working on two separate projects to share what they had done and learned. It was a way for them to collaborate on a feature they were both building, albeit for two different clients, at the same time.

The true value of code reviews, is the knowledge sharing. This helps our organization by allowing junior engineers to see how more senior engineers write code. This helps by allowing someone to take a sick day or vacation without feeling like they are the linchpin of a project.

We become better by helping one another become better. By allowing the free flow of ideas through the organization. In a remote environment this is extremely difficult as there are no lunch table conversations about the finer points of using macros or trying out a new library.

All of this can happen through a process of code review. And by changing our focus from looking for errors, to trying to understand the code of our peers, we can now see opportunities to ask questions instead of issue mandates.

Junior engineers no longer need to wonder what they should say. Surely there must be something in this PR you are curious about? Senior engineers can offer guidance with live examples, in real time, as they work on more complex projects.

An engineer interested but inexperienced in a specific technology like web3, gaming, CSS, or DevOps can now take up a code review and see how it's done. They can freely ask questions because this is the purpose of code review after all.

We now have a slack channel, simply called "code_review" where everyone across the organization posts their pull requests for review. People are empowered and encouraged to do this across projects and it is especially important across different experience levels.

Code review isn't about finding bugs, that's what testing and QA is for. We should expect a pull requests at a minimum works. In a fully remote organization this is a more important vehicle than ever for knowledge sharing, collaboration, and learning.

Code reviews have always been a struggle at agencies. Most specifically because sometimes there aren't two people working on the same project. Who gives the review? We decided to change our approach to code reviews and re-think their true purpose...

Getting Down to the Purpose of Code Review

![person on computer frustrated](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/12xv7hsr4Qd8TAewMwl9ZQ/149bc4480efc82dd0845a0c4456d71ee/tim-gouw-1K9T5YiZ2WU-unsplash.jpg)

A few years ago, a hiring manager asked me what my definition of tech debt was. I gave what I thought was a perfect answer, the hiring manager nodded and smiled, jotted a few notes and moved on. I have since learned that I was dead wrong.

My answer at the time was, "tech debt is the inevitable result of building and shipping software quickly. It's the result of the tradeoffs we have to make in order to ensure we get features in front of users as soon as possible."

While I still feel getting features in front of users and soon as possible is important. The idea that this inevitably results in a sacrifice of code quality, flexibility, or maintainability is not the case.

Since then, I saw a video by the person that coined the term "tech debt," Ward Cunningham. In it he describes the analogy in detail but it is clear that tech debt is NOT writing shitty, untested, low-quality, or slipshod software to ship something faster.

In the pursuit of getting an idea in front of users as soon as possible, we often begin writing our software with an incomplete understanding of the problem being solved. There will be both known unknowns and unknown unknowns along the way.

Solving business problems with software is a journey. While we do as much planning as possible up front, at some point, those UML diagrams and story maps have to get turned into code. In short, Frodo can't just keep drawing maps to Mordor, he's got to take a first step.

As we build and learn from both the construction process and from early users, the problem itself becomes more clear and we see ways to refactor the code and make it better. For example we see the need to split a module or maybe to combine two based on new information.

Refactoring said modules are much easier when they are well written and well tested. The tech debt being paid back so to speak is improving the code base based on a new understanding of the problem.

Now imagine going into the code discovering not only do you have to combine or split those modules, but you have to add test coverage because the developer that wrote them had no time for tests. Maybe they even left a comment apologizing for the "tech debt"...

This is an example of what tech debt is not. We may not have landed on the perfect architecture of module structure for the problem, but the code itself should be of sound quality.
So what is my new answer to that question?

Tech debt is the inevitable result of writing GOOD software with the understanding of a problem you have today. We pay tech debt down through refactoring as our understanding of the solution grows.

Tech debt is NOT the result of writing software quickly, without regard for the future, to meet a deadline or ship faster. This is called cutting corners, and typically this results in trash code that must be thrown out rather than refactored.

So this leads to the last important characteristic of tech debt, which is that it can be paid down through refactoring, whilst shitty code seldom can.

[Ward Cunningham's Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqeJFYwnkjE)

A few years ago, a hiring manager asked me what my definition of tech debt was. I gave what I thought was a perfect answer, the hiring manager nodded and smiled, jotted a few notes and moved on. I have since learned that I was dead wrong.

Misunderstanding Tech Debt

![winding steel cable](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/2FVCQVFO4Xi6xxUlJviTWN/d338267190db2c3b6b262da13c338a33/jen-theodore-utj13CWwGfY-unsplash.jpg)

Inside every organization there exists a natural tension between design and development. In healthy organizations this tension produces magic results. These are interfaces that delight and win awards. Interfaces that leave you awe struck.

The problem is this type of working relationship between design and development exists almost nowhere. That natural tension can turn into an unspoken resentment between the two parts of the organization.

This is not often a conflict of personalities, but rather a problem with the organization itself. In most organizations design and development are seen as entirely separate groups. They work separate, they sit separate, they even congregate separate at work events.

These are all signs of an unhealthy tension between the two groups. The reality is developing products is an unusual art form, one where two different skills and personalities must come together to product a whole.

Imagine for a moment if Michaelangelo knew nothing about marble, but instead berated a marble worker about how he wanted the iconic David to look. The carver might insist that the vision were impossible and the expectations could not be met.

In business we also have deadlines. Things have to ship in a relatively timely manner. This only adds to tension as both parties feel pressured to deliver the best they can in a time line that rapidly closes in on them.

In most orgs this is where the tension begins. Designers struggle to get clients to approve their designs. Each change request results in additional days not budgeted for design. In order to not upset the client, no additional days are added for development as a result.

Developers are then left to implement a difficult design in a shortened time frame. They request something simpler so they can make deadline. The designer grows frustrated as the simpler design WAS the design the client DIDN'T want. The tension grows between the two.

There is some element of truth to the Michaelangelo analogy here as well. In the above example the client and the designer are collaborating with no knowledge of how difficult said feature is to build. Often the time tradeoff is not one to one.

The difficulty of building this new feature often grows exponentially. One additional day of design does not just result in one more day of development. If you've committed to a fixed scope before ever designing the product you're goose is cooked anyway.

Clients are typically willing to let their deadline extend in a fixed scope. Why wouldn't they? The losses are all born by the business. While designers are focused on creating a happy client, you've created a time deficit that must be dealt with internally.

Then comes the design hand off meeting. You know that meeting where design is supposed to collaborate with development to make sure everything is on track. Except for that dirty little secret that the client already signed off on the designs so we really can't go back.

It's easy to see the organizational failure here of running design and development in a waterfall. You create tension within your business, all while delivering subpar products because developers are rushed to fit 9 pounds of bologna in an 8 pound bag.

The solution here is to build cross-functional teams of designers and developers. Designers and developers should be working with clients together and leverage the experience of each other. Why wouldn't you want all the expertise at your disposal in the room anyway?

In this world there is no "design hand off" meeting. The product is designed and developed as a whole, incrementally, with input from all parties. Time tradeoffs can be discussed in real time, with defensible arguments.

Design isn't left alone with a client that was promised the moon and development isn't left holding the bag at the end. They are a team, tasked with carving the David together. The conversation goes from "I want veins," to "what if we could carve the veins?"

We move from an assembly line to a process of creation. One where both parties can dream of delivering better work and actually have the runway to do so. 

Inside every organization there exists a natural tension between design and development. In healthy organizations this tension produces magic results. These are interfaces that delight and win awards. Interfaces that leave you awe struck.

The Tension of Design and Development

![drawing on white board](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/68R2Tqh4V4DzWy952iko4J/c59d55d880dbfb23b4bd566cb3a56212/kaleidico-3V8xo5Gbusk-unsplash.jpg)

In 2019 my co-founder Justin and I pitched 40 prospects, of which we lost every single sale. Fast forward to today where in the last 12 months we've pitched 13 clients and closed all 13 deals. What changed?

My first job out of college I worked for Enterprise Rent-A-Car and the job was heavily sales focused. You sold two main products, bigger / better vehicles and insurance packages. The most common answer to both was no, with HELL NO being a close second.

We were guided through a basic four step sales process:

1. Introduction
2. Fact Finding
3. The Pitch
4. Close

I worked at Denver International Airport where you had roughly the time it took you to walk from the counter to the parking lot to accomplish all four.

At Cause of a Kind, we build custom software and typically people come to us looking for a quote. They don't come with their parents in their head telling them "whatever you do DON'T TAKE THE INSURANCE." We also have hours, days, weeks to craft the pitch.

So in 2019 we would go to a meeting, hear about the software the client wanted, then we would take that away and build a deck of all the pieces required and how much it would cost. We pitched everything as a one time, fixed scope, no matter how big the engagement.

Our decks were chock full of details like types of email service providers, databases, servers, and rough cost estimates to the client. They talked about languages and frameworks and showcased how all of this would come together to build what they asked for.

We poured hours into those decks and could not figure out why it was failing over and over and over. The most common objection was price. Most clients visions were far larger than their wallets it seemed. But was that really what was going on?

In retrospect, we were falling back on a technique called *throwing shit against the wall to see what sticks*. We were attempting to show a complete solution for every Tom, Dick, and Harry that got on a zoom call and see who would bite.

At enterprise, I tried this a lot. If you simply ask a large volume of customers if they want the insurance, someone is bound to say yes, right? At some point, the law of averages will come into play and someone has to say yes.

Except at enterprise you weren't rewarded simply for sales volume. Your performance always accounted for the number of rentals you handled as the denominator. And this changes the game immensely. As an agency, every pitch sucks up time, you're most valuable resource, so it's best to not try to rely on volume.

Now, back to fact finding. This is the part of the sales process where you learn what is important to your customer. We were learning about their idea, but this told us little to nothing about how to sell the customer that WE were the people to build their idea.

As a sales engineer for an agency, you are not typically selling a canned product offering. You don't have a sheet of features the product supports and a script of how those features can bring value to different types of customers. You need to be thinking on your feet.

It's easy to fall back on a software architecture and a list of technologies as a pitch. But this is the equivalent of describing the features of a product to attempt to sell a product. Clients don't care about the type of server or database you use to solve their problem.

So what are we selling then? We are selling our ability to solve problems! During your fact finding you should be listening to all of your clients pain points. Your pitch should demonstrate that you were a. listening and b. have the team that can solve their core issues.

This is not HOW to solve the problem. You typically have about 15 to 20 minutes to convince the client you will be able to solve this problem. Implementation details like how to host, the language or framework or database you use will lose their attention.

Clients already assume you know HOW to build an application. The question is can you guide them to solve THIS problem. One of the hardest things as an engineer suddenly thrust into sales is to stop selling like an engineer. Stop focusing on implementation details.

So the first step is to stop trying to sell the end solution. For large software this means you are selling an agile method for solving problems. Once you get there, the next step is to stop pitching everyone that wants a call...

You'll notice in 2019 we pitched 2x as many clients as we did in the last 12 months. Once we started to sell problem solving as a process, we were able to stop wasting time on leads that were not closable. We realized that fact finding wasn't forcing a client to build.

Sometimes after hearing a problem the solution has nothing to do with software at all, and that's OK! It's OK to tell a lead that more software isn't the answer. It's OK to NOT pitch every lead.

In summary, don't mistake fact finding as a phase where you must leave with all the answers. Don't pitch a software implementation, pitch a journey. What we sell is a journey. A journey that gets your problems solved with as little code as possible.

In 2019 my co-founder Justin and I pitched 40 prospects, of which we lost every single sale. Fast forward to today where in the last 12 months we've pitched 13 clients and closed all 13 deals. What changed?

Selling The Cure Has Nothing To Do With Implementation

![shipping containers](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/4WHQl53lKXqoTJcnBQ97D7/05af9ea1af35a3d5983facaf339c8077/timelab-pro-sWOvgOOFk1g-unsplash_1_.jpg)

Last year, we had a major delivery issue. We were struggling to deliver bug-free software on time. When we got into quarter one of this year, we realized that we had to put a stop to the madness, here's how...

The first thing we had to figure out is, was this an issue between the keys and the screen. Was the team lacking skills? Were we asking too much of our devs?

I spent a lot of time in my career thinking that to be great dev, you had to be some kind of math genius, or possess some special skills. These were skills that I just didn't have, so greatness was somehow always going to be out of reach.

Then I went to an agile course and they put this quote up on the screen:

“I'm not a great programmer; I'm just a good programmer with great habits.” -- Kent Beck

It forever changed my perspective. I stopped focusing on figuring out if I was a savant and focused on my habits.

At the time we struggled with delivery, I was reading No Rules Rules by Reid Hastings. If you've read the book, my fear was that we were having a talent density problem. The team was perhaps to inexperienced to work at the velocity we were asking them to.

Books have an uncanny way of influencing our thoughts during the time we are reading them. This book had me looking at talent density for problems. But then I remembered that Kent Beck quote.

I realized that greatness is such an amorphous term. What is a great dev? Are all devs great at all the things? As an agency, there's no way we can have exactly the right person for every problem we encounter.

We had to develop great habits, habits that would guide us through any problem, and help us deliver consistently. Perfect programmers and as a result, programs don't exist. We get closer to perfection through iteration, this is at the core of agile.

But we were operating in a waterfall. We followed the process I did at every agency. There's a problem or goal express, the sales team scopes it, then doubles their estimate for safety. The design team designs the whole thing. The client approves. Finally, we develop.

While in development we said we were agile. We had project boards with columns, we had some loosely defined sprints. We did bi-weekly reviews with the client. But the devs built to an immutable blueprint. No matter how many times we said the word agile, this wasn't it.

So what are great habits for all projects? How can we operate in an agile way when we have to scope during a sales process? Do we add all the devs to all the sales and discovery calls?

No, this is simply attempting to fix a waterfall by freezing it.

First, we killed fixed scopes for everything but small projects (4 - 6 weeks). From now on every project is a journey with the client. We either use time and materials as a guide (hourly billing) or we set up a monthly subscription when the engagement is long.

Next we introduced user story mapping as a requirement before any build. During this phase we let the clients go wild. Nothing is too grand or off-limits, let's map the entire problem together.

Then we work to define our MVP. What does a first release look like? What is the minimum viable solution? This is different for every client but this part is critical. I like to say you will get 100% of what you need in this release even if that's only 50% of what you want.

Next we merged design and dev. These were no longer going to be looked at as separate phases. They needed shared understanding and they needed to be viewed as a cohesive unit. Devs need to feel connected to the users and design needed to feel connected to the medium itself.

Finally we introduced true iterations. We run a two week sprint process, but those sprints are not always building. It's ok to spend cycles planning, it's ok to spend cycles improving the code and eliminating tech debt based on new understanding.

We had to behave more like a product org and less like an agency (in the traditional sense). Our sprints turned into group collaborations between clients, designers, developers, and product folks. We don't "shield" parts of the team anymore. We're all here for the same goal.

The result... last week we had a major launch built by a team of junior engineers. They worked with the client, they worked with design, they validated their assumptions, caught issues early, and ultimately launched on time with no bugs. In short, they had great habits.

In tech there is a massive focus so-called A-players, 10x devs, rock stars, etc. But this is a lazy way to build great teams, and often foolish. Create an environment of collaboration, where people can form great habits and you'll ship better software, more often, consistently.

Last year, we had a major delivery issue. We were struggling to deliver bug-free software on time. When we got into quarter one of this year, we realized that we had to put a stop to the madness, here's how...

Delivery Issues

![keyboard and coffee cup](//images.ctfassets.net/m33y9bdtd8t2/5g7eZOD0W1dT1tNUyi9jjq/aff03523bfc7709e3e9fff36c1d81ae4/nubelson-fernandes--Xqckh_XVU4-unsplash.jpg)

A common gripe with focusing on developer experience (dx) is that it's less important than user experience (ux). Of course what we ship to user land is the most important thing. But in my experience dx and ux tend to go hand in hand...

At our agency we build a lot of custom software. We also run on tight deadlines. More so than single product orgs I've been at, we are often held to our estimates (+/- two weeks). We ship often, and we want to ship on deadline.

In a sense we don't just have ux to content with, but also our customer's experience (cx). In my observations customers want two things:

1. They want to build valuable features.
2. They wanted to ship those features yesterday.

Customers get excited about these features, they tell their clients about them. Even if you tell them not to make promises, they will still make them. They'll tell their users, they'll see their eyes light up, they'll press you to move faster. Now how does this relate to dx?

Shipping the MVP on time is important, and often times its easy to sacrifice the things that make your developer life better long term a.k.a dx. These can be fundamental things like testing or convenience features like a heavier library that helps with type correctness.

The problem is, most clients THINK they have the perfect product. After they launch, they KNOW they don't. But they have something even more amazing, user feedback...

Now they want to fix the errors at an even faster rate. They push for more engineers, more sprints, anything to help correct their early assumptions. This is when paying no attention to dx starts to hurt.

All the small inefficiencies you put up with start to add up and now you wish you had spent time uncoupling those components, or writing tests for that complex permissions feature. If it's a Typescript project maybe you let a few any types slip in there.

Now you're trying to ship a truly valuable feature and playing whack-a-mole with bugs that pop up in unexpected places. Those few untested features that went out at the end of the project to meet a deadline are slowing down delivery today.

And this is where agencies lose clients. It's not on the MVP build. That's table stakes, you should be able to launch single projects. But the long term maintenance and evolution are where projects are won and lost, and where most of your unrealized profits are.

This is also where our customer lost users. They will put up with some pain for enough value. But often times, we miss many marks with an MVP. It is critical not just to get early user feedback, but be able to action on it.

The dx that is left at the end of a project affects this greatly. It is tied to ux because you cannot ship value to users at a reasonable velocity without it. You cannot be confident that those new features don't break existing features without it.

At Cause of a Kind we focus heavily on the dx of our projects because this is how we learn to do more with less. It's how we ship more value at a higher velocity over time. When velocity plummets and simple features struggle to ship it's ux and cx that suffers. 

A common gripe with focusing on developer experience (dx) is that it's less important than user experience (ux). Of course what we ship to user land is the most important thing. But in my experience dx and ux tend to go hand in hand...

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