Strategy

Our strategy is inferred from our mission: to achieve the maximum number of popular Internet, intranet, and extranet sites.

Follow the bottom-up model

There are two models for developing websites:

• Top-down model
  Form a series of highly politicized committees driven by warring hierarchies to develop unpopular, centralized websites.

• Bottom-up model
  Form a hands-on team driven by customer demand to develop popular, decentralized websites.

The only way to achieve the maximum number of popular Internet, intranet, and extranet sites is to form a pioneer team to coordinate Web development.

Work together

A team is a group of individuals who sink or swim together. Such extreme collective behavior is synergy -- literally, "working together" -- the achievement of goals that cannot be achieved individually. If a group is synergistic, its sum is greater than its parts. Diversity of skills is an asset.

The nature of the web dictates that development teams contain three basic skills:

• Electronic publishing
  Capture and focus customer attention on key messages.

• Interface design
  Create addictive online experience through consistent use of metaphor and meaningful visual images.

• Programming
  Automate site behavior with emerging client-server technology.

Although these skill sets may not have a one-to-one correspondence to team members, all three must be present if the team is to achieve its mission.

Show initiative

Pioneers show individual and collective initiative:

• Individual initiative
  Develop coherent websites with or without material or moral support.

• Collective initiative
  Motivate others to join in collective web development ventures.

Initiative is the one quality otherwise diverse team members share. Every team member is a pioneer who settles unknown territory.

Recruit, enable, and motivate

As inferred from our mission, the only way to achieve the maximum number of popular Internet, intranet, and extranet sites is to recruit, enable, and motivate a team of skilled pioneers. This strategy suggests its own tactics.