A little later than advertised (and by “a little” I actually mean a week) I’m joined on Unfinished Business. Episode 102 by Rachel Andrew and Zoe Mickley Gillenwater . Despite being two experts on bleeding edge CSS layout modules, they don’t talk about CSS (much.) Instead we talk about how to keep doing when keeping going is hard and what gives us that motivation. We also discuss making big decisions including when we might want to take, or leave, a job....
Mar 02, 2015•54 min•Ep. 102
We’re back. Back in business. Unfinished Business. Episode 101 . For this, the first episode of 2015, I’m joined by two of the best well-known writers about how to implement CSS on a large scale Harry Roberts and Jonathan Snook . We talk about if the ways we talk about CSS today have made learning it less accessible for beginners. I worry that people are being encouraged to jump straight into Sass without learning the basics of CSS first and ask why people don’t write long books about it anymore...
Feb 07, 2015•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 101
This week is the one-hundredth episode of Unfinished Business and who better to join me than the person who helped me start it all, almost two years ago, Anna Debenham . We celebrate by talking about what went right and wrong in 2014 and our resolutions for 2015. Then we talk about meetings and how we can improve them. This being the final episode of the year, I’d like to say an enormous thank-you to everyone I’ve spoken to on Unfinished Business, this year: Ashley Baxter , Benjamin Hollway , Br...
Dec 21, 2014•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 100
On the penultimate episode of Unfinished Business of 2014, I’m joined by my design hero Trent Walton to talk about if an integrated responsive design and development workflow makes working out what and how to charge more difficult. We discuss Paravel , the three person studio that he helps run, how their business works, how they charge and if they negotiate on price. Of course, this being Unfinished Business, I couldn’t help talking about burgers and this week’s stupid cheeseburger stuffed crust...
Dec 16, 2014•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 99
Conference impresario John Davey joins me again on Unfinished Business this week . We talk about anticipation and scarceness, how some cinemas create an experience around watching a film, how looking at album artwork in a record shop enhanced the experience of buying music and whether the experiences we’ve lost were valuable enough to revive in new and different ways.
Dec 08, 2014•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 98
It’s a special week this week on Unfinished Business as I’m joined by not one, but two regular co-hosts, Ashley Baxter and Laura Kalbag. In a bumper episode, we talk about cakes, brightly coloured fizzy drinks and Yorkshire pudding burgers. We discuss podcasting, sounding good as a podcast guest, then whether we allow Christmas decorations in our offices. Finally we talk about what we’ve achieved this year and what our goals are for 2015. It’s a fast and fun episode. I think you’ll really enjoy ...
Nov 29, 2014•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 97
Artist and designer Brendan Dawes is back on Unfinished Business this week . We get started by talking about past popular pop princes and princesses S Club 7, The Handsome Family and Bren’s one day trip to Argentina. For the remainder of the show, we talk about when it’s acceptable to give our time for free and when we should say no. Why every project should include a ‘goodwill’ budget and what the heck are those party paper and whistle things that come out of Christmas crackers called? We’re sp...
Nov 23, 2014•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 96
A complete change of subject for this week’s Unfinished Business , Relly Annett-Baker and I talk about parenting and education and specifically how she’s homeschooling her two young children. This week we’re sponsored by the fabulous new Perch Runway and by DeviceLab . Please support our show by supporting them.
Nov 18, 2014•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 95
This week on Unfinished Business , Paul Boag , Jon Hicks and I dispense with any pretence that this is a show about business and spend 90 minutes talking about something much more interesting. Peter Capaldi’s first series as Doctor Who. We talk about our thoughts on Peter Capaldi’s Doctor and the best (and worst) episodes of the season. Then we finish up by discussing the series finale, Clara and Danny Pink and of course Missy. If you haven’t seen the final episode of this season, there are spoi...
Nov 11, 2014•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 94
The week’s Unfinished Business was recorded live at The Web Is… conference in Cardiff, as part of Geek Mental Help week. I was joined on-stage by Christopher Murphy , Cole Henley , Relly Annett-Baker and Dr. Clare Symons to talk about a wide range of mental heath and mental illness issues. I put the lower audio quality this week down to everyone wearing lapel, not using condenser microphones, (sorry about that,) but recording live in front of an audience was fun, and I’ll definitely do it again....
Nov 03, 2014•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 93
This week is Geek Mental Help week and on Unfinished Business I’m joined by Liz Elcoate , one of the people who helped to spark the idea. We ask if our industry attracts people with issues or cause them, does our working environment add to our problems and what we hope the outcomes from this week will be? But not before we talk sport, Liz’s obsession with wrestling and my Uncle Haystacks. This week’s episode is sponsored by Perch Runway , a new version of Perch that’s been designed for bigger, m...
Oct 27, 2014•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 92
Brighton-based developer Benjamin Hollway loves a burger in a brioche bun and joins me on Unfinished Business this week to talk about how young people feel excluded from some industry events and how conferences and meet-ups should cater for people who don’t want to or are too young to drink. Benjamin was shortlisted for ‘emerging talent of the year’ at the Net Awards and oh, did I mention that he’s only sixteen? This week’s episode is sponsored by Perch Runway , a new version of Perch that’s bee...
Oct 20, 2014•50 min•Ep. 91
Designer and artist Brendan Dawes is back on episode 90 of Unfinished Business this week to talk about his recent commission by Mailchimp, Six Monkeys , which explores interactions with email through physical objects named after six famous chimpanzees. Before that though, we talk more about what’s happening with Geek Mental Help Week , including whether the word ‘geek’ takes something away from the project and is somehow derogatory....
Oct 12, 2014•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 90
This week’s an emotional episode of Unfinished Business . After talking about why a burger in a donut should never, ever have become a thing, Laura Kalbag and I discuss mental health issues in our industry. We talk about my own struggles with depression and depersonalisation disorder, issues that stem from my father’s own mental health issues and suicide.
Oct 05, 2014•1 hr•Ep. 89
This week on Unfinished Business , Harry Roberts and I have some pretty big, Boag-shaped, boots to fill after last week’s episode. Harry takes the opposite view to Paul about sharing personal struggles in a work context and worries about the impression that sharing give to prospective clients. Then we talk about how clients’ commissioning process for creative services is largely broken, the differences between an open conversation starter, an RFP and a brief and how we, as designers and develope...
Sep 29, 2014•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 88
This week on Unfinished Business , I had planned to talk with Paul Boag about client briefs and managing expectations. But when we sat down to talk, we were both in the mood to talk about something much, more personal. We discussed how we feel about how Twitter has changed, Erin Kissane’s ‘Ditching Twitter,’ Dan Edwards’ ‘Treading through treacle’ and our general sense of melancholy about our industry. Then we talk about how, contrary to what we often hear, our industry is filled with acts of ki...
Sep 21, 2014•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 87
In the second part of our icon designer double bill, this week on Unfinished Business , I’m joined by designer, illustrator the and iconographer behind Symbolicons, Jory Raphael . We talk about how we feel about the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus announcement, the design of the Apple Watch software and whether it looks at home on the watch’s hardware. We discuss Jory’s illustration work including his artwork for the 5by5 podcast network and of course, those long shadows. Finally we talk about making a busi...
Sep 14, 2014•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 86
Icon designer Jon Hicks joins me this week on Unfinished Business to discuss our experiences of recent conferences including dConstruct (me) and An Event Apart (him.) We narrowly avoid talking about our predictions for the upcoming Apple event and instead discuss how to keep work and home life separate, whether it‘s right to be connected to work outside work hours and how having an office can help with work/life balance. Of course, all of this is just a thinly disguised ruse for what we really w...
Sep 08, 2014•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 85
This week on Unfinished Business , I’m joined by Cole Henley, technical director at Mud . We discuss his latest Freelance rates survey, how the results have changed over the last three years and what he’s learned from making the survey. I admire Cole’s Mud very much, so we talk about how to grow a business, when to hire new people and the importance of regular advice from someone on the outside. If you like the business side of Unfinished Business, you’ll love this episode. What’s an episode of ...
Sep 01, 2014•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 84
Laura Kalbag and Ashley Baxter did a wonderful job hosting Unfinished Business for the last three weeks and this week Laura hands it back to me . We talk about how we interpret the ‘business’ theme of Unfinished Business differently and how that changes the focus of the podcast. As we’re both small business owners and we’ve both been on holiday recently, we discuss how we handle keeping on top of business while we’re away from it. How we handle email and client enquiries and even work that going...
Aug 26, 2014•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 83
Ashley Baxter and Laura Kalbag are back for their final takeover episode of Unfinished Business . We talk about using social media for your business and whether writing and speaking are a scalable part of your business model. We had a couple of questions from Shane Hudson and Simon MacFadyen on forcing yourself out of your comfort zone and advice to a designer just starting out. This episode is sponsored by Espresso and Native Summit . You can get a 10% discount on Espresso with the offer code u...
Aug 17, 2014•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 82
Ashley Baxter and Laura Kalbag are back again for this week’s episode of Unfinished Business . We talk about the common myths around working for yourself, particularly as a solo entity working from home. We have some great questions from Elliot Davis, Simon Cox, and Shane Prendergast, resulting in us talking about photo manipulation and what do we both want to achieve before we retire? This episode is sponsored by GatherContent and SimplyFixIt . You can get 20% off your subscription to GatherCon...
Aug 10, 2014•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 81
While Andy’s on holiday, Ashley Baxter and Laura Kalbag take over this week’s episode of Unfinished Business . We talk about all things business insurance, including public liability, professional indemnity, business contents and copyright infringement. And it’s not boring, honest! This episode is sponsored by Devicelab , Perch and dConstruct . Get your ticket to dConstruct for only £125+VAT (£150) when you use the offer code unfinished ....
Aug 03, 2014•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 80
Before we go any further, I need to let people know that there is absolutely zero business content in the show this week. (Thousands of people are thinking now, “when is there ever?”) That‘s because this is a spoiler filled ‘Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes’ cinema special episode with my guests and film buff friends Brendan Dawes and Jeremy Keith . It’s a wild show. We ask whether there should be a new Oscar category for performance capture and if Andy Serkis should win everything? We talk about ...
Jul 23, 2014•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 79
I’ve been looking forward to speaking with Sara Soueidan on this week’s episode of Unfinished Business for a long while, not least because I’m a huge, huge, fan of her work. She’s been writing what I consider to be the best articles about CSS and SVG. We talk about those, yes, but we also talk about what it’s like for her, living and working as a web developer in her home country of Lebanon. We discuss the preconceptions and misconceptions that people in the West have about Lebanon, its people a...
Jul 20, 2014•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 78
Ashley Baxter ’s back on Unfinished Business this week . We talk about the reasons why she’s speaking in public more and how it may help her to promote her new business. Speaking of promotion, we discuss her $99 tweet sponsoring experiment, how buying tweets works and whether it worked for her. We also talk about how to move on when you feel like you’ve reached a plateau, in business as well as in the gym. This week we’re sponsored by two very different, but both excellent companies, GatherConte...
Jul 14, 2014•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 77
This week on Unfinished Business , impresario, organiser of Flash On The Beach and more recently Reasons To Be Creative , John Davey offers me some fatherly advice on how to handle a personal dilemma and what not to wear at Alex ’s upcoming graduation. We talk about the Reasons To Be Creative conference, how he finds and why he chooses so many new speakers and his unusual elevator pitch approach. Swearing: I mostly bleep out swearing on Unfinished Business, but I think that this week’s episode i...
Jul 05, 2014•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 76
Designer and artist Brendan Dawes joins me again for the 75th episode of my “one-sided, biased, poor quality personal soapbox .” We talk about the people who have inspired us the most in our working lives and Bren tells me all about how the famous designer and filmmaker Hillman Curtis helped him to get started. It’s an inspiring story. I’ve also reinstated the after hours film talk spot that Anna and I started in the early episodes of Unfinished Business. This week Bren and I talk about briefly ...
Jun 29, 2014•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 75
This week on Unfinished Business , Sean Johnson and I talk not only about Laura Nevo’s “Dear Visual Design” open letter but also how wrong the people who thought I’d criticise Laura are. While I disagree completely with Laura’s message, I appreciate her writing it, not least because it helps sum up everything that I think is wrong about how we talk about web design today. Sean’s not just along for the ride, he has plenty to say about user experience, the Net Awards and why he hates football. The...
Jun 22, 2014•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 74
Jeremy Keith joins me on this, episode 73 of Unfinished Business . Although I try to steer clean of provoking him by not talking about moon landings, we disagree about just about everything else. Fish tacos, things that scientists haven’t done yet and I think they should’ve and what makes advertising fascinating to me and hateful to him. It’s a lively show. There are sparks. I think you’ll like it. We have two excellent sponsors this week, Shopify and Logical Elements’ ‘PHP for Web Designers’ tr...
Jun 15, 2014•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 73
