Archive for the 'WhyDoWork Insider' Category

Crowdsource Your Website to Perfection

Recently a site called acobay asked if I’d take a look at their service. They take the work out of testing bugs on your site, spotting spelling errors, and usability testing. There’s two options when you land on the homepage, and I think most readers would probably fit both categories; client, and tester.

As a client, there’s a few obvious benefits:

  • start test projects at any time;
  • get immediate results;
  • pay only for valid bugs.

As a tester, the big bonus is that you can work at home (what we’re all about) and get paid to browse sites, and put them through the ringer. If you’d like to register as either a client or tester, you can do so here.

Once in a while someone will email the contact form here letting me know of a spelling mistake or broken link, and for that I am grateful,  but I’m always left with a feeling that there must be more out there. Turning loose some human testers on your site is a cost effective way to scrub for bugs, spelling errors, and usability issues.

The phenomenon of “crowd-sourcing” has been steadily gaining traction over the past few years. I’ve used Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and found it to have a host of benefits. Whether it’s matching a clothing item to a particular category, or voting on how appealing a color scheme is, it’s comforting to know there’s some tasks out there that humans are still better than computers at. :)

The next time I’m doing web testing I’ll use acobay. Looks like they’ve already been doing some discovery work on microsoft.com. Knowing Microsoft products I don’t see an end to their bug hunting any time soon!

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WhyDoWork Insider WhyDoWork 07 Mar 2010 7 Comments

Work Life Balance Lesson: There’s Some Things You Can Drop…

and some things you can’t.
Just wanted to share this quote which I think is particularly relevant in our current economic state:

“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them – Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit and you’re keeping all of these in the air.

You will soon understand that Work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back.

But the other four Balls – Family, Health, Friends and Spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that, and strive for it.” – Brian Dyson, former CEO Coca-Cola

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WhyDoWork Insider WhyDoWork 01 Mar 2010 15 Comments

Things to Not Do When Starting an Internet Business

If you’re working on an online business, talking to a start-up founder who has tried, and failed, is an education goldmine. Experience is the greatest teacher, and it’s not often you get that kind of business lesson for free, but today is your lucky day.

I give you Jamie Quint (his blog here), who founded the now defunct college recruiting site SnapTalent.com. Read the letter posted on SnapTalent, then head over to his blog to read his first few lessons in what NOT to do when starting an online company.

Given you have a lot of reading to do, I won’t ramble on. Enjoy!

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WhyDoWork Insider WhyDoWork 16 Feb 2010 22 Comments

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