The interview was conducted by Vika x Pupcakes (Season VI)

[edits have been made for clarity and readability]

Q: Can you walk us through how you scoped out the project, worked on it, and reviewed it? It would be really helpful to hear about the whole process and your approach.

Sero: I think it is important to note that we got this project through a bid. POKT wanted a new website, and they asked teams to propose how they would do it and the costs. Sasquatch brought some of us together to work on our part of the bid, and then he put it all together and sent it to the client. After that, we had a few calls with the client to really understand what they wanted. We went through a design sprint, checked that with them, and then moved on to the development and SEO parts. After wrapping up, we had a review process a few weeks after everything was approved

Sasquatch: I think it is worth mentioning, and Sero did too, that this project was not something we stumbled upon by chance. We were actually suggested to apply for it. So, it was not like a random hunt out of nowhere, but it was, as far as I know, one of the first RFPs (requests for proposals) that RaidGuild actively went out and gathered. So I would really like to highlight that, especially in your work, to send a signal to the rest of the Guild, like “Hey, there is a lot more work out there if we actively look for it”.

Q: Was there anything you were particularly proud of during the whole process?

Sasquatch: I am really proud of the feedback we got from the client. We know we do good work, but seeing that we got this project based on our reputation from a previous project with them was great. I think this project itself was the biggest project that got brought to the Guild in 2023. I am also just very proud of the team and how everyone worked together. We had a bit of a unique situation with roles because we had three designers on this project. It was kind of our way of giving designers in the Guild more to do since there had not been much work for them. I would say I am very proud of the result, very proud of the feedback from the client, and very proud of the teamwork that we had.

Q: Could you tell us more about the team involved? Who was part of it and what were their roles and responsibilities?

Sasquatch: I act as a cleric, or account manager. That is the main role for interacting with the client, making sure the team understands the client's needs, and setting expectations, which is important, especially with this client. They are an awesome client, but also very particular. On top of that, I handled some Monk duties of doing project management, keeping our timelines on track, and securing any resources the team needed. Sero was in charge of all the front-end building for the site. Then we had Bennisan, Bingo, and Chiali on design. This was particularly useful at the start because part of the project involved rebranding POKT. They were looking to update their visual system, and having three designers allowed us to offer three distinct branding directions. This flexibility, I think, helped us get the bid in the first place, and then deliver a really high-quality service to the client because they were presented with some options they could choose from, rather than just saying “ok, this is what we think we should do''. And, just to make sure I am covering everyone, Degenroach came on to help us do SEO work, that was the rounding out of the team.

Q: Moving on, did you guys learn anything from this project? Are there any key takeaways or lessons learned, maybe even some challenges like Moloch sightings?

Sero: For me, the big lesson is about improving the review process. Like, figuring out the best way to handle reviews. I think it is generally important for teams, especially if there are multiple people working on the same thing. When something changes in one place, it has to be updated everywhere else too. So, having a more standardized review process could really help the whole Guild boost our output and strengthen our relationships with clients. That covers it for my biggest lesson.

Sasquatch: Nope, everything went perfect. I wouldn't change anything. Just kidding. For me, the biggest lesson is our three-designer system. It was really nice to have those original branding variations, and I would definitely reuse that approach in a branding exercise. But when it comes to implementing the chosen design, I would definitely want to pick one person, ideally, the person who suggested that design. What happened is, that the client preferred Bennisan’s design system, but Bingo was the head designer. I think that was mainly because Bennisan is very busy, but it caused some issues. Going forward, I would do things differently. I would encourage the person who came up with the design system and won the design bid to be the head designer. They would not necessarily need to do all the work but would oversee the design’s integrity.

Also, I think one area I could've managed better was organizing clear and regular meetings, so that we could have better visibility on what everybody's doing. We set off in different directions and we tried to work asynchronously. We used some more project management tools like Dework, which was very useful, but it did not replace the need for regular check-ins. We missed out on having those scrum-type meetings at the beginning of the week to keep everybody on the same page.