Archive for April, 2009

Magic Milestones Delivers 5 More BBC Sites

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 by Nici

bbc-mundo-portada22

The Magic Milestones team at the BBC have been working hard over the last few months alongside World Service Future Media to re-launch 12 of their language sites in 1024 format and in a new, improved Content Management System.

Following on from the launches of BBCPersian.com and BBCBrasil.com, the team have had a launch-crazy last 6 weeks, launching 5 more sites.

BBCVietnamese.com, BBCUrdu.com, BBCWorldService.com, BBCMundo.com and BBCRussian.com were all project managed by members of the Magic Milestones team, and were all run according to Agile Methodology.

The sites are mainly news sites focusing on getting cutting edge journalism to all over the world, with the exception of BBCWorldService.com which is a support site for the extensive World Service radio network.

The intensity of the project put many demands on the team, and it’s a testament to their dedication and hard work that the sites look fabulous and that they managed to keep up the pace during this busy time.

Of course the hard work doesn’t stop here, and all involved have quickly moved on to working on the next wave of language sites to go 1024. Watch this space…

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Stephanie Chamberlain finalist for Birmingham Young Professional of the Year!

Friday, April 17th, 2009 by Nici

Stephanie Chamberlain, Managing Director of Magic Milestones, has been shortlisted for the coveted Birmingham Young Professional of the Year (BYPY) award.

Steph is one of 3 finalists in the Entrepreneurial category, and one of 18 finalists (consisting of the finalists from each category) for the overall BYPY award.

Steph’s already done fantastically well to make it this far, having had to answer a tough question and answer session in front of the BYPY Panel. When you consider the fact that the panel’s members include Paul Thandi, Chief Executive of the NEC group; Richard Edwards, Midlands senior partner of Deloitte and Matt Taylor, chairman of Birmingham Future to name but a few, it becomes clear just how special these awards are.

The awards ceremony is on the 4th June, and the whole Magic Milestones team will be out in force to wish Steph luck. Take a look at the website here.

I’m sure you’ll all join us in wishing Steph massive congratulations on yet another amazing achievement!

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World Service nominated for another Webby!

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 by Nici

ws-homepage - WebbyBBC World Service were today celebrating their nomination for another Webby Award for the newly re-designed BBCWorldService.com, for the the Best Radio Website award. The team won a Webby for the site last year, when it was relaunched in time for the 75th Anniversary of the World Service.

BBCWorldservice.com collects a whole variety of radio content, as well as podcasts, user-generated content and acting as a portal to 33 BBC language sites (many of which have also recently moved to 1024 format, including BBCVietnamese.com, BBCUrdu.com and BBCMundo.com)

The Project Management for the re-design into 1024 format and move to a new Content Management System was provided by Magic Milestones’ Christina Yeoh and the result is yet another example of the fantastic partnership between World Service Future Media and Magic Milestones.

I’m sure you’ll agree that the site is looking fantastic, so why not take 2 minutes to vote on http://pv.webbyawards.com/. Simply register, go to “websites” then scroll down to the Media category and select Radio.

Good luck World Service - we’re sure you can win again!

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10 pointers for Agile Design

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 by admin
  1. User research is imperative but not ad infinitum - set limits
  2. Interation with development should be informal but large scale changes need to be managed via the iterative planning session (e.g. Sprint Planning etc)
  3. Use artefacts to communicate with clients and the team
  4. Use paper prototypes to find out what works for users
  5. Too many designers spoil the user experience
  6. Documentation should be based on what is required at that particular moment
  7. Don’t invest tons of time in mock up early on as it may have to be undone later
  8. Track design somehow but be aware that using similar techniques to engineering tracking can lead to issues as design often comes together late in the day resulting in a mammouth burn on the last day - meanwhile the project manager is already pulling his/her hair out. Understand the differences between engineering and design tasks
  9. Don’t be afraid to show the customer stuff early - just set the expectations and ensure that they don’t cling to designs before these are solidified.
  10. Have courage, be transparent and remember that everyone is headed toward the same objective of a successful project

Posted in Agile, Project Management, Team, Tips, UCD | No Comments »