The following was written 4 months into my 12 month stint as a web designer. I wasn't asked to write this, but felt it was a good idea to write down my goals and concerns. We were a four person shop at this time, but in two different cities.
These are just some notes so that I can have a record of some of my thoughts before my first "performance review." J. asked me to come up with some thoughts on where I want to go and what I want to do at (company), and I thought it would be easier to talk about having already written down some preliminary ideas.
As far as my commitment to (company) goes, bear in mind that I took about a $10,000 pay cut to come and work longer hours here. I saw it, and still see it, as a ground floor opportunity, both to learn technical and design skills, as well as to contribute to the growth of a small but dynamic company. I didn't come here expecting to only do one thing, whether that meant HTML or Director. I think you can hire lots of people who are better at that stuff than me, and who are probably 15 years younger, too! What I think I bring is a familiarity and comfort with the "new" economy. I'm not a businessman, but I think I understand some of the trends in the business world right now, and I like to think that I'm pretty media savvy, too. I enjoy strategizing about the future, and would love to be involved in some of those discussions at (company). As the company grows, we will have personnel needs in lots of different areas, and I have an interest in almost all of them.
Though not a classic extravert, I'm definitely a people person. I'd like to have more contact with clients, be included in more meetings, etc. I can see myself migrating into a project management as well as a production role and would like the opportunity to be briefed on the bigger picture of projects, including budgeting and bidding. I'll need to learn this at some point, and would benefit from being around those more experienced.
Because I'm a people person, I need to be able to communicate clearly about expectations and progress on a project. Perhaps we need to schedule regular weekly meetings where we can all be kept up to date about deadlines, and what everyone else is working on. Sometimes I feel like I'm working all alone. I know we don't have all that many people right now, but we often have 9 or 10 projects on the go at once. If we set up good practices now, they'll serve us well in the future, and our growth will be smoother and less prone to miscommunication.
I think we've all learned from recent events that we need to be aware of each other's strengths and weaknesses. Some of us are still getting to know one another. I think it's important that each project have a clear "point man" at (company) and if possible, at the client site as well. This makes it less possible to have a communication breakdown. Communication is the biggest problem in any client relationship, and we also have to aware that our own internal communication processes should be standardized.
My suggestion here is that every request be put into an email. All discussions via telephone should be in reference to a particular piece of email. This way, we have a way of tracking dates and specifics and followups. Without this, it's easy to start casting blame for work not done or done incorrectly. It also makes it easier for me to check off items on a printout as they are completed.
As far as personal goals, on the technical side, I want to continue learning about CSS and HTML. I'd like to learn about the new XHTML specification and about XML in general. Also, anything about ASP or PHP pages would be useful. As far as software packages, I'd like some time to become familiar with Fireworks and Dreamweaver. I need to understand more about Javascript also. I think my Director skills are ok, although we don't get too much in the way of complicated Director work. Any general courses or books on design would be welcome as well.
Learning goals on the not so technical side would include learning how to cost out jobs, along with project management in general. As I mentioned before, I think meeting clients more will help here, just to see J.'s approach firsthand. Eventually, as well, I'd like to be given responsibility for an entire project, including initial design and consultation with the client, if that's feasible. There are a number of small projects we have on the back burner right now which would be suitable. Although these aren't going to be big money earners for us, they would be good opportunities for me to cut my teeth on the full spectrum of responsibilities. I also think that being given "ownership" of a project will result in better work, as I will understand the "big picture" from the initial meeting with the client to final delivery. This is one area where sometimes I've felt that I've been working in the dark. It's hard to meet client expectations when I'm working second or third hand, receiving instructions from someone who has met the client. I'm sure if we looked at the business model of some successful design or new media firms, we could get some ideas on how this could work.
Overall, I'm very happy working at (company) and hope to be a part of its success in the future.