We’re proud to be an official sponsor of 2013 Rails Rumble, an annual event that challenges Ruby on Rails developers to team up, plan, and build a project within 48 hours.
Sponsoring Rails Rumble 2013
7 Oct 2013
Oh My Zsh stickers in the shop!
27 Sep 2013
One of my open source projects has grown a following over the past few years. People have been asking for stickers so we recently carved out time to design a logo and get some printed.
You can find them for sale in the shop now!
Ambiguity
17 Sep 2013
Take advantage of the ambiguity in the world. Look at something and think what else it might be.
Quite often, we're approached by clients with a very specific idea in their mind. It's our responsibility to question it, tinker with it, evolve it, dismiss it, embrace it, and show them what we see it as. This process is riddled with ambiguity--until something comes to life that we can see and touch, both parties rely on trust. Trust that has been nourished throughout the course of our relationship. If our client doesn't believe that we'll act in their best interests, we'll never be able to make this journey through ambiguity together.
2013 Summer Picnic photos
4 Sep 2013
We held our annual summer picnic this last weekend. ( view photo set )
Dear Portland non-profits, we'd like to help
3 Sep 2013
We are on a mission to help six Portland area non-profit organizations before the end of 2013.
6 Questions to Ask a Web Agency Before You Hire Them
30 Aug 2013
Are you looking to a hire a web agency? Consider asking them these questions before you make a decision.
How a photo of Doug Bowman's office view in 2005 inspired me
29 Aug 2013
2005 — the year we went from a freelancer company to an agency.
How do you define 'value'?
28 Aug 2013
There is a tendency to reduce the MVP to something so small it cannot it cannot be evaluated by the market you seek. Or worse, it’s misvalued.
Shopify introduces a POS
28 Aug 2013
Wow. This is a game changer for small retail shops that sell their products online.
We’ve spoken to several companies over the past several years about their frustrations with maintaining a single inventory across two platforms (physical and online). Many of these stores were stuck on some custom eCommerce tool that a freelance developer built them several years ago. They weren’t being updated (with security patches, newer Rails releases)… the original developer is long gone and are faced with the scenario of having to hire a team like us to upgrade and improve their site.
In many of these scenarios, we have highlighted that services like Shopify are likely to be a better investment going forward. Just because they’ve invested thousands and thousands into an existing custom platform doesn’t mean they should continue to. While we live and breath off of designing applications and writing code… we don’t want to see anyone waste their money. In many scenarios, the POS was completely disconnected… and we’ve met many shops that are dealing with a QuickBooks inventory and have all these duplicate steps in their process.
I’m really glad to see that Shopify stepped up and went straight down to the retail level. This should alleviate a lot of pain for the small retail shops.
Interview with our 14 year old Ruby on Rails intern
27 Aug 2013
14 year old, James Anderson, Ruby wiz spent a few weeks in Planet Argon’s studio this summer. Upon completion of his assignment, we asked him a few questions.