- Vesess: A “Special” Online Experience
- April 23, 2008 Filed under: About, Friends, P2P Rescue, People, Vesess, Why?
The wonderful folks over at Vesess, the Sri Lanka-based Web design and development firm that created our site, published a lengthy blog post/interview on their end about working with us, and I must confess it came as a really nice surprise.
Obviously I knew it was coming since I provided the interview itself. But, like everything the company does, the end result was even better than I expected. I was planning to write something similar here at some point, because the process of working from the other side of the planet proved to be interesting. I guess now is a good time to share my own views….
–In Sinhalese, the word “Vesess” means “Special.” The company logo, a “Kombuwa” is a Sinhalese diacritic that adds a special element to an otherwise ordinary character.–Running a super lean non-profit from the United States, with the first and main thrust involving communities in Sri Lanka–almost literally opposite us on the globe–requires collaborating with people from virtually everywhere. Coordinating activities effectively not only requires technology but people who know how to use it.
Just this morning, for example, I have had a phone discussion with a leader of the aqua projects we’re working on (see Paavima, in our Projects section). I reached him in Sweden via Skype forwarding. I have exchanged project highlights with the leader of the Shows for Shelters marionette project, who is currently in Hamburg, Germany. I have securely wired some donation funds to an employee in Sri Lanka (via Xoom). And I have coordinated new project tasks with a virtual assistant in the Philippines, using a whole host of tools, but mainly Google Apps.
That’s the easy stuff.
–Vesess’s work on “Faces Of” gave me an early senses of the human touch they could provide.–
Building a low-cost, full-featured Web presence is a lot more complicated. But having such a presence is critical to us. It is almost the only place we can hang our sign and still have people worldwide see it and interact with us.
My requirements in the beginning were clear: I needed some kind of store, a content management system, and a striking design that could communicate professionalism to donors while providing a “feeling” of Sri Lanka. While I can conceptually understand these technologies and fiddle with elements of design, it soon became clear I had to buckle and “outsource” to a real team who knew what they were doing.
That team became Vesess initially for two reasons: 1) I liked the variety of work in their portfolio, and 2) they are based in and from Sri Lanka. I could have used just any Web dev. team in the U.S., but creating a sense of Sri Lanka would have felt, to me, like an imitation. I really wanted a group in Sri Lanka to take this on and perhaps teach me some things about the country along the way.
–Vesess’s work on Maliban suggested to me that these guys get it. I connected with this work instantly. Kind of made me hungry.(Click the pic to enlarge.)–
I expected problems. There are always problems, beginning with time difference. What worried me most, however, was that we would be working comprehensively on design here and not ever would we be together in-person. Face-to-face. Isn’t that an important variable determining success between clients? It turns out that while it’s probably helpful, it’s not required.
Get this: I have never spoken even by phone to a single member of the Vesess team. Not once, over more than three months.
Without meaning to sound too impersonal, I am exceptionally pleased with that. Live communication is expensive and dealing with 12-hour time differences is a major inconvenience. The technology tools the company employed and delivered rapidly eliminated the need for live communication and paved the way for a smooth process.
From a virtual back office to an easily navigable task/milestone list, it all was a piece of cake. The knowledgeable recommendations toward developing a standards-based structure (beyond me, really) will serve me well into the future. The frequency of design comps I received probably bettered any comparable office located just down the street–while saving me the pain of unnecessary meetings.
Like with any relationship, challenges will emerge and there will be differences of opinion. (The gang at Vesess know the perfectionist in me is still lobbying for a revision on one thing.) The company tackled “issues” well, meaning quickly and with respect. Like a doctor with good bedside manner.
This surely sounds like an advertisement by now, and after reviewing the results, I guess it is. I would recommend Vesess to anyone, anywhere who had similar needs as P2P Rescue.
Thanks guys!–Sean Kelly
P.S. I have invited members of Vesess to contribute to this blog on occasion, when they see something that relates to our mission. I am looking forward to continuing to work them in this and other capacities.
