The House of Fleetwood

The House of Fleetwood is a comprehensive website for fans of Mick Fleetwood, the legendary Grammy Award winning musician and co-founder of Fleetwood Mac. The website offers a window into Mick’s diverse and fascinating career, an opportunity to browse his other brands and projects, as well as the chance to connect with Mick.

A third party vendor (hereafter referred to as ‘vendor’) was initially hired to create the site. However, after not seeing the results they expected, Mick’s team asked me to consult on the project. I started out by attending weekly meetings to provide feedback and direction – and ended up embedded with the vendor’s team, on Mick’s behalf, to create content and ensure the project met his goals and expectations. After the contract with the vendor ended, I was given responsibility for the site.

A quick call…

I had been working with Mick and his team on his new lifestyle brand, Mick’s House of Fleetwood, for several months when I received a call from someone on his team asking if I could join a meeting in 10 minutes. It was briefly explained that there was some frustration between the teams. I was asked to sit in, provide feedback, and see if I could help remedy issues.

Creating a mutual understanding

The first meeting I sat in on between Mick’s team and the vendor was professional, but tense. I knew Mick’s team was frustrated and it appeared mutual.

In my experience, frustration stems from miscommunication… so after an initial design review, I started asking questions to determine where there were disconnects. There were several issues. However, the largest issue was that the teams were speaking ‘different languages’.

Mick’s team was used to discussing physical products, marketing opportunities, and concert venues. The vendor’s team was used to creating smaller sites with less complexity and more input from the customer. My experience in design, engineering, project/product management, and business allowed me to translate concerns and issues so that by the end of the meeting everyone felt heard and understood.

Bridging the gap

The largest sticking point was a misalignment of expectations in regards to the responsibilities of each party in creating the site. Mick’s team believed they had purchased concierge-level service where they needed only provide input and the vendor would create the site. The vendor insisted that they were only responsible for designing and building the site; not finding, curating, or creating content.

Fortunately, my jack-of-all-trade background, as well as my “say yes and see what happens” attitude allowed me to step-in and provide a solution. Mick’s team and the vendor agreed, at my suggestion, that I embed myself within the vendor’s team for the project. Under this model, I still worked directly for Mick – but served as an intermediary between the two entities.

Interesting, but challenging

This model worked well for both teams. The vendor allowed me employee-level access to all of their files so I could create the content they needed. Mick’s team was seeing quick progress on the site. Working as an embedded employee was a good experience – but not without it’s challenges.

The main challenge I had was creating a system that allowed me to create content in an environment that didn’t have any type of version control. If the vendor’s developer didn’t see my email letting him know I was going to make changes, he would sometimes accidentally overwrite my updates. Additionally, because he was used to working alone, he would often forget to email me if he was going to be making changes, so occassionally, I would overwrite his changes.

I created a very simple system where we would modify the name of the working file by appending a dash to the beginning before we began work. When work was completed and saved, the dash was removed. While it was not the best method of version control, it did ensure we no longer overwrote each other’s changes.

All’s well that ends well

The hybrid model worked well for everyone. The vendor’s team was great to work with and they trusted me to assist them make the best product they could. In fact, I became so embedded with the vendor’s team that I led design reviews with Mick’s management team and then with Mick himself.

At the end of the contract, the site was not 100% complete because several of Mick’s companies were delayed in providing art for the site. Instead of signing an extension, Mick’s management decided to bring the effort in-house and asked me to be responsible for completing the site. However, there were no hard feelings. The vendor is happy to work with us again if we need assistance with updates or adding additional functionality – and Mick’s team is happy to hire them back if they get into a situation where I need additional assistance.