Viewing Category: Making Stuff
A launch isn't a launch without some kind of hiccup, and ours was that only HALF of the mailing list was actually notified. As is the case with many Microsoft applications, a "helpful" dialog box popped up to warn about a multiple-email field, which stopped the mailing operation dead in its tracks. This dialog box was also bashful, hiding itself behind another window in embarrassment, so we didn't even see it until we started looking into why some people were not notified just now.
So if you haven't been notified by now, it's for one of the following reasons:
- We're not shipping outside the USA yet
- We don't have your confirmation email
- I was planning on emailing you directly, or will hand-deliver next time I see you
- You canceled your order
In a way this problem makes the launch process more interesting, because it adds some color to the story :-)
Finally, We Are Shipping!
A few hours ago an email notification sent from fulfillment * thedavidseahgroup.com went out with instruction on how to pay and arrange for shipping of the pads. We are fulfilling pre-orders first. After that we'll open up the general ordering for the remaining unsold pads. There will be about 100 of them not spoken for. If you are interested in ordering a pad or three, leave a comment! I'm currently only handling the domestic US, but will be adding other countries as I figure out how it works.
If you had placed a pre-order by the original cutoff date and did NOT receive the instructions on where to go to make payment, contact me through the contact form. If you are having trouble with the form (the anti-spam measures are fairly harsh), you find my contact email address at the very bottom left of the page.
I was expecting the fulfillment process to be incredibly difficult and tedious. Or more accurately, I wasn't looking forward to all the manual labor and accounting. It turned out to not be such a big deal after all.
Handling Packaging and Shipping
One of the most daunting tasks to me was handling the receipt of monies and arranging for shipment. Personally I hate shipping stuff, primarily because it seems to take an hour and a half for me to ship a single package. I've got to do the following:
- Find a box, possibly purchase one somewhere
- Pack the box
- Pad the box with something
- Find some packing tape
- Tape up the box securely
- Fill out any customs forms
- Declare values
- Weigh the box
- Find the shipping address
- Find a destination phone number
- Acquire the right label
- Transcribe the address information correctly
- Double check the address for accuracy, redoing it if it's unclear
- Drive to the nearest FedEx, or wait for a pickup
- Wait in line to drop off the package
- Pay the shipping fees
- Drive home
- Email the tracking numbers to the addressee
- Cross my fingers
Incredibly tedious. I wasn't looking forward to doing this for a hundred boxes.
Thankfully, my buddy Scott figured out the postage options, so we're using flat rate USPS Priority Mail. So long as you're using their official flat-rate envelope or flat-rate box (provided for free), you can put as much stuff as you can fit in the package. So that simplified postage calculation. This still left the problem of automating the addressing of the boxes, so we planned on using a mail merge to create the shipping labels.
It also turns out that order management and shipping is a lot easier with today's online tools. Read onward.
Handling Mail Merges
I wasn't looking forward to managing the email list. I was maintaining an Excel document with all the addresses in it, to use as the data source for the following:
Generating shipping labels with name, address, and number of pads per order. These shipping labels, I imagined, would be used by packers to tell how many pads to put in each box without having to look it up on another sheet, hopefully reducing errors.
Generating the email blast to tell individual pre-orders where to pay, and reconfirm their address and # of pads.
Since I wasn't too keen on doing this, I handed the Excel spreadsheet updating to volleyball buddy Brandy, and then asked The Ultra-Competent Erin to make Outlook talk to Word to talk to Excel to make all that other stuff happen. Whew. Outsourcing rocks :-)
Handling Payment
The new website content management system I'm using, Expression Engine 1.6, has a "Simple E-Commerce" module in it that can handle items and so forth. It also integrates with PayPal, so I figured I would use this to build a simple store to handle the transaction. I already have PayPal, so I upgraded to a Business account and proceeded to build a simple store. It didn't, however, handle quantities and shipping costs by itself, so I gave up and went directly to PayPal to generate purchase buttons.
It was then I discovered that PayPal actually prints shipping labels and postage. Their simple payment button allows each person placing an order to specify a quantity. The shipper can fill out a template to specify shipping methods AND costs, for both domestic and international shipping. Not only that, but PayPal's merchant tools track the entire transaction in a simple dashboard. Once a payment is received, you can click a button to buy the postage online through Pitney Bowes, which comes in form of a printable web page that you just tape to the box. The funds are automatically deducted from your PayPal account. You can then print a packing list that can be customized with your own message and logo, and include that in the box. All you have to do then is drop the package off at the Post Office or arrange for a pickup. This did away with the need to print labels too, so there was some work saved there.
The one drawback of PayPal is that they de-emphasize the credit card payment link to make people think they have to sign up for PayPal to use it. I put instructions regarding how this was NOT necessary in the email, and on the secret order page. Plus there is a transaction fee of about 2% or so, but this isn't too bad.
Boiling down the steps, this is how it goes assuming you are using the US Postal Service's flat rate priority mail packages ($4.60 for envelope, $8.95 for box, no weight limits).
- Order boxes and envelopes from the US Postal Service website (free, but 5-10 business days to receive)
- Get a PayPal account, upgrade to Business Account (free)
- Activate Web Payment Standard (free)
- Set up your PayPal shipping quantities/costs and preferred shipping vendor as USPS (assuming you'll be using their flat rate shipping)
- Create a "Pay Now" button for your individual item, put it on your website.
- Let PayPal manage the payment, address, shipping labels
- As orders come in, print postage and pack boxes
- Drop finished packages off at the post office or arrange for a pickup
It is all rather remarkable how easy it is. The first package I shipped out with this felt...momentous. The next step after this is to use something like Amazon Fulfillment to handle everything, which includes listing on the Amazon website. There is a $60 monthly cost however, because you have to buy a storefront account I believe...but now I am getting ahead of myself. Gotta sell-through these pads first.
The Adventure Continues
So that's it for now. On December 31st I will open general orders to the public. In the meantime, if you're interested in how the project got going here's all the pertinent blog posts.
I must publicly thank Scott Wright: graphic designer by training, MBA by education, experienced print broker, trusted friend and co-schemer. I wouldn't have dared try printing anything for real without his encouragement and support. Dude, you rock! Start your blog already!
Yes, the project has been moving slowly. I've had a few email inquiries regarding the status of the pre-printed Emergent Task Planner Pads. Here's where we are right now:
- We have the pads printed and newly shrinkwrapped for durability.
- We have our shipping options figured out: US Postal Service flat rate.
- We now have an instruction sheet that we have to print (full bleed, 8.5" x 11") on a print-on-demand printer.
- We have to do the mail merge of the mailing list. The mailing list has been processed into Excel, so now I just have to do a mail merge. I believe the last time I did this was in 1984 using a word processor called WordStar, a program I still miss but probably can never return to, much in the way that I can't watch Star Blazers anymore without cringing.
So that's where we are. Here's a sneak peak at the new instruction sheet; eventually I will be making these for all the forms.
Yes, it's a little salesy in the wording (this is something I've been trying to be better at, self promotion and so forth), and I'm not so keen on the typography, but it's DONE FOR NOW and I can move on to other things.
I've been pretty very busy with projects, and haven't even had much time to blog. It makes me think that I would actually like to be writing full-time on a variety of topics, but this is probably a case of "the grass is greener on the side of the fence without projects pressing down on my shoulders". Dad is also visiting, and we've had some wonderful conversations, though I still need to buy a reasonably capable but cheap DV camcorder...aigh, more research. And then there is the looming round of 2008 updates to the various calendars and forms. So my plate is feeling quite full. The always-insightful Matt Cornell, aka Idea Matt, magically sensed my pain and shipped me a copy of Following Through: A Revolutionary New Model for Finishing Whatever You Start out of the blue, which was awfully considerate. I'm looking forward to reading a bit of it tonight; Dad already pounced on it and flipped through, pronouncing it "practical" and "useful" with some energy a few hours ago. Time to read!
This morning I went to my first-ever press check at Papergraphics, a printing company based in Merrimack, New Hampshire. The press check a final form of approval, pulling the first few sheets from a press run to make sure the color looks right and that there are no final issues. I was mostly curious about what the inside of an actual printing shop looked like. Our representative, Susan, was very patient in answering my questions and in allowing me to take pictures. Printing is awesome. There's something magical about watching a blank sheet of paper make its way down the press to emerge, transformed, into something much more.
PROOFING AND PRESS CHECK
By the time I arrived, the press had already been set up and had printed a few hundred sheets of our 18,750 sheet run. The press guy pulled a sheet off and handed it to Susan, who then put it up under a light to compare. Everything looked fine to me, until I noticed it looked too good: the printed area of the page was perfectly centered. However, our design is off-centered on purpose, as to provide space for hole punching for those who need it. I had not caught this in yesterday's proofing check, but the press guy said that it could be adjusted by just moving the cropping marks. He made a sheet that described the changes (see picture below), and then painted out the crop marks on the actual plates.
PRINTING PRESSES ARE COOL
As this was going on, Susan showed me around the press, pointing out its various features. It was a 5-color press, meaning it could print up to five different inks at a time. We're printing the Emergent Task Planner as 4-color process. This refers to the use of 4 standard primary inks: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. The inks come in cans (below, left) which they sometimes mix themselves for custom colors. A gallon of ink is good for "thousands of impressions". A plate is a piece of flexible metal (bottom, right) that fits over a roller in the press that has been treated to hold ink (bottom, middle). When the plate rolls over the paper, the ink of that color remains.
I liked the smell of the ink, which had a slightly sweet smell. There is something intoxicating about it. I was also enthralled by the printing process itself, because it requires an attentive eye to maintain quality throughout the run. I could imagine myself working as a printer if there weren't any computers around. Going back even further, I probably would have been a clockmaker or a blacksmith.
Watching a pile of blank paper get transformed into an actual product was one of the most quietly exciting things I've experienced. There was something kind of calming about the experience. It may have been the press guys around the room that exuded that sense of quiet competence. Pretty awesome.
It's just hitting me that this is a moment I have been waiting for my entire life. For the first time, I've created a physical manifestation of my own product. I'm glad I had a chance to see the printing process first hand; it just wouldn't have been the same ordering over the Internet.
On a side note, 55 of the 86 pre-order confirmation emails I sent out have been been acknowledged, which means that I probably won't lose money now. If you ordered an ETP pad but didn't get a pre-order email last night, leave a comment here and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.
The next step, once the pads are delivered to Manchester, is to actually create some packages and price out the postage.
Yesterday I met up with my buddy Scott to have a look at the printing proof for the pre-printed Emergent Task Planner pads. I know it's been quite a while since we kicked off this project, so here is the current status:
We have our costs finalized ($12 per pad, which now includes a cardboard backer) and are going to press this week, perhaps as early as Thursday morning. I'm hoping to be there with a camera to document the process.
Once we produce the pads and get them back, we can finalize both the packaging (simple envelopes, boxes and stickers) and the shipping cost (the post office refused to quote us anything until they saw what we wanted to ship). Shipping is extra, so I'll find out what shipping options and cost will be from New England. We have about 90 orders to move, if all pre-orders decide to follow through.
We will be targeting the domestic US first, perhaps Canada if that is doable without having to fill out a separate customs form for every package.
I have upgraded my paypal account so I can use Website Payments Standard for accepting payments. I also have set up a separate email account for handling product-related email.
I have not yet sent any email to people who have pre-ordered, though now that I think about it I should have confirmed them all...hindsight, 20/20, etc. I had thought we'd be going to press much quicker than we did, so I thought we would have had final costs emailed to everyone by now.
To recap, here’s the current specifications:
- US Letter (8.5″ x 11″) on a pad.
- Simple cardboard backing.
- Top-glued for easy tear-off.
- No pre-punched holes, but there is space on the left of the form to allow for hole punching.
- Printed on Cougar Opaque 80LB Text White Smooth stock. It's a substantial paper sheet that should hold up to daily use.
- 75 Sheets per Pad: This seems like a decent number, and allows us to ship a pack of 5 pads to cover a year.
- 4 color printing: I had pushed for custom inks, but this adds to setup cost. Looking over the proof and discussing options with the printing folks, 4-color looks a lot better than it did even 4 years ago, with 150- and 175-line screens pretty common. I would have liked to design to the raw capability of the imagesetter (the machine that actually creates the metal plates used on the offset press), but apparently they are so automated now that the kind of control I used to get in the early 1990s is no longer necessary or even provided. Or so I am told...I am not entirely convinced.
...and the biggy:
- No pre-printed 2007 in the upper right corner. You fill the year in yourself. Aesthetically this is a small step backwards, but functionally it means that these pads will not be out-of-date when 2008 rolls around.
Here's what the current sheet design looks like:
ORDER STATUS
So that's the current status. I will email people tonight to confirm interest, shipping address, and number of pads. Then I'll be able go to the post office and find out what actual shipping cost will be, and provide the PayPal payment information in a follow-up email.
Please note that pre-orders have been closed, but we will probably do a second run around the end of the year if we sell-through and the interest is there. The profits that come from this run will help fund the next round of expansion to online ordering and fulfillment.
UPDATE: I have emailed everyone in the United States and Canada, a total of 86 names. If you had placed a pre-order and didn't get a confirming email from "DSG Product Division (products*davidseah.com)", then you should email me at productservice at davidseah.com, or use the contact form.
Things are going a little slower on the Emergent Task Planner Sheet Updates than planned, but the final file is being looked at for final pricing. The major change was removing the pre-printed year from the form (which you can see in this post). The major reason: 2008 is just around the corner, and it does make sense to make the first round of forms useful into the next year. It's just not as pretty...sigh. I'd like to eventually have entire pre-printed planners available with dates for every page, but that carries a setup cost that I can't afford. It may be possible to do this with Print on Demand technology, but that will require a bit more research from me.
We have orders for 194 pads from 86 different people in in North America/Canada, which is awesome! There were also another 36 international orders, which we'll do on a case-by-case basis. If you sent me an email or left a comment, I probably have your order. I have not yet sent confirmation emails, because I want to have final price ready first.
More notes follow below.
There's nothing quite like trying to do this by the seat of your pants to make one realize how many details are involved. I have been distracted by other work, so I haven't been 100% on this project, but now that we're close to actually printing the whole e-commerce side of things is starting to loom larger. Plus there's the whole packaging and fulfillment thing. Here's my current thinking on the project, which much thanks due to the many readers who posted useful suggestions!
E-COMMERCE / FULFILLMENT SOLUTIONS
Possible Solution 1: Shopify ($24/month to start) provides a hosted e-commerce front end that integrates with payment services. I would probably just upgrade my PayPal account to Website Payments Standard. Shopify also integrates with a fulfillment provider called Shipwire, but it seems pricey (I'll have to work out the numbers). The advantage of Shopify: it's pretty and easy to set up. I would probably just ship packages by hand, which has the advantage of allowing me to pack each one individually to see just how much work this would be. I keep thinking it will be a LOT of work, but I won't know until I actually try it.
Possible Solution 2: Amazon Fulfillment, which as far as I can tell costs $39 a month for the Selling on Amazon + storage / handling / shipping costs. The advantage: Could conceivably set this up pretty automatically...just keep providing product to Amazon's warehouses, and they handle shipping it out. Products are listed on Amazon, and all the tracking and returns are handled by them too. The downside is that the packaging is not going to be very personalized, and customer service is handled by Amazon. That may not be the way to go for the first run of this. On the other hand, it would be nice not to have to worry about tracking numbers and all that stuff.
Both solutions have a hidden cost in that I need to ship product to their warehouses. I imagine that this is not that expensive. However, the product also needs to be handling-resistant. That means the pads should be shrink-wrapped or otherwise protected, which gets us into Packaging.
I'm leaning toward Shopify + Paypal + Manual Fulfillment at the moment. I'm trying to think of a good name for a store too, keeping in mind that there will likely be more products coming down the road.
PACKAGING
The initial idea was just to make pads of sheets that were glued into a convenient tear-off pad. But if you're shipping a bunch of pads, what keeps the paper from flapping around and getting pre-maturely bent? I would hate getting a bunch of pads that were not cosmetically perfect. There are other factors too: branding and logos and all that stuff, but for the first run I'd rather focus on just learning how to manufacture and ship a product, and worry about branding later. After the e-commerce and fulfilment stuff is figured out, then it's time to think about establishing families of products and so forth.
Packaging starts to add to cost, so this is something that goes back to the print guys to figure out what kind of protection can economically be provided. I am also thinking it would be nice to have some kind of mark on the boxes. Printing stickers might be the cheapest way of doing that.
It's around now that I'm starting to wish I had a business manager and a project lead, so I didn't have to worry about all this stuff.
SUMMING UP
So that's where we are right now:
- Waiting on Final Pricing (print and mailing)
- Setting up E-Commerce System
- Figuring out minimal packaging
I need to talk to my buds here about packaging options and mailing costs. Once I have this all together, I will post the information here and then email the notice for real ordering. We at least know now to expect a run of about 15,000 sheets.
I've decided to get rid of the year, though I like it, and have replaced it with a fill-in area for the date. The reason that finally pushed me over was that I'm not actually sure how long it's going to take to print and ship out all these forms. There are a lot of dependencies that I'm just starting to learn about, so I figured it would be safer to supply forms that would be useful for the next year. The profits from this run will go into figuring out how to handle customization of the year in future products; right now, it makes sense to just make this one a fill-in-the-blank. Not quite as pretty, but still pretty useful :-)
Here's the final design:
I'll be closing pre-orders on Monday. We have well-over 100 pad orders, so now I have to worry about how to accept money and fulfillment. I'm imagining this might take me a while to work out, though thanks to other readers I am looking at Shopify and Shipwire as possibilities for ecommerce and fulfillment. I have a paypal account, of course, but I'm not too keen on using them because of all the bad press I hear about them. I still have to get over to the post office and rent a post office box, and also ask them about bulk shipping at media rates (which I should qualify for). And then there's the whole packaging challenge too...how can I make the package cool without adding a lot of expense?
You can add your pre-order to the original post, or revise your existing one if the idea of a pad without the pre-printed year isn't what you want. I still don't have final cost numbers yet, but I'll post them as soon as they're ready. All pre-orders will get an email confirming their order amount and requesting address information. Thanks for your patience!
UPDATE: Here's how the Pre Orders work:
You mail email me via the contact form, or leave a comment with your email address stating:
- How Many Pads you would Like
- The City / State you are ordering from
I was not thinking of taking international orders right now, but please do indicate your interest anyway. If I can handle it, I'll do it. If I have to fill out a customs form every time I ship something overseas, then that makes it less likely.
Your pre-order is NOT a real order, but an indication of your interest. After I close pre-orders, I will have an accurate count of how many pads I can print, and can get final pricing. Then I will send an email to everyone stating what the final costs will be, plus whatever shipping ends up being, and start accepting real orders. It will likely be a few weeks before people start getting pads, but I want to get 'em out as soon as possible!
:http://davidseah.com/archives/2007/07/22/update-on-pre-printed-emergent-task-planner-pads/
About 15 percent of Emergent Task Planner preorderers have said that they would prefer a yearless version, so they don't end up with a stack of "outdated" 2007 forms.
On the other hand, this doesn't seem to have bothered the other 85% of people who have indicated that they'd buy form pads when they become available, and a few people have even said that having that "officially printed year" gives a satisfying feel to the form.
Here's a compromise solution. What do you think? I it retains most of the "officialness" while allowing us not to waste forms until 2010. By then, I'm sure we'll be doing yearly pre-printed journals, and the issue will be moot.
Comments welcome!
If you'd like to change your order, go ahead and post it here. Please include the state/country you would be ordering from. Again, we are probably only going to run the US LETTER size and handle continental United States shipping only, but if you'd like to know when the A4 version and international shipping will be available, go ahead and post a comment and I'll take your email address down from it. Or you can use the email contact form if you'd prefer to keep your comments private.
For information about the preordering process and pricing, check out original [preorder post]
Last week, though, I got price quotes for the commercial printing of the Emergent Task Planner, so we're one step closer to actually realizing an actual product!
The quick synopsis: The Emergent Task Planner is a daily planning form that uses some simple premises to add productive structure to the day:
- Focuses on tracking just a few tasks a day.
- Provides a scheduling grid to block out time, to give shape to the day.
- Provides space to note all that stuff that "just happens" throughout the day.
While there are free versions you can download (and these aren't going anywhere in the foreseeable future), this special printed version is my first foray into making and shipping a real product. I'm thinking it will be a good education in basic commerce, and with luck I'll be able to use the proceeds to fund development of the software products (electronic time tracking tools) by actually hiring freelancers. The experience will also give me something to write about on the blog. :-)
STATE OF THE FORM
Here's the current design of the Emergent Task Planner that we're considering taking to print, which incorporates the feedback from previous posts.
Here's the current specifications:
- US Letter (8.5" x 11") on a pad, no backing (for cost), glued on the top for "tear off style". I actually have already designed an A4 version, so it's ready to go once we figure out international fulfillment.
- No pre-punched holes, but there is space on the left of the form to allow for hole punching.
- Heavy Paper: I have to review paper samples, but we are looking to use durable paper stock that will hold up over the day while not being too thick. I think right now we're looking at a stack of 75 sheets being about half an inch.
- 75 Sheets per Pad: This seems like a decent number, and allows us to ship a pack of 5 pads to cover a year.
- 4 color printing: I am pushing for custom inks, but this adds to setup cost. With custom inks we'll get better tonal quality that I suppose people may not notice. It would be cheaper to go with 4-color process, but I'll have to see the proofs and maybe adjust my colors for optimum screening (and hence tone) reproduction.
There are various tweaks we can make to the form---for example, whether to retain the year marker in the corner, or perhaps create "shells" and then run dates as a separate pass---but I think this is pretty close to what we'll have. We will adjust the product line as demand dictates, assuming we don't lose our shirts first :-)
COST
Our initial cost calculations put each 75-sheet pad US$12.00 This works out to about 16 cents a sheet, which is a few cents more for ink and consumables cost for printing at home on an inexpensive color printer. For the extra cents, you'll get thicker paper, full waterproof color ink in convenient "glue-top" pads. To cover the remainder of the year, you'll need about 3 pads, which works out to US$36.00. Shipping will be extra, but a friendly reader told me that because we're printing bound material, we can qualify for media mailing rates. I need to look into it further.
PULLING THE TRIGGER
I really have no idea if this will work or not, but even if we don't sell enough pads to make this an actual product, the educational experience alone will be totally worth it. Of course, I hope this takes off, because this means that I may be able to spend more time designing real productivity products you can hold in your hand!
But first...we need to get a 100 pad minimum order before we can go to press. I'm not sure how long it will take to get there, so please be patient. You can monitor the progress in the comment section here and count along with me :-)
PRE-ORDERING
To keep our risks low, I'm going to actually do a pre-order here so we can estimate the number of pads we will print. This will allow us to determine whether we have enough orders to make offset printing cost effective, ensure that we have a sufficient margin to save some money for a next round of product development. To make it worthwhile, we need to print at least 7500 sheets---that's 100 pads of 75.
Rather than spend a lot of time learning to set up an e-commerce site, I'm going to take names via comments below here. Signing up now doesn't obligate you to purchase anything; however, you will be contacted by me when we have final pricing available.
We'll be using this data to estimate demand. Once we have enough orders for 100 pads, we'll push through to the next phase. Your email address will not be sold or used for any purpose other than this specific order.
PLEASE PROVIDE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IN YOUR COMMENT
- Valid email address - you will get a confirmation email from me to confirm that I've gotten your order. You should see a text field where you can enter your email address; don't put it in the actual comment.
- Number of pads to order - each pad has 75 sheets, estimated cost is about US$12 per pad. If you want to last to the end of the year, that's 3 pads with some extras.
- Country / State - don't use your full mailing address in your comment (this is the Internet, after all).
Feel free to add any other thoughts or topics of discussion; I'll take them under advisement. While I'd like to accommodate everyone's personal desires, this kind of personalization is expensive so I'm trying to keep this as simple as possible.
If you prefer to send private email, use the Email Contact Form instead.
I have, lately, been feeling constrained by the existing structure of this web site, which has been bothering me for a long time. The main problem is the lack of navigation; it's basically one giant scrolling chain of articles, with some slapped-on navigation at the bottom of the page. The user experience is quite awful for the casual visitor.
Despite knowing all this, and having an idea of what I need to do to fix it, I've been kind of stuck on it, because the number of options I have in making changes is incredibly broad. I'm thinking of splitting the site into multiple blogs, one each for Productivity, Design, Personal, and Making. Also, a general article area will become the new repository for content like The Printable CEO, so there's always ONE updated location for every tool. To enable all these changes, I'm going to use the Expression Engine content management system; the main reason is that the integration with the forum and wiki modules with multiple blogs will make it easier to start deploying software products that need user authentication. However, this new arrangement will require me to handle all the old incoming links (pointing to the old blog) so they're pointed at the new one or ones.
As a result, I have not been feeling like blogging. The ideas are still here, but the thought of putting them into the existing blog structure makes me feel a bit ill. I am actually forcing myself to finish this post, because I think I need to write it.
Breaking Free
Normally, when I'm in this situation, I redefine the rules such that victory is achievable through some other means. For example, I am thinking that the new structure will be a big pain in the butt to create (recall that I don't particularly enjoy working with CSS). It probably isn't, if I define a smaller subset of features that absolutely need to come over.
Another approach I've taken is to whittle away at the problem by doing a Q & A with myself. Right now, I am not sure how to move everything from WordPress to Expression Engine...I just know it's going to be a pain in the butt. If I ask myself a single question at a time and write down the answer, I can maintain the focus and eventually get to the point where I run out of questions.
Yet a third approach is to apply time blocking and just work on the site for an hour at a time, just fixing whatever I see here and there. This is not a particularly focused way of working, but sometimes that's the mood I'm in. I figure anything is better than nothing.
There comes a time, however, where you just got to make the big push. The last major thing I need to find out is how to create multiple forum installations and to transfer existing users to the new structure. Sigh.
Next Steps
The main problem, I think, is that I'm feeling the weight of the existing content and registered users, and I have to figure out a way of making sure everything merges neatly together. While I think this is a necessary step, I'm not particularly excited about implementing it. Having written that, though, I think I'm probably overestimating the difficulty involved.
Anyway, perhaps this weekend I'll make some progress on this. The website may be acting a little flakier than usual over the next week.
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