skills
I've never felt more pretentious than I did when I created this list. I took out all of the stuff I am familiar with and only left the stuff I'm pretty good at. I feel comfortable teaching anything expert and above. I'll speak on anything Ninja.
You might be thinking... "holy cow - did this guy stand up a db just to catalogue the crap he knows" ... and yeah I did.
EXECUTIVE
Yep. I've done it dozens of times. Communicating the content is not the problem in our industry - Keeping their attention is. Energy and Passion, can't be faked.
You are spending resources paddling this ship. You're all oars in the water. Everyones in sync. But no one is quite clear where they are paddling too. Get in that crowe's nest and yell ... "Land Ho!" from the top of your lungs... (bit far? I think it went a bit too far)
Finding the right combination personality styles, skill sets to get a job done - is just the beginning.
Startups are tough and often lonely landscape. Knowing what you don't know and getting a mentor, coach, wingman, sherpa, guru and/or a guy named Ryan - can be helpful.
Product Management
Feedback helps improve a product, but done right can help sell the product as well.
Do you have a process in place that ensures your product is in tune with your changing customers and landscape? Is there someone responsible for keeping their thumb on the pulse of your product and its continual improvement? ( insert shameless plug ) I'd like to be your someone... awww.
Someone has to keep an eye on the big picture as each step of the funnel effects the next. Requires strategy and coordination.
If you want something done right... you had better communicated it well.
The art of requirement gathering is finding the right questions to ask the right people at the right time.
In the immortal words of Daft Punk - Gotta make it Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.
"Hey - I got an idea.." are some of my favorite words.
Competition analysis, running costs, revenue models and future goals all play a factor.
Looking for answers can be like Nicolas Cage looking a National Treasure.
Have to align executive strategy with actions that result in outcomes. Kinda like how a Jedi has to use the force to align a crystal with the power source so he can cut someone's arm off with a lightsaber. Kinda like that.
Google. Yep that's it. If you can't make Google happier than your competition - your cost of acquisition is going to most likely be higher. Showing Google your good side when it takes a picture is really what SEO/SEM is all about.
Marketing
You worked hard to get'em - lets keep them around for a while.
Each and every click, tap, scroll - a user is telling you something about themselves. Your ability to monetize that information is directly tied to your marketing automation.
This can be a source of great success or an absolute time suck. Need clear goals and a plan of attack.
Dev Management
No this has nothing to do with offshore drilling on the coast, but I can see how it could be miscommunicated. Just like most things in offshore dev management, if not done correctly.
The art of herding caffeinated cats... if the cats all fought over whether everyone should use SCRUM, Agile, Waterfall or a Hybrid approach.
Front-End
Email clients differ wildly. Being able to test and troubleshoot all of the web and desktop clients out there is really important if your communication matters to you.
With each and every second of load time your conversion reduces a significant amount. Find out where the issues are and fix them.
"Well it looked good on my screen" - Crappy Developer. Build browser testing and automated browser testing into your development life cycle. Or you can try and troubleshoot your CEO's browser late on a Saturday night. You're call though, really.
Willkommen Bienvenido Bienvenue Bem-vindo Välkommen Hoş geldin Witaj! - Well you get the idea. Architect the solution well and you have some serious flexibility on translation services and/or local user testing.
Many people don't know what Conversion Optimization is or they have the wrong idea of it. It's not about having the most pretentious Jony Ives looking designer that cranks out a beautiful page. It's about deploying something and then optimizing the hellz out of it via testing.
So many new ideas need websites. Gotten Ninja as spooling up new ones really quick.
Look at your entire purchase journey. Discover your leaky spots. Now you know your stages. Make the easy path easier and easier and easier and then go clean up the mess on the floor. ( that ones for me )
Showing a user that they are not alone and there are other's looking for rash cream.
Using timing or scarcity to invoke a desired action. If you want to know more, contact me before my client-list fills up.
Although I started JS when it was invented - it has come a looong way. Now its not just a front-end language but one of the most performance back-end languages as well.
Web front-end presentation relies on css. Done right - your browser testing comes back smiling, done wrong and you're gonna wish Internet Explorer would finally die.
Gotta know something about this if you plan on being in the web biz. AMP may or may not be a fad. Can't wait to find out.
I love node. Not to say it's the only answer, but it's quick, easy to write has huge NPM community and runs anywhere.
Not a fan of this term. All sites should be responsive. Never in the history of the internet have all our screens been the same size.
Mobile app design is NOT the same as mobile web. Don't make the mistake of thinking they are the same.
Not sure how users will react to something. Unable to split test it in the wild? Well then you should user test it. Pay real people to try fake things and hope to get real results.
Web, Mobile, Apple TV - yep - gotcha. I use collaborative design tools with built in prototyping.