We had quite a large meeting yesterday that seemed to consist of most people in most departments and oddly enough it was in the second biggest conference room. So after people gathered extra chairs and everyone amassed into the room, we found out that we had gotten quite a large project. It might be the biggest thing we’ve ever gotten and everyone was gathered into that room because it is going to take help from all of the people there to get it done on time and up to standards. Planning for the goal product has already been established, so now it is up to the workers to make the plan a reality. Both graphic designers will need to create assortments of layouts and custom designs for this online learning tool. Flash programming, database programming, and video editing will keep the video studio and programming staff busy. The project coordinator for this project will also have her hands full managing all of these people and project pieces. Bi-weekly meetings are planned to keep everyone informed and keep the work flow transparent. Hopefully that will help keep everyone on the same page and on time for the proposed launch date. It may be a long time away (April 2010 or 23 Mondays), but there should be a lot to do leading up to then for a lot of people. I wonder if we’ll still be doing other projects once this starts going full steam. Either way it looks like busy times ahead at DDA. Full Steam Ahead!

I’ve been reading “The Time Traveler’s Wife.” I have not seen the movie because I preferred to read the book first. It’s an incredibly interesting love story. The basic premise is the male lead character can travel in time. Because of this, his past, present, and future get all jumbled together and interconnected. It’s hard to tell  which actions he makes, in the past or the future, lead to a particular series of events. So if he travels back to when he was five and decides that he will break his own leg, is that the cause for his broken leg or did he just do it because he knew at that time when he was five his leg was broken? See, it can get confusing but it makes you think.

It’s amazing how our past can have such an effect on our present and future. The things we do, see, and experience all shape our future selves whether we realize it or not. At DDA, we don’t travel through time but our past does affect our future. Because we began by offering a full range of interactive and traditional marketing and advertising services in house, we can now fulfill just about any need for any company in any field. So videos, websites, brochures, custom designs, custom programming, animations, illustrations, and so much more are all part of our capabilities on a daily basis.

Of course with us, we get better with age. I guess when you time travel it’s difficult to determine how much you’ve evolved.  At DDA, that’s easy. We are always pushing the boundaries of innovation to offer the best, most advanced technologies we can.

Yes, I’m talking about Halloween, my favorite holiday.  This year the preparations weren’t as tough as last year where I had to start that a clear month in advance, but I probably should have started earlier.  Luke is wearing the same costume as last year, so most of the work to that was mending missing finger armor for his ‘gauntlets’.  This year however, the whole family was invited to a party, so it means that the adults also needed costumes, which I had not planned on.  So, in short time, much planning and gathering had to be done on top of the usual weekend events.  The worst part is, there’s not a fabric store for miles.  Sure I can find several of those Halloween mega stores within spitting distance of my house, but who wants to spend a fortune on a really low quality costume?  Not me for sure.  If I’m going to have a crappy costume, I am certainly not going to pay much for it and I’d far rather make it myself, so I at least have an excuse.  So I spent the weekend gathering materials and knowledge about how I was going to construct this costume, which isn’t quite done, and I still have to get my costume together.  I’m feeling a bit frantic.It reminds me of most of my days here at DDA.  When we set out on a project we have a lot of requirements gathering to get to know before the project begins. Is this a webite we will be hosting? What is its purpose?  What sort of interfacing do we need? What sort of interactivity?  How is the database going to need to look?  Is there going to be a custom security system?  All of this needs to be filled in before we can even start thinking of the project.  Each question seems to be answered by another sometimes.  Planning is the key to making the project work smoothly.  If everyone knows what the final result is supposed to be, and how it’s going to look while getting there, then we can’t get too far off track.Now if only I knew what my costume was going to look like, I might be able to make a proper plan to get that done too.