Metal Toad

[...] Units & the Agency Holding Company Model Small Teams You Say? Small teams indeed! At Metal Toad, we generally look to follow the rule of two pizza teams in our approach to projects. [...]

[...] could be why Metal Toad is so often showing it off to everyone. Clients, friends, and pretty much anyone else who wants [...]

[...] Leapt! Fri, 11/14/2014 - 08:36 naterupert After three wonderful years at our previous office, Metal Toad has outgrown our lilypad. The Toads are proud to announce our relocation into a custom-built 8, [...]

[...] Defining Client Success November 20th, 2014 Patrick Conlon I’ve recently joined Metal Toad as Director of Client Success. My role here is to hone the vision for successful, long-term [...]

[...] "Oh look, we're growing!" The session as a whole focuses on my experience from a project management and operations perspective as Metal Toad grew from a small web shop into a medium-sized [...]

[...] was able to create daily agendas and to do’s. Google Calendar and Drive are core tools of project management at Metal Toad. PMs set up estimation meetings, one-on-ones, kick-offs, and demos all to [...]

[...] and know much of what to expect along the way, there will always be ample unknowns. Project management should avoid being a blocker, but instead make sure all risks are identified and quantified [...]

[...] of questions about themselves focused on their approach and philosophy when it comes to project management. We figured that if we were going to put applicants up to those questions, we should [...]

[...] developer discuss "cap prod deploy" they're talking about invoking deployment to a production server via the command line. 3 - Repository A repository is simply a storage location. When the [...]

[...] to discover how they reach the website on the production server. This same process applies to how a user visits the staging server and development server ( [...]

[...] that local envinonment does, and the more closely configured the dev server is to the production server software-wise, the better. Ours happens to be a dedicated machine in our server room. Unlike [...]

[...] , and they will have different file names on each machine (local dev machine, dev server, production server, etc.). Similarly, you shouldn’t try to edit these files manually because Drupal will [...]

[...] with Git to allow for seamless peer review and feedback of code while in development. 4 - Dev Server The development server is a web server that handles the next stage of the deployment process on [...]

[...] together to the point that it's ready to be hosted for internal review, and here's where the dev server comes into play. The dev server has much of the same application stack/development environment [...]

[...] on page load, and they will have different file names on each machine (local dev machine, dev server, production server, etc.). Similarly, you shouldn’t try to edit these files manually because [...]

[...] . Other Posts in This Series: A Formula for Healthy Project Size Compared to Organization Size Scaling Projects and Scaling the Organization Unit Change During Project & Organizational [...]

[...] ! Other Posts in This Series: A Formula for Healthy Project Size Compared to Organization Size Scaling Projects and Scaling the Organization Unit Change During Project & Organizational [...]

[...] . Other Posts in This Series: A Formula for Healthy Project Size Compared to Organization Size Scaling Projects and Scaling the Organization Unit Change During Project & Organizational [...]

[...] ! Other Posts in This Series: A Formula for Healthy Project Size Compared to Organization Size Scaling Projects and Scaling the Organization Unit Change During Project & Organizational [...]

[...] inbetween, organizational management requires custom process to support the people and team dynamics leading the organization. Remember that whole "individuals and interactions over [...]

[...] "Oh look, we're growing!" This post goes a bit deeper into a framework for looking at team dynamics based on the communication styles of doer, thinker, challenger, and supporter that I first [...]

[...] the tactical approach for their groups when it comes to processes for working well together, team dynamics, and even preferred social outings. Note that Metal Toad is not trying to reinvent the wheel [...]

[...] to a specific origin, for example, if you need to push from the development server to the staging server. In this case, you will want to specify that server in particular but we'll get more into the [...]

[...] testing, or any of the other multitude of types of software testing that exist. 6 - Staging Server The staging server is yet another web server in the deployment process prior to the [...]

[...] testing, or any of the other multitude of types of software testing that exist. 6 - Staging Server The staging server is yet another web server in the deployment process prior to the [...]

[...] . Managing them all can be confusing and tedious on a one person project; add in multiple developers working on the same code base and a code management system is crucial. This is [...]

[...] was 5pm and it was only from 2-3pm that we were merging our code. Normally having multiple developers on the same code-base is easy with git (and even easier with a GUI tool like GitBox). [...]

[...] in progress can be viewed by means other than looking over a developer's shoulder. When multiple developers are working on a project, the dev server is the best place to deploy their combined code [...]

[...] in progress can be viewed by means other than looking over a developer's shoulder. When multiple developers are working on a project, the dev server is the best place to deploy their combined code [...]

[...] profiled, and now it's on to Steve, our newest addition to the PM team! What makes a stellar digital PM? A stellar DPM posses a specific set of personality traits, someone who is both inquisitive and [...]

Being a PM can be a bit of an amorphous position, especially at smaller agencies where the job spans part AM, part contract writer, part QA, operation [...]

[...] It's just over a week until the 2014 Digital PM Summit, where I'll present on organizational growth from a PM perspective. This post in my [...]

[...] ! Adam and Steve have already been profiled, and now it's on to Rhienna! What makes a stellar digital PM? My answer is equal parts formula and magic: formula being the experience and great [...]

[...] is desired. Given all the similarities, I'm a huge advocate for having a member of the leadership team who fits the "project manager" archetype and has project management [...]

[...] business unit standpoint rather than an individual employee standpoint. In this model, the leadership team's most important objective becomes defining the norms that teams should subscribe to. I'm not [...]

[...] by year end). I found myself excited by the opportunity to, as I see it, project manage our leadership team by applying similar practices and principles from digital project management to business [...]