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And We Go Marching On

Written by Russ on November 15, 2011 – 2:15 pm

As my last full time day at Happy Cog winds down, I am now available for work–project-based, workshop-based or even the right full-time opportunity–this is a pretty exciting time!

About a month ago, I made a decision to change my course: I resigned as a User Experience Director for Happy Cog West (San Francisco / Austin). The same “it was a difficult decision” standard rule applies here, as it does for any other person who leaves an employer that they’ve enjoyed working with.

I mean, I had the chance to work for Happy Cog, and that’s one of those dreams a lot of young geeks go to bed dreaming about.

I’ve worked with some of the caped crusaders of the Web, World Wide. Some of these folks you have seen or heard them online, you have read their books and their blogs and some of them you may have seen on bio pages. People like Drew Warkentin, a dangerous unicorn who is storming his way through the UX world, bringing a design and development strength with him that is rare to find, and I have been so lucky to spend the better part of the last year working closely with him. Stephen Caver who, despite his fondness for blazers with elbow patches (and to be fair, so do I) and a penchant for designing and developing like, well, like it’s his job, but with a passion about it that makes you think it’s his passion, instead of his job. I’d be remiss to not mention the incredible development stylings of Messrs. Matt Clark and Ryan Irelan who make it all look easy.

The offices of Happy Cog–New York, Philadelphia and what was San Fransisco and now is Austin, were all incredibly welcoming folks. They were as brilliant as you already assume, great at their jobs, and focused on building great experiences. This has been a feather in my cap, and one I’ll wear proudly for quite some time. I will miss them and the daily animated .gif attacks in Campfire.

And I will keep the experiences with me as I move forward down my own path. Time to get going on that!

Lessons Learned While Leaping

Written by Russ on November 15, 2011 – 1:52 pm

Back in October, I submitted my resignation to Happy Cog, and I felt that there was a pretty wide open road ahead of me. I had been talking to The Start-up™ since early August, and the “right fit” had been determined by both sides. The final words on the funding was really all that was being waited for.

I was excited. I had found myself in an opportunity that would allow me to work on the User Experience, focus on some Product Management, and put to good use many different Guerrilla Research Methods. For awhile, this was a bit of a dream come true. I was kind of itching with excitement!

As you read this, keep in mind that this is not about getting sympathy or whistle-blowing; it’s the way some things pan out. Sometimes, that is for the best, and I’m okay with chasing this adventure in a different direction now.

Frankly, had it not been for this curve ball, I doubt I would be moving in the direction that I currently am, with the velocity that I am currently moving at. Naturally, time will tell.

Now, shame on me, I should have been a lot more skeptical when The Founder™ pulled a bit of a focus flake-out on me in August. Rather than answer some specific questions about company operations, there was a lot of silence that ended some time in October. During that period, I was contemplating starting off on my own and making a go of things; it’s not an uncommon approach, but since The Start-up™ had shown back up and had enticed me with such things as:

good news – 1% has become 0.01%. will have some paper work for you soon.

Followed by, a day later:

i thought I had sent the message below to you yesterday! now 0.01% uncertainty has turned to 0.0%.

very excited and will have some paper work to you on monday.

A start date was determined as November 15, 2011.

This was followed by some freebie requests, like reviewing job descriptions, checking out some office space layouts, and things like that. And, of course, filling out that paperwork–the application form and the background check.

Funny thing about background checks. When your references (who you dutifully let know reference checks are coming) say “Hey, when am I supposed to provide a reference for you?”, the Spider Sense™ starts to tingle a bit. But, when you’ve got a start date in place, it can feel a bit like a formality–and let’s face it, some places don’t actually dive too deep into those things anyway.

On November 3rd, I did a check-in; I didn’t have an offer letter in my hands at this point and I’d been really diligent about getting my part of the bargain taken care of in a very timely fashion. There were some hints at the August-September flake-out happening, but I like to pretend I’m a positive person. Frankly, I was checking-in because if this bird was not going to fly, I needed to start doing some networking of my own and drumming up some work.

Fortunately, I got a response:

I just talked with my partners about that – they have been out this week at a conference and will be getting back to me before noon tomorrow with the specifics I need to include.

Sorry for the delay.

“The delay.” The Spidey Sense™ is a little more finely tuned for things like this, so when the “Do you have time to chat this afternoon” email came through next, well, I knew it wasn’t going to be offering me lots of options in the company. In fact, it was something slightly different:

Here’s the output of the call I just had with my partners.

We assumed that we would have our new contract signed by the end of last week and that hasn’t happened. There’s no indication that it won’t happen very soon, but the Nov 15 date I provided earlier was with the understanding that we’d be under contract by Nov 1.

All that said, my partners are asking me to put off your hire date until we are under contract.

Are you in a position to take additional project work through the end of the month?

My start date was bumped to December 1. This was with 2 weeks notice and right before Thanksgiving, so the timing wasn’t ideal, but it would be manageable. I don’t think this type of news puts anyone into one of those chaotically happy spirals; it’s a let down. Not a heartbreaking moment, just a slight twinge and, well, given the previous flake-outs, it was a big, big warning sign, too.

How big? Not that big, actually! Within 20 minutes, I received another email:

Just talked with [redacted] – they believe we will have an execution ready contract early next week.

Just trying to make sure you know this isn’t going to drag out.

Whew.

No problem, no worries, no need to pound the pavement–but just in case, maybe post to LinkedIn and Facebook that I’m looking for some project work to fill the gap. I mean, if I landed something that was a couple of weeks longer, it wouldn’t be a big deal, in my opinion, to ask them to slide back the start date a bit.

I did send back a note:

I would say that the timing for all of this is not ideal; it essentially leaves me with about a week to pull things together.

I understand the position that you and your partners are in, and I appreciate that you’re being straight with me. That means a lot.

I’ll try to fill this gap with something, and I’ll keep you apprised of what turns up for me and will assume you will be doing the same.

Everyone was trying to get along, and really remove the stress of the situation. I felt I needed to share that this was not an ideal situation for me, and I didn’t need to be coarse about it. Supportive response was quickly following:

I appreciate your understanding and promise we are making every effort to move things along as fast as possible. I am ready to have you on board.

A few more emails were exchanged about office space design and layout. Pretty normal “we’re on our way!” type of stuff, to me.

Until the following Monday came around, as I was en route to the airport to fly out to a client.

Do you have some time to catch up on the phone today? I have a 2-3 pm but am otherwise flexible.

If only I had been born yesterday, this would not have phased me. However, this was a very loud cup rattling against my cage. This was not the Really Good Email™ I was hoping for. This was the phone call with…

Our investors are making some mandates. You need to take a 1/3 pay cut.

This, of course, ended up being exactly one week before my last day. This is not a reality situation for me; I could have accepted these conditions, but I would have been trading in a lot more for it. I could have accepted the situation and started has a full time person who was also spending his full time looking for something else, and that is not the type of scenario I want to put someone else in, even if I felt they had pulled the rug out from under me.

I was offered contract work at a rate that I feel would have been pretty discounted. I understand the basis for the offer, as well as how that may have helped balance out the less-than-favorable handling of the situation. I mean, it was an effort–it was a try. I get that, and to some degree I respect that approach at trying to make sure there is some income, but I would still see it as a setting that I would not be able to truly commit myself to.

And, so, that is where we left it. I parted ways with The Start-up™ and my last day at Happy Cog is upon me. I have been fortunate enough that there are people that I have been having discussions with. They have been helpful in any number of ways, from networking to advice to leads to good conversations.

To be fair, I’d hate to be this founder. There’s a lesson about what kind of power/control you give up when you accept an investment from someone, too. Heck, there are many lessons, including the ones for me. That’s how it goes. I’ve gotten wiser, and it didn’t even take me a year.

I see this as a great opportunity. There is time now for me to work with any number of companies, in any number of scenarios. And that means that I have availability to partner with some great people and companies and identify the right opportunity/opportunities.

I am doing just that. I would love to talk to you about whatever it is you are working on. Please feel free to send me a note and then we can have some good conversations about what is next.