The thing I’ve been dreading

Remember last week how I said that we were going to launch with version 1, and gradually rebuild the site? Well, it’s amazing how much can change in a week!

It was ‘cards on the table’ time yesterday, when Lee told us we really need to rebuild it now. And I agree it’s ridiculous trying to manage with something that is just causing his team too many inefficiencies to develop, it’s just a complete waste of time. And so we’ve bitten the bullet, and yesterday we decided we’d overhaul the site before we launch, and yes, you’ve guessed it, the launch date is no longer 1 March!

However, it’s absolutely, definitely, without a doubt, going to be Monday 13 March, so we’ve only slipped a few days. I’d always said ‘March’ launch date, but was hoping it would be very early March. Partly because I suppose I was kind of expecting something to happen, and wanted to give us plenty of leeway just in case. I’ve seen it so many times with businesses, whether they’re technological or not, that planned timetables nearly always end up moving a bit. But I’m having nightmares about “Boo!” Do you remember that fashion retail website that was so hyped up in the early dot com days, apparently the launch date got moved so many times and it was months and months late by the time they’d launched. However, their budget of £ms is hardly the same situation that we’re in now, but still it does keep cropping up in the back of my mind.

We have set a March 13th deadline, which is going to be very tight now, because that’s the start of the TOAST awareness week that we’re supporting and also the week of the Harrogate Bambinos exhibition. So there’s no way at all that we can’t be live by then!

It does give us a couple more weeks of time to enter more fantastic content though, so that’s an advantage. And we’ve secured the services of a couple of journalist students to help us with this. They’re going to be doing a mix of researching, entering content and writing press releases. So it’s excellent experience and exposure for them too.

Our beta testers are now testing the site and completing our questionnaires. They’re coming back with some really useful comments, lots and lots of positive things too, which really keeps our spirits up. I think they’re going to be so useful to us, to road-test the site as we continue to develop it.

We had a great meeting with the Princess Royal Trust for Carers this week at their Northern office, and it looks all positive for a charity partnership with them. It will work in their favour too, that we have delayed launch for a couple of days, because it will give them more time to get the proposal through their internal structures. If they could be on board with us right from launch, it would be excellent.

My big strategic idea (see diaries end Jan/early Feb) is still rumbling along…and it took a very interesting turn for the better this week, but that’s still not resolved one way or the other, so I’m not spilling the beans just yet! Hopefully more news about this next week. I think its time for me to write a new team newsletter too. The team has changed so much since the last one at New Year, amazingly only about 7 weeks ago, because a massive amount has happened in between. As we’ve lots of new team members it’d just be useful to start communicating with them a bit more effectively, and the newsletter is one way of doing it in a lighthearted but thorough way, making sure you get all the information out to everyone. It’d be good to issue one just before launch (ie now!), and then one just after we launch. Another thing for my task list.

But for now, it’s Friday morning and Luke has been great occupying himself for the last couple of hours, so I’m off to give him a bit of attention. Then probably a quick trip to the shops is called for, or I’m in danger of becoming Old Mother Hubbard!

Kirsty