• Using design thinking to navigate a “Lift and Shift” enterprise WordPress project

    A “lift and shift” project involves moving functionality wholesale from one platform to another. It’s a common request, and it can work well under the right circumstances — but creating conditions for success in pure migration projects requires careful consideration of the tradeoffs and paradoxically, a clear commitment to design thinking.

  • Remote work: Teamwork at a distance

    As you might imagine, working remotely changes how you relate to and work with your colleagues. This starts at the very beginning with hiring, but carries through to every day we spend working as a team. Here are some of the most important parts of the process.

  • Remote work communication: Let’s talk

    Although it’s vitally important in all workplaces, communication can be especially challenging in a remote environment. It’s something that’s generally easy to do in person, but becomes more difficult when everyone is in different places. Here are some ways we’ve focused on communication and increased its value to everyone involved.

  • Fortune steps forward

    On July 1st, we activated the new Fortune.com, as well as two of their microsites, on new WordPress VIP Go hosting. While not much has visibly changed on the front end, the site has been rebuilt essentially from scratch, and will provide users and editors alike a faster, and cleaner, more reliable experience.

  • Remote work tools: What we use and how we choose them

    Sign into LinkedIn or run a quick Google search, and you’ll see that the ecosystem of business tools is becoming increasingly crowded. Especially when you work remotely, like us, you are very reliant on finding the right tools for the job. How do you find the ones that help you succeed?

  • Reference stories: A fair way to get up to par

    Just like how hours work globally because we all take our cues from the World Clock, teams need to base their decisions using the same benchmarks to unlock the true value of story points and team velocity. This can be accomplished by using reference stories.

  • Team VIP sitting down looking out over the red rocks of Sedona. Facing away from the camera with their arms around each other.

    Alley team retreats: A VIP pass to Phoenix

    Another team at Alley has completed a successful retreat in Phoenix, Arizona. Read about what we’ve learned from their trip and why team retreats serve as excellent remote work culture building tools.

  • You down with ITP?

    Building and keeping trust among web users is paramount to publishers and content creators alike, and many people feel betrayed when their web activity and private data are acquired by third-parties without consent. With the release of ITP 2.1, now on beta releases of iOS 12.2 and Safari 12.1 on macOS High Sierra and Mojave, both third-party and first-party cookies are affected.

  • A tale of two capacities

    There’s a saying that people invariably attribute to wherever they live: if you don’t like the weather in [PLACE] wait five minutes. That said, more often than not, the opposite is true. Whether for a sprint, or for the real world, a great way to predict tomorrow’s weather is to look at yesterday’s. You won’t always be right (and likely never exactly right), but you will be close enough to not die from exposure to the elements – or misread your velocity.