Donovan's Brain

The early bird gets the worm. Just purchased my ticket for this year’s week long mayhem in the desert extravaganza. See you there?

Goodbye green shoes. I’m going to miss you. You were the best eight bucks I ever spent. However, five years is enough! Time for you to go. Time for me to get a new pair of shoes.

donovan gone kite flying

Originally uploaded by canton.

Canton took me kite flying. Fun!

In the new year, I will be acting as Administrative Assistant for AnswerLab, a consulting firm in San Francisco.

AnswerLab helps companies measure and improve their online presence by providing a unique combination of strategic and tactical insights. We develop customized research studies that uncover key findings about our clients’ web presence through online and in-person user evaluations, surveys and traffic analysis.

I am looking forward to my new role and intend to bring all my years of project management, site building, and general sense of order to fruition by hurtling myself fully into the depths of the laboratory; the lab which my new bosses have been building out of virtual test tubes, analytical potions, and strategic research. Yahoo!, eBay, GM, Autodesk, Honda, as well as many others look to AnswerLab for understanding of their site visitors. It is going to be an exciting ride, keeping company with the likes of these major players. I can’t wait to get to work.

Dear readers,

I’m searching for employment in the San Francisco area. I thought it might do me well to post this here in case any of you might be able to help. Thanks!

I invite you to read my resume. You’ll find more information on my professional career, including references, on my LinkedIn profile.

A little bit about me and my work style

As an Internet Technology Technophile/Web Project Manager, I am constantly surveying the web landscape for interesting and useful technologies. Then I tinker with those concepts in my own online sandbox until I either abandon them or, if they are worthy, add them to my digital toolbelt.

Others needs are always on my mind when trying out new ideas and tools. For instance, when podcasting was first on the horizon, I followed it closely and created a number of my own podcasts. I knew this technology would be extremely useful to my client at the time, National Radio Project. NRP produces a 1/2 hour weekly radio program that is distributed nationally. I had already set them up with an RSS feed and now, long before most people had even heard of podcasting, National Radio Project was offering up a blog and podcast. My company also completed a major redesign for NRP around that same time by the way.

Another example of my approach to web sites is to put as much control in the user’s hands as possible. I have seen how limiting it can be for people to wait on a webmaster to make updates and changes. It’s frustrating! My solution has been to empower the site owner by encouraging a content management system as their site foundation. Often times this means abandoning their current system, often Dreamweaver or Frontpage, and transitioning to a solution such as WordPress or MovableType. I try to make the process as painless as possible by laying the groundwork for them so that the site owner can focus on using the system, not building it. That is why my business is called Getting Sites Built.

It’s not enough to transition to a new system, however. In addition, I always consider training as a necessary part of the new design. I know how to translate all this geeky tech talk into basic language that most people can follow. Helping others is a joy to me and the process of explaining technical concepts into something edible is a delight.

I hope I’ve captured a bit about myself and my work style to whet your appetite. Please review my resume and contact me either through my web site or by calling 510-604-7789.

Thanks for your consideration. – Donovan Watts