# Standard Operating Procedure ## Why Have an SOP? While the idea of creating a Standard Operating Procedure for a Creative Consultancy might appear paradoxical, it’s actually not. Having written rules and guidelines about how to do things may appear to reduce creativity, but it actually increases creativity by allowing us to focus on being creative, while everything else has already been “figured out”. That means less time doing “work for work’s sake”, and far more time tackling challenging, intellectual, and creative work to help our clients thrive. The idea here is that you use this SOP as a reference guide when you’re not quite sure how to do something, or when you’re starting a new project. # Introduction ## Simple, Logical, Repeatable. A key idea of having an SOP is to ensure that we keep our processes simple, logical, and repeatable. This ensures that we don’t have long-term dependencies on any key individual, but that we work as a team. This means that we can enable everyone to have a sane work-life balance, and ensure that the stifling bureaucracy that happens elsewhere does not happen at Mäd. The SOP's are not a replacement for common sense. The best thing to do in any situation is whatever you believe is in the best interest of the company, regardless of what is written here. Reality is far too complex to be effectively represented in a text document, and so the purpose here is not to tell you what to do in any given situation, but to give you a starting point so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time a situation comes up. ## This Is Not a Rule Book These are our standards, if you find a better way… ## It’s always Work In Progress (WIP) This is not an idealized version of how we work, this is how we work right now. And because organizations are always changing, this document will always be in a state of change, with multiple people commenting, reading, writing, changing, and improving the way we do things. ## This is Public This document is linked from our website, and also available via It’s public because our clients, partners, and prospective hires can see the way we work, and fully understand us. It keeps us honest. ## The Mäd Flywheel ![Our Flywheel](/files/-LCR84_o8bcGSI-ik1Mi) The business flywheel is an established concept that breaks down an organization into its important parts and establishes a cycle that helps the business reach its goals each time it is completed. You’re expected to know and understand the [Mäd Flywheel](http://xn--md-via.com/ideas/the-mad-flywheel/), as it’s key to everything that we do. Our flywheel is deconstructed into 6 parts: * **Great Customer Experience** – Quality tangible results from Mäd that help our Clients move up. This is absolutely the most important thing to focus on at Mäd. * **Proof** – Potential customers can see real proof of point #1. Comes in the form of WOM, case studies, to name a few. * **Traffic** – More and more potential customers inquire about Mäd’s services as our brand is known. * **Growth** – continuous progress. Agility and adaptability to change. * **Brand Investment** – Investing in making Mäd better (equipment, office, web, social media, culture, education, etc..). This helps drive new talent by making Mäd desirable. * **Talent Development** – Investing in our people, and also finding awesome new people! Making Mäd the best place to work and grow. Think about that for a second; internalize where and how you and your role fits into this cycle, and what your contribution to Mäd means. It is also important that you made your way to our [Team Handbook](http://xn--md-via.com/handbook/). # Notes & Todos ## General * Sign off Process for Development Sprints and Features * Running Hiring Adverts and Hiring Resources * Instagram SOP * FCF SOP * Mäd.com SOP * Writing Case Studies SOP * Brand Design Sprint Agenda * Website Design Sprint Agenda * Design Thinking SOP * Review "Finance" and adjust. * Complete Design Thinking * Add additional Tools that are currently missing. * Move Writing Insights and Writing Case Studies to Working Practices. * Add additional brand colours to Brand Section. * Add "Strategy" Section (See: ) * Review Core Values and Principles, and edit differences. ### # Changelog ## V1.46 - 3/11/20 * Updated Insurance Documents under "People Operations" * Added "Procurement Onboarding" under "Finance" ## V1.45 - 21/10/20 * Added additional resources under "Design Working Practices" * Updated "Reports" under "Finance" * Updated "Spending Company Money" under "Finance" * Updated small details under "Benefits" ## V1.44 - 17/10/20 * Added new useful websites to "Resources" under "Design Working Practices" * Updated Primary Bank Details Under "Finance" * Remove "Email Templates" under "Finance" (these are now completely automated!) * Removed Team Drive Folder Structure (we use Bloo.io now) * Updated One To Ones Guide * Updated "Engagement Agreement" in "Legal" ## V1.43 - 13/9/20 * We're back :) * Updated Notes & Todos * Removed OfficeVibe from "Tools" * Added USA under "Legal Entities" * Small changes to "Salaries Increases" in "People Operations" * Edited "Project Brief" in "General Working Practices" ## V1.42 - 25/3/19 * Added links to image resources to "Proposal Format' under "Sales" * Removed "Technology Working Practices" and moved relevant content to "Design Working Practices" * Removed "Asana Best Practices" ([We've switched to Bloo!](https://bloo.io)) ## V1.41 - 20/2/19 * Added Employment Letter Template ## V1.40 - 13/2/2019 * Updated "Open Positions" * Added Corporate Website Go-Live Checklist (v1) ## V1.39 - 4/2/2019 * Added "Webflow Hosting" to "Design Working Practices" * Added "Reports" to "Finance" * Added "Spending Company Money" to "Finance" * Removed References/Mentions to previous team members. ## V1.38 - 1/2/2019 * Added "Overview" in 'Ventures" * Added "Free Cash Flow Projections Template" to "Ventures" ## V1.37 - 15/1/2019 * Added 'Ventures" to the SOP! :) ## V1.36 - 15/1/2019 * Big Update to "One to Ones' in "People Operations" ## V1.35 - 11/1/2019 * Edited "Technology Team" Under "2019 - Q1" - OKR ## V1.34 - 7/1/2019 * Added "Questions for Flows" to "Design Working Practices" ## V1.33 - 5/1/2019 * Added Google Analytics tracking to SOP, so we gain a better understanding of content performance. * Cleaned up "Sales" introduction * Modified "Non-Disclosure Agreement" ## V1.32 - 4/1/2019 * Finalized "Business" and "Brand" sections for 2019 Q1 OKRs * Added "Last Salary Calculation" to "Offboarding"
## V1.32 - 4/1/2019 * Finalized "Business" and "Brand" sections for 2019 Q1 OKRs ## V1.31 - 3/1/2019 * Added "Terms & Conditions" to "Legal" * Added More links to "Blogs & Websites Worth Reading" and split into General and Technology & Startups ## V1.30 - 1/1/2019 * Happy New Year! * Added "WordCounter" download links and link to corporate license key under "Tools" ## v1.29 - 31/12/2018 * Added "Mid-Month Madness Newsletter Format" under "Sales" ## v1.28 - 28/12/2018 * Added "Management" to "Culture" * Added "Mäd Fridays" to "Culture" * Added "Coordinator In-app Navigation" under "Android Core Project" * Added Warning notice to "Offboarding" * Tidy up of "Introduction" ## v1.27 - 26/12/2018 * Added "Recommended Videos" to "Culture" * Added "Scope of Work" to "Sales" * Added "iOS Core Project" to "Technology Working Practices" * Added "Android Core Project" to "Technology Working Practices" ## v1.26 - 25/12/2018 * Merry Christmas! * Changed sidebar navigation to include 3 overarching sections: * The Company * Project Work * Operations ## v1.25 - 24/12/2018 * Added "Mobile Lead", "iOS Developer" and "Android Developer" under "Open Positions" * Edited "Senior API Developer" under "Open Positions" * Added "Boomerang for Gmail" under "Tools" * Added "Mid-Level UX Designer" under "Open Positions" * Added "Blogs & Websites Worth Reading" under "Culture" * Split out "Required & Recommended Reading" under "Culture" ## v1.24 - 23/12/2018 * Added "Open Positions" under "People Operations" ## v1.23 - 21/12/2018 * Added "Resources" under "Design Working Practices" ## v1.22 - 20/12/2018 * Updated and clarified "Offboarding" under "People Operations" * Added link to Sketch License Key under "Tools" ## v1.21 - 19/12/2018 * Updated "Benefits" under "People Operations". * Added "Employment Contract" under "People Operations". * Split out "Legal" into separate subsections and created ToC. * Added contact details for all law offices we work with in "Our Law Firm" in "Legal". * Added details to "New Client Financial Details" in "Finance" * Added "Domain Pointing and IP Addresses" to "Technology Working Practices" ## v1.20 - 17/12/2018 * Added "Branding and Web Design Sprint Agenda" * Finalized "Design Thinking" ## v1.19 - 15/12/2018 * Added "New Client Financial Details" to "Finance" ## v1.18 - 14/12/2018 * Modified "Email Templates" to "Finance" * Added hosting details to "Mäd.com" * Added "Business Consulting Working Practices" as a main section. * Credentials deck PDF added to "Credentials Deck" under "Sales". ## v1.17 - 13/12/2018 * Added "Refactoring UI eBook & Videos" to "Design Working Practices". * Added Content to "Mäd.com" and "why.workwithmad.com" under "The Mäd Brand" * Copywriting editing across the board to all major sections! Crossed our Ts! :) ## v1.16 - 06/12/2018 * Added "Change Management & Out of Scope Requests." to "Technology Working Practices". * Added "Minimum Project Price" to "Sales". ## v1.15 - 04/12/2018 * Added "Email Templates" to "Finance" * Completed info on "Setting Up an App Store Account" to "Technology Working Practices" * Added "Corporate Website Go-Live Checklist" to "Technology Working Practices." ## v1.14 - 03/12/2018 * Added "Team Details" to "Transparency" * Added "AAR - After Action Review" to "General Working Practices" ## v1.13 - 02/12/2018 * Added "Security" to Technology. (but currently empty) ## v1.12 - 01/12/2018 * Added "Setting Up an App Store Account" to "Technology". (but currently empty) * Added further bank accounts to "Bank Accounts" ## v1.11 - 28/11/2018 * Added "Bank Accounts" to "Finance" ## v1.10 - 27/11/2018 * Added "The Mäd Flywheel" To "Culture" (Split out from "Team Handbook") * Added "Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)" as a main section. * Added "2019 Q1" to "Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)" * Added "Brand Design Sprint Agenda" To "Design Working Practices" * Added "Website Design Sprint Agenda" To "Design Working Practices" * Added "Mäd.com" to "The Mäd Brand" * Added "Instagram" to "The Mäd Brand" * Added "Free Cash Flow" to "Finance" * Added "Client Details" to "Transparency" * Added "Credentials Deck" to "Sales" * Added "Non-Negotiable Contractual Points" to "Sales" * Changed versioning numbers on "Changelog" to two decimal points for ease of use. ## v.1.09 - 26/11/2018 * Added "Bug Reporting Template" to "Technology Working Practices" * Edited URL paths to "Technology Working Practices" and "Design Working Practices" to: * /technology * /design * Added "Design Team Roles" to "Design Working Practices" * Added "Design Thinking" to "Design Working Practices" * Added "Writing Case Studies" To "The Mäd Brand" ## v1.08 - 22/11/2018 * Renamed "Working Practices" to "General Working Practices" * Renamed "Brand" to "The Mäd Brand" * Added "Technology Working Practices" * Added "Design Working Practices" * Added links to Mäd Logo and M Icon under "Brand Assets" * Edited Service List and text in "Our Golden Circle" * Updated SOP Home page with new Page Links ## v1.07 - 02/10/2018 * Added "Transparency" section with links to salary list and Free Cash Flow analysis. * Split out "Sales" into subsections. * Added "Proposal Format" into Sales. * Added Pretty URL formats to "Culture" and "People Operations" subsections. ## v1.06 - 13/09/2018 * Added Parental Leave policy under "People Operations". ## v1.05 - 13/09/2018 * Split out "Working Practices" into sub-sections. ## v1.04 - 5/07/2018 * Added BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeframe) framework to "Sales". * Added more qualification questions to "Sales". ## v1.03 - 23/06/2018 * Added Hiring Process to "People Operations". * Added Hiring FAQ to "People Operations". ## v1.02 - 16/03/2018 * Added Principles to "Culture". * Added Team Handbook to "Culture". * Split out Core Values from Team Handbook to "Culture". * Split out "People Operations" into smaller sub sections. * Added "Introduction". * Added Navigation links to SOP landing page. ## v1.01 - 15/03/2018 * Connected SOP to custom domain **** * Edited "Tools" section to show tool ownership per team member. * Added Inbound vs Outbound CRM clarification in "Sales". * Added details of our regional law firm to "Legal". * Added "Notes & Todos" Section. ## v1 - 14/03/2018 * Ported content across from old SOP at the workwithmad.com website. * Added this Changelog. # Culture # Management ## Management ### You are not a boss The purpose of management is to serve the team. You are there to ensure that your team can work at their best, and that obstacles to the best possible work are removed. So, your main aim should be to help make the individuals that make up your team the best they can be. ### Help to reduce meta work Management should ensure that meta-work is reduced as much as possible, and should review processes regularly to ensure that we do not creep into a bureaucracy. ### Absolutely No Status Symbols Regardless of your position at Mad, there are no status symbols or special perks. ### Quarterly Meetings Three weeks prior to the start of a new quarter there is a management planning meeting.\ This includes: * Financial Review * Estimated P/L for the current quarter * Current Cash Flow analysis for next quarter * Discussion on main successes/failures of the current quarter. * Any changes that are required. * Review all team member scorecards and discuss any issues. ### Board Meetings Mäd’s board is made up of the following members: * Emanuele Faja * Morten Bech * Dung Dinh # Mäd Friday ## Mäd Fridays Every other Friday is Mäd Friday, so don’t schedule client or team meetings on that Friday morning. The idea is to spend some time on each Friday to look inwards at ourselves, instead of outwards to our clients. Finding ways to make Mäd better, working on interesting side projects, and learning something new. The problem here is to avoid the “Cobbler’s children have no shoes” issue, where we don’t look after our own brand, which is what we do professionally. This can be seen with many agencies that while offer website design as a service, either don’t have a website or have a poorly designed one, because they haven’t had the time to work on it. *Let’s not do that!* Mad Friday includes: * Full team meeting * Presentations by 3-4 team members * Team Lunch * Hackathon (where we all brainstorm on a particular topic) ### Full Team Meeting This is led by @manny or @erika. This is the time for general Q\&A, and to highlight any new work that we’re doing, and any changes that we are making (and we love to make changes). ### Team Presentations Each Friday, we select a number of people who will present on a topic of their choice in two week’s time. We do these team presentations for two reasons: * It helps the person presenting solidify their ideas around their chosen topic, and also gives them great practice in public speaking. The best way to learn something is to teach it. * It gives the entire team exposure to a variety of subjects and helps them become T-Shaped people (see our [Team Handbook](https://xn--md-via.com/handbook/)). ### Town Hall The entire company gets to ask any questions they want to management – no holds barred. We highly encourage questions that challenge the current ways we do things, that dig deep into sensitive topics like finance, and that you normally wouldn’t have the guts to ask in a normal company. Some previous questions include > “Why do your shoes have no shoelaces” \~**Internal brand team member to the CEO.** > > “Is our feedback system really anonymous? How do we know this? What information can you see from anyone who does send feedback through the feedback system?” **\~Junior developer to the Chief Culture Officer.** > > “I’ve just joined, what’s a good way to describe Mäd to the outside world?” **\~New Head of Department to the CEO.** ### Team Lunch Currently, the budget is set at $10/head, but we might close our eyes if it goes a little higher on occasion. ### Hackathon Whenever we need to brainstorm new ideas or get something done real fast, we put everyone in the company on it. Can be social media posts for the next month, to better ways of working. # Core Values ## **Common Sense** **What we rely on chiefly.** Hätters are expected to be able to perceive, understand and judge certain matters as being reasonable, sensible or the right thing to do. If you’re unsure about something, ask. Nobody bites around here. ## **Be T-Shaped** We are keen on people who have a broad range of experience or ability (the horizontal roof of the T) and a deep expertise in one field (the vertical leg of the T). > An expert who is too narrow has difficulty collaborating. A generalist who doesn’t go deep enough in a single area ends up on the margins, not really contributing as an individual. ## **Ownership & Accountability** **At Mäd, Love your own, as they say. The more invested you are, the more involved you get, the more you are committed to making it happen. There are two types of ownership that we expect Hätters to have at Mäd:** * **Results**. Each individual should fully own what they do, and the results that they achieve. * **Shares**. We make committed Hätters into shareholders, making you truly an owner of Mäd. The idea is simple: to truly own your work, you should own your workplace. ## **Make it happen™** **Bias for Action** We prefer completed vs perfect. Analysis paralysis tends to happen when overthinking gets in the way. The rule of thumb is to take the most sensible course of action (preferably low to moderate risk) rather than wait for the stars to align perfectly in your favor before springing into action. ## **Ask for forgiveness, not permission.** It’s possible that the course of action you took diiiiiidn’t exactly work out – and that’s fine, we get that things go wrong and people make mistakes. The important thing is to learn from our mistakes, brush ourselves down, and get back to it. ## **Transparency** Mäd is see-through! Yes, we even publish everyone’s salary internally. We keep track of high performers and reward them accordingly. This sparks a discussion at times of what someone should be getting, but this dialogue is healthy and pushes everyone to where they want to be. ## Long-Term Thinking At Mäd, we’re trying to think in terms of five to seven years ahead. There is a huge competitive advantage in doing this, because everyone else is thinking about the next few months, or perhaps a year or two out, and so they make certain types of decisions. We think differently (i.e. long-term), and so we end up making decisions that don’t make sense in the short term – but make a whole lot of sense in the long term. People will misunderstand you when you’re trying to build something different, and we’re completely fine with that. ## Fun Let’s face it, we’re all going to spend a lot of time working together, and so it makes sense to build an environment where you wake up in the morning and actually *want* to come to work. We can only achieve that if we collectively work towards building a company that *intentionally* creates this environment. So smile, do great work, make friends, and [**keep it fun.**](https://giphy.com/gifs/xT1R9zHIitaU8u1qfu?utm_source=iframe\&utm_medium=embed\&utm_campaign=Embeds\&utm_term=https%3A%2F%2Fxn--md-via.com%2Fprinciples%2F) # Principles ## 1. Embrace the Truth. * Work hard to find objective measurements to back up your opinions. * Tackle the truth head-on, and don’t say anything behind anyone’s back that you wouldn’t say to their face. * Keep information open. * Ensure that everyone is making decisions from the same data, and err on the side of oversharing. * Empower team members to discover information by themselves. * Always act with integrity. ## 2. Think Big. * Don’t work on things as they appear now, always prepare for the next level up. * Think ten years down the road. * Whatever you do, ask yourself if it has a long-term beneficial impact. Short-term thinking might get you through the quarter, but will lead to problems later on. * Our key advantage over everyone else: by the time five or ten years pass, it’s checkmate, the others cannot turn back time and invest their resources like we did. ## 3. Make It Happen. * Focus on the key constraints. You can’t do everything, always. * Thinking long-term is not an excuse for being slow. It just means we set goals that require an incredible amount of time and effort, and this has to start right now. * Develop a strong bias for action. * Whatever else you do, you must ensure that you Make It Happen. All the process, planning, and work count for nothing if we fail to understand why we are doing what we do, and what the key results that we are looking for are. ## 4. Insist on the Highest Standards. * Be clear with our standards. * Our standards are the minimum required (the floor), not something to attempt to reach (the ceiling). * Do not compromise on our standards. * Insist that everyone is always raising them. * Give clear feedback to individuals if they don’t meet our standards. * Remove those that cannot consistently meet and exceed our standards. ## 5. End User Obsession. * Be obsessed with the end user. * If they win, we win. * That doesn’t mean that the customer is always right or that you need to accept meetings on a Friday at 6pm. * Focus on what matters. ## 6. Frugality. * Spend on things that have a long-term impact. * Ask yourself what you would do if you had 1/10th of the budget. How would you creatively solve a problem without spending money? ## 7. Keep It Simple, Stupid. * Remember that large groups of people can be incredibly stupid, so keep teams small. * No bonus points for complex charts, instructions, or systems. If you can’t explain it to a newbie on Day 1, you’re probably making it too complex. * Be constantly on the lookout for ways to simplify processes, and don’t treat anything as sacred. ## 8. Have Fun. * Inevitably, to achieve anything of note, we will spend a large portion of our time at work. * It’s best to ensure that we have fun with what we’re doing. * Don’t be an asshole, and don’t tolerate assholes. ## 9. Fail Well. * Everyone will make mistakes. * Accept that these mistakes are inevitable if we are going to try new and interesting things. * We should insist on creating the best place in the world to fail at. * That said, failures need to be due to bold bets, not due to lack of trying, and valuable lessons have to be extracted each time. ## 10. Always Be Learning. * What you know now will be redundant in two year’s time. * Always be upgrading your knowledge and skills. * Encourage others to do the same. * The best way to learn is to teach, so do it. # The Mäd Flywheel ## The Flywheel The business flywheel is an established concept that breaks down an organization into its important parts and establishes a cycle that helps the business reach its goals each time it is completed. You’re expected to know and understand the Mäd Flywheel, as it’s key to everything that we do. ![](https://blobscdn.gitbook.com/v0/b/gitbook-28427.appspot.com/o/assets%2F-LCR62tU48mmHUdxyfDY%2F-LCaQVnJhbr4CQiLXxK_%2F-LCaQl8GKHcmCE-mMaLg%2FMad-flywheel-1024x724.jpg?alt=media\&token=28b53239-8a2d-4298-853b-7d043b0fd66c) ​ Our flywheel is deconstructed into 6 parts: * **Great Customer Experience** – Quality tangible results from Mäd that help our Clients move up. *This is absolutely the most important thing to focus on at Mäd.* * **Proof** – Potential customers can see real proof of point #1. Comes in the form of WOM or case studies to name a few. * **Traffic** – More and more potential customers inquire about Mäd’s services as our brand is known. * **Growth – Continuous progress. Agility and adaptability to change.** * **Brand Investment** – Investing in making Mäd better (equipment, office, web, social media, culture, etc..). This helps drive new talent by making Mäd desirable. * **Talent Development** – Investing in our people, and also finding awesome new people! Making Mäd the best place to work and grow. Think about that for a second; internalize where and how you and your role fits into that this cycle, and what your contribution to Mäd means. # Team Handbook ## Introduction If you’re reading this, well done you! Welcome to the mädness, Hätter! We’re glad to have you with us. Having gotten through the uniquely-engineered hiring process, you probably noticed that we do things a little differently around here compared to most companies – *and that’s by design.* You’re all about great work, but the traditional model of doing business isn’t always conducive to that. We’ve heard people call it “soul-crushing” and other less-than-polite adjectives. So we created a space where we can do things in our best possible way. Mäd is all about disruption; blazing a trail; finding new ways of seeing, doing and thinking. You’ll be in the thick of things before you know it. But to help you navigate our ever-fluid culture from Day 1, we’re laying down in the next few pages the general principles we abide by and how we operate. Think of these principles as ‘street signs’ or ‘lighthouses’ to help guide your way around here. It will take a bit of getting used to but once you find your feet, we trust that you’ll have a fun, productive, empowering and meaningful time here at Mäd. Expect it to get crazy at times – [*it’s part of the territory.*](https://giphy.com/gifs/d47Iou93KRZgjM9a) ## The Flywheel The business flywheel is an established concept that breaks down an organization into its important parts and establishes a cycle that helps the business reach its goals each time it is completed. You’re expected to know and understand the [Mäd Flywheel](https://howto.workwithmad.com/culture/the-mad-flywheel), as it’s key to everything that we do. ![](/files/-LCaQl8GKHcmCE-mMaLg) Our flywheel is deconstructed into 6 parts: * **Great Customer Experience** – Quality tangible results from Mäd that help our Clients move up. *This is absolutely the most important thing to focus on at Mäd.* * **Proof** – Potential customers can see real proof of point #1. Comes in the form of WOM or case studies to name a few. * **Traffic** – More and more potential customers inquire about Mäd’s services as our brand is known. * **Growth – Continuous progress. Agility and adaptability to change.** * **Brand Investment** – Investing in making Mäd better (equipment, office, web, social media, culture, etc..). This helps drive new talent by making Mäd desirable. * **Talent Development** – Investing in our people, and also finding awesome new people! Making Mäd the best place to work and grow. Think about that for a second; internalize where and how you and your role fits into that this cycle, and what your contribution to Mäd means. ## Rules for Work ### **Results over process** *All day, any day, every damn day.* We care more about what you come up with rather than how you arrived at it. Creativity, innovation, and discovery are borne out of trial and error and setting processes in stone may blindside us from stumbling across these *Eureka!* moments. So you have free reign on how you’ll deliver. (Of course, with respect to deadlines and teammates and output quality.) At the same time, while we strive for the highest quality performance from everyone, it’s key that we all play well with each other and show respect to everyone – inside and outside Mäd. It pays to be nice. Karma can be a bitch, you know. Also, we don’t put much emphasis on rank or hierarchy but in the ability to lead teams, empower members and get things done. Apart from being a ROWE (Results-Oriented Work Environment), it’s important that you enjoy working at Mäd. Don’t you tend to stay longer at places you feel good in? The happier you are, the better you feel… imagine the kind of work you’ll come up with when you’re having fun! Not many companies will pay you to do awesome shit. ### **You can work Hard, Smart, or Fast.** But at Mad, you can’t choose two out of three. Our clients expect results, and they are ones that ultimately pay and fund everything that we do. They’re the reason why we get up in the morning. Think about how much you get paid, multiply it by three, and that’s how much value you need to deliver to our clients. ### **We do not have a vacation policy** Take what you need, come back ready to kick ass. The only mandate is to give ample notice to all your teams – agency, client, external partners – especially for longer leaves. And don’t forget a proper handover,*or it’s a holiday you won’t be coming back from.* Once you’ve passed probation, you get paid your regular salary on the days you are away. ### **Flex Time/ Off-site** Work when you’re most productive – whether you’re an early bird or a night owl or somewhere in between. But when meetings and deadlines are set, you’re expected to turn up ~~on time~~ **early**. You’re also welcome to work wherever you find suitable – at home, at a coffee shop, rooftop bar, poolside. It also means that you’re expected to be responsive to all modes of communication during the traditional work hours (Monday to Friday, 9AM to 6PM), *unless you’ve already set expectations with the rest of your team.* If you are logging in consistently long hours, there is an error in planning and time management. Raise your hand, let your team know so you can get the help you need to sort it out. ### Dress code *Please wear clothes.* You get 2 Mäd shirts when you start – it’s one way to help you reduce decision fatigue. ### **Mistakes** Who hasn’t made them! No one has the answers to everything all the time so it’s understandable that we’ll slip up every now and then. This is not frowned upon because it means having the courage to try something new or different, an attempt at stepping away from the comfort zone. And that’s awesome. As long as we learn from where the ball was dropped and figure out how to do it better next time, then, onwards and upwards we go. We want Mad to be the best place in the world to fail at. However, we also have an infamous hashtag by a Danish shareholder, in reference to preventable systematic failures. **#dontfuckitup** ### **Continuous Learning** At Mäd, it’s safe to say that your job description is loosely defined so expect to be roped in for things you probably haven’t done before but for which you possess the necessary skills (you might not be aware of it…but we see your potential. Plus, we’re confident that you have the ability to learn on the fly). Explore and get involved with other disciplines you’re interested in. You’re also very much encouraged to take up any further learning relevant to what you do or what Mäd does. Online courses, workshops, seminars/webinars, books, publications and other such modes of learning are welcome investments, and we’re happy to pay for them. Ever get the urge to share with other Hätters what you’re doing or what you’re really into? No sweat: set a time and invite everyone to a Friday morning workshop or session. Floor’s all yours. ### **Mäd Fridays** Fridays are generally for catching up on your reading, or with other Hätters, or self-development or learning something new. It’s also the default timeslot for those who want to hold a workshop or session (see “Continuous Learning” above). You should set expectations with clients and outside partners that Fridays you will generally not be available. If they ask, explain why. ### Communication Keep all lines open at all times! Especially if the news is bad, it’s ALWAYS better to keep your team informed. Everyone reaches out to anyone else from any other team, regardless of rank or title – in person, most especially. * **Face to Face** – nothing beats good ol’ eye contact, tone and body language to get to the root of the matter and resolve things quickly. * **Narrative – long-form writing, printed out!** * **Phone Call** – there is no one that you can’t reach quickly these days. * **Bloo** – A project management software we use for 2 simple things: One truth on all projects’ progress and Daily Updates. * **Project Progress** – All facets of projects, both internal and external, live here: active files, discussions, references, etc. giving you a view of what’s going on even without having to chase people around (though you may still need to do that on occasion). * **Daily Updates** – Found under the Progress tab in the Mäd HQ Project Page, this is one of the few mandates that we expect from everyone on a regular basis (at least 4 days out of 5). Every day, you’ll give us a rundown of all the things you’ve done with an optional color code. It’s a simple way for everyone else to get a feel of what’s going on. This is also tracked to spot any potential workload issues (i.e. more reds vs greens) and address them before they get out of hand. * **Telegram – the default medium for most of the Hätters: a quick and easy way to reach out and get things started. Or done.** * **Email (yuck!)** – our least favorite medium but still a necessary evil at times. Best used for (most) brief communications, formalizing agreements, and communicating with the outside world. If your email looks like a novel, pick up that phone or set a meeting – you’ll get things done faster. Do not email people in the same room as yourself – go up to them and speak. ## Our Values Rather than a fixed set of hard and fast rules, Mäd operate based on a handful of principles to guide and empower Hätters in making decisions on their own and help things run with as little hiccups as possible. ### **Common Sense** **What we rely on chiefly.** Hatters are expected to be able to perceive, understand and judge certain matters as being reasonable, sensible or the right thing to do. If you’re unsure about something, ask. Nobody bites around here. ### **Be T-Shaped** We are keen on people who have a broad range of experience or ability (the horizontal roof of the T) and a deep expertise in one field (the vertical leg of the T). > An expert who is too narrow has difficulty collaborating. A generalist who doesn’t go deep enough in a single area ends up on the margins, not really contributing as an individual. ### **Ownership & Accountability** **At Mäd, Love your own, as they say. The more invested you are, the more involved you get, the more you are committed to making it happen. There are two types of ownership that we expect Hätters to have at Mäd:** * **Results**. Each individual should fully own what they, and the results that they achieve. * **Shares**. We make committed Hätters into shareholders, making you truly an owner of Mäd. The idea is simple: to truly own your work, you should own your workplace. ### **Make it happen™** **Bias for Action** We prefer completed vs perfect. Analysis paralysis tends to happen when overthinking gets in the way. The rule of thumb is to take the most sensible course of action (preferably low to moderate risk) rather than wait for the stars to align perfectly in your favor before springing into action. **Ask for forgiveness, not permission.** It’s possible that the course of action you took diiiiiidn’t exactly work out – and that’s fine, we get that things go wrong and people make mistakes. The important thing is to learn from our mistakes, brush ourselves down, and get back to it. ### **Transparency** Mäd is see-through! Yes, we even publish everyone’s salary internally. We keep track of high performers and reward them accordingly. This sparks a discussion at times of what someone should be getting, but this dialogue is healthy and pushes everyone to where they want to be. ### Long-Term Thinking At Mäd, we’re trying to think in terms of five to seven years ahead. There is a huge competitive advantage in doing this, because everyone else is thinking about the next few months, or perhaps a year or two out, and so they make certain types of decisions. We think differently (i.e. long-term), and so we end up making decisions that don’t make sense in the short term – but make a whole lot of sense in the long term. People will misunderstand you when you’re trying to build something different. And we’re completely fine with that. ### Fun Let’s face it, we’re all going to spend a lot of time working together, and so it makes sense to build an environment where you wake up in the morning and actually *want* to come to work. We can only achieve that if we collectively work towards building a company that *intentionally* creates this environment. So smile, do great work, make friends, and [**keep it fun.**](https://giphy.com/gifs/xT1R9zHIitaU8u1qfu?utm_source=iframe\&utm_medium=embed\&utm_campaign=Embeds\&utm_term=https%3A%2F%2Fxn--md-via.com%2Fprinciples%2F) # Blogs & Websites Worth Reading ## General * [Wait But Why](https://waitbutwhy.com/) * [Farnam Street](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/) * [ThoughtCo](https://www.thoughtco.com/) * [Julian.com](https://wwww.julian.com) ## Technology & Startups * [Singapore Government Digital Services](https://blog.gds-gov.tech/) * [UK Government Digital Services](https://gds.blog.gov.uk/) * [Intercom Blog](https://www.intercom.com/blog/) * [Stripe Blog](https://stripe.com/blog) * [Essays by Paul Graham](http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html) * [A16Z](https://a16z.com/advice-and-how-to/) * [Joel on Software](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/) # Required & Recommended Reading We’re quite the bookworms at Mäd, and for good reasons too! Reading is a great way to grow and learn. [We have a dedicated Book Club Team Drive that contains some great reads and PDFs.](https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/0AJh-10LIAfxSUk9PVA) (only available if you're logged in to your @workwithmad.com email) Quoting Mark Twain: > “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” Depending on your role, there are certain books that you are required to read because they contain ideas that are key to understanding our brand and way of doing things. * **Everyone** * Start With Why * Deep Work * **Management** * Great CEOs Are Lazy * Getting Real (Basecamp) * Zero to One * Good to Great * Work Rules – Laszlo Bock * **Designers** * Coca Cola Design Book * Getting Real (Basecamp) * **Developers** * Getting Real (Basecamp) * **Business Dev** * From Impossible to Inevitable * The Lost Art of Closing ### Recommended Reading This is a list of books that we like, and that leave you better for having read them. Feel free to add to this list! * Enchiridion of Epictetus * Living the Good life * The Lean Startup * Steve Jobs Biography * Negotiation – Brian Tracy * Black Box Thinking * Eat That Frog @manny also keeps a [reading list on his website.](http://theeudaimoniac.com/reading-list/) # Recommended Videos * [Office Space (movie)](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IHe3-erAVKwaU5o_-NCyGkJN_dzeYpMc/view?usp=sharing) * [How Great Leaders Inspire Action - Simon Sinek](https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en) # The Mäd Brand # Our Golden Circle There are two main reasons to build our brand, and that is to support our hiring efforts, and also our sales efforts. Having and growing a great brand makes hiring great people and winning large, interesting projects, far easier than it would be otherwise. This is because people can buy into our brand if they agree with the way we do and think about things. People buy into why, how, and what we do, and we should aim to become thought leaders in our industry. **Our brand should be a source of pride for everyone involved in Mäd.** ## Our Golden Circle This is based on Simon Sinek’s great book “Start With Why”, which is on our required reading list. [You can also find a TED Talk here.](https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action) ### Why We **Make It Happen.™** We believe awesome doesn’t happen if you think like everyone else……and that you’ve got to be a little crazy if you want great results. ### How * **Great People** * (Crazy) Talented * Always Learning * Open to Change * Have a Bias to Action * (No B Teams Allowed) * **Modern Workplace** * Focus on Results * Freedom & Responsibility * Data-Driven Management * Unlimited Holidays * Transparent Salaries ### What * **Business** * Strategy * Insight * Research * Innovation * **Technology** * Mobile Apps * Corporate Websites * eCommerce * Infrastructure * **Design** * UI & UX * Design Sprints. * Human Centered Design * Branding **= Make Our Clients’ Business Move Up** # Brand Assets ## Brand Assets ### How to type the “ä”. If you’re using a Mac, press down on the letter “a”, and then hit the letter “4” to create the “ä”. If that doesn’t work, try \. If you’re using Windows…go buy a Mac. ### Corporate Logo Our red is: * Hex: #e3211a * rgb(227,33,26) * cmyk(0%, 85%, 89%, 11%) * hsl(2, 79%, 50%) * hwb(2, 10%, 11%) * Ncol(R3, 10%, 11%) You can find download links: * [Logo in various formats ](https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1cSbpUv80lF5WWk3aRIJjzTo9tFq03Piz\&export=download) * [M Icon in various formats](https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1cVH7XVIW0hqmZQoDHmdof7FKmZrkV_6W\&export=download) ### Corporate Fonts * [Poppins](https://fonts.google.com/download?family=Poppins) - The font that makes up the Mäd logotype. * [Ubuntu](https://fonts.google.com/download?family=Ubuntu) - Our font for everything. * [Unna](https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Unna) - Complimentary serif font, for whenever you're feeling classy. # Mäd.com Our website is also a demonstration of how we work. We keep up with the most up-to-date trends in the website game as well as devote time to finding the best solutions for any problems we encounter. \ \ The same work we do on ourselves is what we thrive to do for clients. {% embed url="" %} ## Hosting We use Webflow Business Hosting to ensure that our website is fast globally, and especially in the Asia Pacific region. # why.workwithmad.com Our thought leadership blog is what showcases how we work as well as allowing us to demonstrate what methodologies we use and why they are a huge part of our services. The articles range from our most used business solutions (which we use ourselves as well), to technology and design trends, as well as our most recent case studies. Also, why.workwithmad.com is our way to cut down on common questions clients or prospective clients might have. We push to cut down on this back and forth by answering \[through articles] any concerns or questions anyone might have about our working practices or even more technical design and development efforts. If you want to contribute to the blog with something you have been learning or working on there is always an open door for you to publish something. In the end, you would know best of what goes on in Mäd and what we should write about. # Writing Case Studies We have a standard for writing case studies, and we have certain sections we normally include: * Introduction * The Challenge * Our Approach * The Results Try and not just show the work, but tell a story of how we solved key business problems on the specific project. There may be times when the author of the case study was not involved in the actual project so some research or fact-finding will be needed to help start them off. Just set a quick catch up with the project team, pick their brains and look through the project files and folders. # Transparency Internal transparency is really important for us at Mäd as it allows for open discussions, the freedom to share information, and allows everyone deeper insights into the work that we're doing, and why certain decisions are made. **We are constantly looking for ways to be more transparent with our operations.** {% hint style="warning" %} **You must be logged in with your @workwithmad.com account to access these documents.** {% endhint %} * [**Team Salaries**](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fHRkxiAdMTX59YSjFElCOXKSGmi5PDzZWQkZuYia3dI/edit#gid=0) - This document show what everyone in the company is earning, with both Net and Gross amounts. * [**Free Cash Flow Analysis**](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yirfrz7xmmgKu0Bg0iTq1NZyC1gmHEm1nJyJm3HFuR4/edit#gid=1895181132) - See where the money is going! You can see what we've spent historically, how much money is in the bank, and what management is planning to spend money on in the next six months. This is split into "actuals" and "projections". Actual free cash flow is all the known income and expenses, while the projected free cash flow adds potential projects that are coming in, hires, and any other spending that we haven't yet confirmed. * [**Client Details**](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mQBcQxTe3jJXNQV-U_Q8BfbCIcfFR0CfpQS7SO5rpgo/edit#gid=0) - Need to contact a particular person at a client company? All key contact details of team members on the client-side can be found in this document. * [**Team Details**](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1z6vZ0hyCgfc4OqBazPCx_PpHBNx44mbQ6Lvm1aeQzd4/edit?usp=drive_web\&ouid=104515669207841957023) - Information on anyone, past or present, who has worked at Mäd. # General Working Practices Understanding Meta Work What is Meta Work? Good question. Meta work is work that does not directly contribute to the actual product. It could be anything from meetings, reporting, all the way to taking notes. Email is a killer. Meta work may or may not be a bad thing depending on the situation. Meta work exists to support the actual delivery of the product. Some level of meta work is required for the success of product delivery. We try to eliminate as many meetings as we can if it does not add to productivity. Or any other related work that does not contribute directly, for that matter.
# The Project Brief Bringing every project member on the same page at the same time. ## **What is a Project Brief?** A condensed document that will give each project member both a clear view of the 'Big Picture' as well as the specific requirements of the project. It is intended to keep everyone aware and aligned on Scope, Timelines and Budgets. The idea of the document is that anyone who reads through it at any point in time will have a clear understanding of what the project is about, why it's being done, what is needed by when, how much we are getting paid for the work we are doing and who is in the team. ## **Parts of the Project Brief** There are 4 main parts. ### First, General Information. This covers: * **Date Briefed** - The day and date this document is discussed with the Team. Ideally, one or two days after the project has officially been signed off on and initial payment has been received. * **Client Name** - Use the client's legal name. Spell it right! If they have another name by which they are referred to internally, put this down as well so everyone knows who you mean by or are referring to. * For example, JLC's official name is S.E.A.D. Holding Pte. Ltd. * For Inarra, the client is private individual, Annie Lao. * **Project Type** - Sometimes it's a simple Branding requirement. Other times it's a Website project that has a hundred other parts or sub-projects within it. Whatever it is, identify it properly. * For example, the Tilleke & Gibbins Website Project has a specific photography component that might need its own Brief altogether. ### The second part is the meat of the matter - Project Details. * **Background of the Client** - Who they are, what they do or industry/industries they are in, where they are based or have presence in, who their target users or audiences are. If competitive information is available, share that too. Help your team understand who we're working with. * **Top 3 Issues** - By the time the Brief is to be written, these issues have been identified from the initial meeting, all the way to the SOW and Proposal development. This section is simply lifting that information already stated in the Final Proposal. * These would usually be business issues, communication issues or process issues. Or a combination of them. Or other things entirely. * These issues should be addressed in the next section. * **Deliverables/Requirements** - A clear breakdown of everything that needs to be done/created by the Agency. There are deliverables that have further pre-requisite items/steps so it's important to list all of that down. * Similar to the 'Top 3 Issues', this information is from the approved Proposal document. If the list from the Proposal is not exhaustive, it needs to be itemized in the Brief. This will help us avoid forgetting deliverables that we committed to. * Best practice: group the requirements in batches so everyone will know which ones to prioritize and which ones will be done at a later time. * Arranging requirements in batches is not by whim nor at random. There are clear reasons why some requirements need to be done before others. If you are unsure, discuss this with the team and get consensus. * **Working Timelines and Project Milestones** - This will also be lifted from the approved Proposal. * Ideally, the timelines provided to Client already include a reasonable buffer. This is to account for other ongoing/delayed projects or any other unplanned surprises while allowing us to still fulfill our scheduled commitments to Client. * **Budget Breakdown** - Taken from approved Proposal. Budget is usually divided between a 50% initial payment and xx number of monthly payments, depending on how long the project was projected for. * **Other relevant information** - These would be bits of information that are culled from the various interactions, meetings, calls with the Client during the Sales process. They may not fall neatly into the earlier sections of the Brief but would be helpful for the team to know about. * These could be things like the Client leading the project having no clue about website development, or having extremely long approval internal processes; or there are other parties in the project that may be directly or indirectly involved. Or the Client has requested for a special arrangement (i.e. grant applications, etc), or the main Client contact will be leaving soon. * Information such as Client personalities are also good to know so it can help the team figure out how to approach the project or interact with the Client. ### Third section is the Project Team. * **Project Owner** - He or she is responsible for the project on a day to day basis, regular client interface, managing timelines, project status, budgets, manpower. * It's possible to have more than one owner if the project has specific components that will be led by different people. Be specific on who owns which part. * **Project Lead/s** - Depending on the project, there may be more than one lead. Usual lead roles are Design Lead, UI/UX Lead, Development Lead, Content Lead, Production Lead. * **Support Team** - Members who will be involved to supplement the efforts of the Lead/s. Again, be specific on who these will be. * **Escalation Point** - To be consulted on discussions regarding material changes to the contract, project strategy/execution, budgets if these matters are not addressed at the Project Owner level. Generally this will @manny. ### Final section is for Working Files. * Links to files on Team Drive or Bloo, where they may have been uploaded or any other references, files or documents. ## Who should write the Project Brief? Ideally, this is written by both the **Sales/CRM lead** and **Project Owner**. The assumption is these people will have received all information, including non-verbal clues into the Client, their team, and their organization and will be in the best position to discuss the project with the team. ## How should the Project Brief be used? * Once a draft or v1 of the Brief has been written, the **Project Owner must call a full Team Briefing** to discuss its content. * While the document is supposed to be the singular handy basis of key project details (apart from the Contract but that's not easy to flip through on a regular basis), it is important to keep in mind that *anyone in the team can challenge its content during the Team Briefing.* * It will also show you who is really thinking about the project, as opposed to just 'taking orders' (mwahaha!) * The Team Briefing is also the chance for Project Members to raise all and any questions they may have about the requirements, timelines, whatever else. * Required attendees are (surprise, surprise) the Project Team. * If there are any changes/updates from the Team Briefing, then a revised version will need to be drawn up and re-disseminated to the Project Team. # AAR - After Action Review The purpose of the AAR is to constantly improve our processes based on our experiences with projects. Our current process for this is: * Whole project team gets together after the project has been completed, booking between 1-2 hours. * Project team ideates with sticky notes on what didn't work on the project, this can be anything from client communication, contractual issues, deliverables, etc. * The facilitator creates categories of issues based on what he observes is being written down. * Each team member puts their points on the board and category and gives an overview. No solutions are discussed. * Everyone votes on what they feel are the most critical issues to avoid next time and fix right away. * The facilitator takes the most voted issues and arranges them in a row. * Solutions are discussed and one sticky note per solution is added. Multiple solutions for one issue is fine. * Next steps to solve issues permanently are done. * Spend 5-10 mins looking at what went well in the project! # New Client Onboarding ## New Client Onboarding * Full Legal Name * Tax Patent * Contains their VAT Number * What to do if a client does not have VAT? Withholding Tax. * Project team details * Position * phone numbers * First and Last Names * Emails * Introduce Client to Bloo.io * Pass all completed legal documents (contracts, etc) to Finance team for filing. * Digital backups should be made of hard copies and emailed to @manny and @erika who will then place in “Contracts” team drive. * Their finance team details are passed to our Finance team * Enter all company contacts in Mailchimp via [www.workwithmad.com/subscribe](http://www.workwithmad.com/subscribe) * Have an official kickoff meeting! ([We wrote a blog post about this](https://xn--md-via.com/insights/awesome-project-kickoff-meeting/)) # Status Updates ## Status Updates These are small updates at the end of the day that let everyone in the company know what you were up to. The reason we do these status updates is to promote transparency and to develop a rhythm where no-one is wondering if something is being worked on or not. Doing these status updates is one of the few compulsory habits that we enforce at Mad. General guidelines for status updates: * Every day that you’re working. * Colours * Green – I’m doing great * Yellow – Okay day * Red – I’m stuck! * Bullet Points for each thing accomplished * Using % completion * Using #hashtags * @ people who you worked with * Any fun facts for the day #### Sample update for green / yellow / red updates. Status: Green * Had a great meeting with X Client #awesome * Getting there with the SOP with @erika (85%) * Preparing Laos Proposal, but a little stuck (@kit can you check on it tomorrow) * I’m also pretty sure that the Joma cafe in our building has prices that are 20% more expensive to factor in the discount from Pi Pay… #investigate! # Files & Backups ## Files & Backups Ensure that you work directly on a Google Team Drive folder, and that nothing is just stored on your local machine. If your computer is stolen or stops working, the expectation is that all files are available on Google Team Drive, and you can simply resume work on another machine. Mäd has unlimited storage on Google Team Drives and 100mbs internet at off-peak hours for backups, so if you have exceptionally large backups, leave your machine in the office overnight to backup your files. Expect to offer coffees all round if other people can’t find the files they need. # Design Working Practices # Website Go-Live Checklist These are some things to think about in the days and week leading up to a website launch for a customer. * SEO description and meta tags for each page * Check on all screen types on Webflow, and all browsers and lots of devices * Image sizes per device (Webflow does this automatically) * Spelling checks --> Entire website should be read by native language speaker of main site language * [PageSpeed Insights check](https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/) (at least 80) * [Check for Broken Links via Broken Link Checker](https://www.brokenlinkcheck.com) * Ensure HTTPS is on and the domain is configured correctly. * If Webflow, ensure which account the website will be hosted on, and setup client billing if required. * Backup source code and send to client once final payment as been received. * Check Contact Form and Job Forms email correctly and save data as expected * Check that links to outside websites open in new tabs * Check that we have a credits link to mäd.com if that is in the contract. This should open a new tab. * Check that all photography or assets are final versions and have been paid for or signed off with models * [Google Maps API Key Setup](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/embed/get-api-key) * Google Analytics Setup # Resources. * Refactoring UI eBook - [You can find the full book and video course at this link](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19GruMCTAcl_7e_NLamV5QgeF35A6qVQ0?usp=sharing). You'll need to be logged in to your @workwithmad.com email to view. * * * [www.thevangogh.in](http://www.thevangogh.in) * [www.checklist.design](http://www.checklist.design) * [www.svgartista.net](http://www.svgartista.net) * [www.shape.so](http://www.shape.so) * [www.reallygoodemails.com](http://www.reallygoodemails.com) * [www.cleanmock.com](http://www.cleanmock.com) * * * # Brand and Web Design Sprint Agenda The design sprint agenda will vary among the different projects and ultimate goals. However, there are is always an underlying structure in which we base it off off. **Branding** * Daily Agenda & Introduction * Long Term Goal * Long term Goal Questions * What work and doesn’t work * Expert interview * Who *Coffee Break* * Brand Pyramid * Competitive Landscape * Personality Slides *Lunch Break* * Lightning Demos * Solutions Sketching *End the day* **Website** * Daily Agenda & Introduction * Long Term Goal * Long term Goal Questions * Personas workshop *Coffee Break* * What work and doesn’t work * Vote on what doesn’t *Lunch Break* * How might we * Solutions to How might we * Journey Mapping * Lightning Demos * Solutions Sketching *End of Day*
# Key Design Team Roles ## Head of UX & Design This person will know the project since the pitching stage, contractual and scope of work. Their main role is to lead the business requirement, overall experience and define the problems that project want to solve. He will be involved in the design thinking process, design sprint and workshop, once all of those problems solving workshop are done, and client and Mad agreed with the challenge that we want to solve with this project, the head of design will hands off a bit from the project and give the free hand of solutions finding, to the Product designer. Once the project hand over to the product designer, the head of UX & designer will work on deliverable timelines, communicate to his team, oversight the quality of work and outcome from a high level point of view.
## Product Designer Product Designer will be bring on the project at the Kick off meeting. He main role is to work on the solution findings and lead the whole project not only as a UX/UI designer but also product designer. Work on finding the solution that both will solve the customers experience but also match with the business requirement. He/she will work on building the new proposed Customers journey to improve from the existing experience and solve the paint points. Product Designer act as the Lead of the project. He has the right to take any directions of kind of solution as long as it will match the problems statement that was define by the Head of UX and business requirement.
# Ideation and Brainstorming \ Ideation and Brainstorming ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ideation is the process of coming up with ideas. The best way we have found to consistently produce great ideas within short time frames is to go through the following process. Essentially, this starts out by creating a framework for idea creation, then creating a lot of ideas, and then sorting them out into follow-through actions. This ideation process will normally take around 2 hours or so. * Ask yourself “Why”. Having a clear vision of success is key. * Why are we doing the project? * Why are we looking for certain results? * Why do we need new or good ideas? What isn’t working right now? * Create categories first, to give yourself a framework to start adding ideas. Don’t worry, you can add more categories later as you go along. * Add ideas to categories. Spend around 1 hour on this. * A good practice here is to use a whiteboard and create columns for each category and then write down ideas in the columns. * Sort through your ideas via a matrix. * You can use any of the below for the axis, or create your own criteria depending on the project. * Easy ← → Difficult * Low Impact ← → Big Impact * Fast ← → Slow * For each quadrant you create, assign a name. For instance: * If something is both easy and big Impact, you can name the quadrant “Why haven’t we already done this?” * If something is easy and low impact, you can name it “Friday afternoon collab session work” * Write each idea on a sticky note and then attach to the matrix and sort. Essentially..and quite literally…card sorting! * Create a new Asana Board project and create columns for each Matrix Heading and add each idea as a task on Asana, and then add any clarifying comments to each task. Example Output from Ideation Session on the Mad Website:​
![](https://blobscdn.gitbook.com/v0/b/gitbook-28427.appspot.com/o/assets%2F-LCR62tU48mmHUdxyfDY%2F-LCRD_E-daED9IOk8GZS%2F-LCRECRcby9E6-2GG3Lp%2FA-Mans-guide-to_.jpg?alt=media\&token=19250879-40c7-4eb6-a703-cb3327260b98) # Design Thinking ## What is design thinking?
Design Thinking is a method designers use in ideation and development, that also has applications elsewhere. The method describes a human-centered, iterative design process consisting of 5 steps—Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test. Design thinking is useful in tackling problems that are ill-defined or unknown. We use design thinking at Mad to only solve unknown business problems or unknown future innovative product. Mad applied only 2 phases of the design thinking process: Empathy and Define. ## When to use design thinking? When a client has a core idea of what they want to do as product or solutions but they don’t know yet who are their target, what are the behavior of their targets, what are the journey that they going through, what paint points they have? Do they need that core ideas of solution or not? Design thinking is not always the first step. This is because in many cases, the client may already have all of this defined and therefore does not need help to find out these pain points. A good way to identify on which stage each company is at is to see what they currently offer and do a preliminary assessment if they have any focal pain points that could be solved by design thinking. ## What are the processes? **Empathy:** * Define what you want to learn and what you want to know and set up an Interview brief with questions and set up an outcome. * Go out into the streets and meet with people with the same profile of persons that might fit in the business/product solutions. Start doing the interview and listen to them (see how to run interview in the design toolkit) * Gather all the information from the interviews and build an [Affinity Map](https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/affinity-diagrams-learn-how-to-cluster-and-bundle-ideas-and-facts) * Build a Existing Customer's Journey * Build a persona for the project or product **Define:** * Categories the affinity mapping * Choose focus point on the affinity mapping * Turn affinity mapping focus point into Problems statements * Turn that problems statement into Design Sprint focus point ## Why use design thinking? Design thinking is a fool proof way to make sure the product will live up to the expectations of the users. With design thinking you won't be making something by blindly assuming that those are the features users want, instead you build those features directly from their feedback. Learn, Build, Succeed.
# Questions for Flows ## User inputs These questions are about information that goes from the user to the product. * What information does the user input? * Is this input open ended or interactive? * Open ended examples: free-form text input, choosing an image to upload, recording a video. * Interactive examples: text input into a search form that displays results to pick from, choosing an address on a map, picking from a predefined collection of options. * Is there any input that would be considered invalid, and how does the app deal with it? * Are there any passive inputs? Most common example: user location via GPS. * What information does the product need [from a new user](https://www.useronboard.com/)? Is there a way for the user to change this later? ## **Information presented to the user** If the previous section was inputs, you can think of this one as outputs. * What information is shown to the user on this screen? * How is this information shown? Examples: text, images, maps, lists, graphs. * Does the information need to be sorted in some way? Examples: recency, distance from user, relevance. * Does the product send any active outward communications? Examples: emails, push notifications, SMS messages. ## **Interactions between the pieces** These questions are about how different pieces of the experience (users, the product, other services) interact with one another. * Do users interact with each other? Examples: messaging, adding as friend, “liking” or tagging of other users’ content. * Do the users interact with external services? Examples: payment services, shipping tracking, social login. * Does the product interact with external services? Examples: location lookup services, weather APIs, social networks (“Your friend X just joined! Check out their profile!”). ## **Business owner functionality** Questions about what **you**, the business owner, need from the product. * Do you need to receive alerts or summaries, via email or some other medium? * Do you need a specialized system for yourself or employees? Examples: driver app for your delivery staff, real-time order management interface for your kitchen staff. * Do you need an interface for manually approving users/content? * Do you need a content moderation system? A way for your admins to easily remove user content, disable user accounts. # Webflow Hosting {% hint style="info" %} Note that this section quotes pricing from Webflow, and this may change at any time. Visit [www.webflow.com/pricing](https://webflow.com/pricing) for the latest information. {% endhint %} Once a web project with Mäd that uses Webflow is nearing completion, there are two choices for the client: 1. To spin up their own Webflow account and have Mäd migrate the site to their account. 2. To keep the site in Mäd's agency Webflow account. The choice really comes down to convenience and company policy, and **in both scenarios you will make payment directly to Webflow via credit card.** ## Considerations ### Your Own Account You'll have access to the front end editor, as well as the design editor (where our design team normally works in crafting your website), and also all the Webflow account settings. You need to manage this account and ensure that your team does not make any changes that cause breakages or issues. In addition, you will need to deal directly with Webflow support for any account issues. If you need us to make any updates, you'll need to share your account details with us each time we need to make a change. {% hint style="danger" %} Your own account will be more expensive that hosting on Mäd's agency account if you require more than two testing websites at a time. This is because of the way Webflow works, if you're making one large change to the design (that takes one or two weeks), no other changes can be pushed live during that time frame. This issue can be side-stepped by having multiple staging websites, but then you end up paying for both the website hosting as well as individual plans. {% endhint %} ### With Mäd This means that your website is kept in Mäd's Webflow account - but it is still your website! You'll be able to access the front-end editor to change content as well as create new pages and posts. The design editor and all the other settings are abstracted away, and there are no other logins or settings to worry about. If you ever need us to make a change or an update to the website, we have your website right in our administration panel and can access the website right away. {% hint style="info" %} Depending on your hosting setup, it can work out slightly cheaper with Mäd as we bundle hosting with our website management subscription service, and we also have bulk hosting rates with Webflow. {% endhint %} ## Webflow Plans There are two types of plans available on Webflow: 1. Site Plans 2. Account Plans ![](/files/-LXrVYgnJt9XoShlgn21) For 99% of clients, the Site Plans will be the most suitable as you will only be hosting a maximum of one or two websites, and the Account plans have features that are more in line with agency requirements. {% hint style="success" %} If you pay up front for a year, you can save up to two month's worth of hosting fees. We also strongly recommend using the "Business Plan" as this enables the Advanced Global CDN which gives superior speeds in the APAC region. {% endhint %} ![](/files/-LXrW8DKhqt3-zBIzZ-6) # Corporate Website Go-Live Checklist * Final Content * All Images Optimized * Server Details * DNS Details * TBC... # Setting Up an App Store Account ## Introduction. The App Store Developer Program allows app developers and business owners to create applications in the App Store. However, the process is not the most straightforward and requires the correct documentation, which can also vary depending on the region.
This document aims to provide a step by step basis on setting up an account as a business owner. As an agency, we are able to assist with release management, but quite limited with the initial set up. ## Create an App Store account. Having an Apple account will get you started. However, please note that the best practice is to create an App Store account with your domain name (for example: ). However, you can also create this with your personal App Store account.
The link can be found here: .
Please see below for the information required for the form in the following page.
Apple also require you to turn on two factor authentication for security reasons. Please note that this is a necessary step, and it will be impossible to register to a Developer account without two factor authentication turned on. \ **For more information about turning two-factor authentication please refer to this link:** [**https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204915**](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204915) ![](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/d7J8JzcIM8-LwTA6yoWco6fL0OSy0YqOa-aKDWW3q5r8N1ycWnaTILp1QBC88O6wr0nsh1AqJxbf5U7Y-75Eoahy_mhmePoGN0uj_Lx2MCYEEA_QlQvavbcCcRuD2kPUxNM05_49) \ **Enroll to the Apple Developer Account.** ------------------------------------------ The link for the developer account is here:
To get started, click on the blue button link on the top right hand corner of the page, as shown below: ![](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/2eZQcPNZCwE1hxWaA7C8Iwj_KAL7DB4KWzIlpNitx6IYbzkhQYdgkoRzVCaL1mtfmh5S1UsTx6c4ZnlUZWUEzN7_h9aK4JedwmjkykfAnl6LbBGXD2vLb5EDgslIZ7WdgClWlb6h) This will take you to a page which explains whether you should enroll as an individual or an organization. Enrolling as an individual will only display the individual’s name in the App Store, whereas enrolling as an organization will also display the business name.
For more information about enrollment, you can access this link:
If your app belongs to an organization, the obvious choice is to enroll as organization, as displayed below: ![](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Ddcls2hD_WTV5BPWSATo9G5El4-T3Kg2gr4jXP7C6nf4svndCGjsGWFhay5ddK4lI9jGUnr945Sbxvf9TvUCjhzzLjWa8rjPt8s-h3K5Gx8aVcDvyLr4rZ7K7XteCCQmvy4W1ggQ) This will prompt a sign in to your Apple Account:
![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/mQZrlsrMMtvb69Q9_NF_u4CFssLVmCL6Db1GpvauKDVe2pc_XsXAh5Gg6O9X3kTK5BviqzTkVsXBh1-H9AVaHaz3PEdLD2qql1tysTHb8hncR5qeFBnsJStoVfKueSq2ODWtDekn) Log in using your Apple ID. Apple will ask you for a two-factor authentication code that you receive in your device.
## Look Up DUNS number Apple will prompt you to look up the DUNS number if it exists already in their database. They will request for the following information:
* Country * Legal Entity Name * Headquarters Address * Street Address * Town/ City * State / Province * Postal Code * Phone Number * Contact Information * Given Name * Family Name * Phone Number * Work Email (using domain email is better) If the DUNS number is not found, Apple require you to submit the information which you have filled in the form and they will send a set of instructions on how to set up the DUNS number in your region.
This will be sent via email, and will be different for different regions.
In Cambodia, this application will need to go through Apple’s Vietnamese partner. The form will be different for different regions. We’ve attached the sample of the form for this task in Asana.
Depending on the provider, they will email you the approval, including the DUNS number. ## **Complete Registration with DUNS Number** Apple should send you a link to complete your enrollment. Click on the link provided in the email and you will be able to complete the registration.
Apple will send you the confirmation when they have completed their review, and you will b notified via email. Once you receive this confirmation email, you will be able to start adding administrators into this account. ## **Get Started with your Developer Program** Log in again to your Developer account (). Congratulations! The next step will be to create an iTunes Connect account to enroll to TestFlight program, where you will be able to create the app, add testers and admin into the account.
We will send the instructions for this next.\ \ \
# Domain Pointing and IP Addresses # Writing Specifications **ALWAYS** write specifications, while it takes longer upfront, it saves time in the long term! Use a Google Document in the home folder of the project, and ensure that the entire Mäd project for the project has this bookmarked. This is the Google Document template to get your started, with example sections. [You can also find a sample (Red Packet functionality)](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mbU6U0f7ORfqqcBzbDO3SgCJUokX_ykhCs8n8fAG1tg/edit) to see how a specification should be written. A few articles to get you started: * [Painless Functional Specifications – Part 1: Why Bother?](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/10/02/painless-functional-specifications-part-1-why-bother/) * [Painless Functional Specifications – Part 2: What’s a Spec?](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/10/03/painless-functional-specifications-part-2-whats-a-spec/) * [Painless Functional Specifications – Part 3: But… How?](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/10/04/painless-functional-specifications-part-3-but-how/) * [Painless Functional Specifications – Part 4: Tips](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/10/15/painless-functional-specifications-part-4-tips/) * [The Process of Designing a Product](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/05/09/the-process-of-designing-a-product/) * [Designing for People Who Have Better Things To Do With Their Lives](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/26/designing-for-people-who-have-better-things-to-do-with-their-lives/) * [Designing for People Who Have Better Things To Do With Their Lives, Part Two](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/27/designing-for-people-who-have-better-things-to-do-with-their-lives-part-two/) * [Designing for People Who Have Better Things To Do With Their Lives, Part Three](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/05/08/designing-for-people-who-have-better-things-to-do-with-their-lives-part-three/) * [Your app is an onion: Why software projects spiral out of control](https://medium.com/swlh/your-app-is-an-onion-why-software-projects-spiral-out-of-control-bb9247d9bdbd) ### **Get a list of requirements from the client – Shut up and listen** Never assume what the client wants. This is what a shut up and listen meeting is for. It is best to have the tech lead and design lead in this meeting if they are available, as they will be able to better address certain points that are raised by the client.. Never assume anything, but have a good understanding of who the client is, their potential requirements. Consider this still as a sales meeting until everything is signed, come prepared with good examples of our previous work. Let the client speak, write down notes. Don’t write down everything, but do write these down: * Required features * Potential complications * Timeline requirements * Database setup, if there are any third party integration needed Take the client’s side, and think big picture, so ask the client what, in the short term they want to achieve with the product, and in the long term, how the product will serve the business objectives. Ask questions from the user’s perspective also. Find out more about the end user with a persona in mind. There may be more than two key users. Depending on the size of the project, there may be more than one requirement gathering meeting with the client. ### **Scope and proposal** [Please find a template of the proposal here.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/17-Hj5S0ms7IENU4FeJm8BwZ6g2SBHSgTV414e_1n3Rk/edit) The proposal is a high-level outline of what will be included in the product, which features and timelines. This information is reflective of the requirements the team gathered from the client. The proposal should include a covering letter, which justifies why the client should choose Mäd. It will also include: * Features List * Timelines of each process, broken down by weeks, typically: * Research phase (X weeks) * Design (X weeks) * Development (X weeks) * Testing (X weeks) * Go live date * Backend setup * Version control * Server setup * Database setup * Backups * Cost of the project * Fine prints (e.g. warranty) and appropriate signatures ### **Setting Up the Project** At the moment, we’re using our good mate Asana to keep our projects in track ([soon to be Blue](http://workwithblue.com/)). Once the scope is defined and signed, the PM will have to set up the project in Asana. Depending on the project, the team will either use a Board or Timeline project. This depends on the type of project and the decision of the PM. However, we prefer to use the Board as it gives us more flexible task monitoring, from one end to the other. Timelines are good for key milestones. Boards are good for progressing tasks which has plenty of moving components. All items in the scope, line by line should be included in the Timeline with due dates. ### **Ideation** In a nutshell, our ideation process is as such: 1. Set up a meeting with the team to brainstorm 2. Straight to the whiteboard 3. List the main usage of the product / navigation 4. Draw a rough flow 5. Have everybody on the same page ### **Set up a meeting** Designers will play a key role in the ideation process, but a member of the development team should also be present to prevent potential development Everests that designers may miss. If possible, a member from the client team can also join the ideation meeting. This will prevent misunderstandings later on and make sure not our team is on the same page, but the clients also. Allocating a time after WIP is usually a good idea, as everybody is already together. We have plenty of whiteboards in the office, so make sure we use them. List down the objectives of the product, and from then the list of main use cases. From the use cases, we are then able to break down the features and main navigation. The team can also bring samples from other websites or applications which are relevant to the project. At times, the team can also ideate via card sorting. We have ample supply of post it notes in the office, so make sure we use them. You can attach post it notes all over our glass walls and windows, or any available space. Card sorting is useful to categorize potential features together, and to break down features into subfeatures. For example, from the user perspective, a chat feature may contain: sharing, transfer money to friend, send photos, send videos, send location. It is to the team’s discretion if they want to keep some of the features depending on the client request, development time and other complexities. The first ideation for a feature should only focus on creating an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) with only the core features. Anything else is only jargon. Once the feature set is ready, and the main navigation is established, then it’s time to wire all those ideas into the whiteboard. ### **Get some wireframes done** ### **Write a draft of the Specification** The specifications include all information concerning the app. Using the scope document is a good place to start setting up the structure of the specs. We use Google Docs to write specs, as it is collaborative, saves previous changes so we are able to track them, and it is placed securely in the cloud. A good specs document covers the essentials of the app without restricting the creative freedom of the designers and developers. It is the template for the app to keep everybody in the same page. A good specs document is easily readable. Use active voice instead of passive voice whenever possible. Use simple language at all times, as the document is also for team members whose mother tongue is other than English. It includes the: * Cover * Table of contents * Objective * Actors * Use Cases * Open Issues **Cover** Include in the cover: * Title * Subtitle (optional) * Date created * Specs version * Collaborator **Overview** The specs writer defines the overview of the product, usually in a single, curt sentence. He/she will also define the app and its objectives. For example, Pi Pay is a digital payment that will be used by young Cambodians, 18-35. Take in mind the commercial goals of the client (if available) and how that relates to the product. **Table of Contents** This is plain common sense. Use headings in your specs and make a table of content from Google Docs. This will make the specs much easier to navigate around for everybody. **Actors** Actors could be primary actors and secondary actors. Primary actors include end users or anybody that has direct contact with the end user. If you have a persona in mind, then this persona can be clearly defined. In the specs, use the name of these personas. **Use Cases** Outline use cases of the app from the point of view of the end user. Specs writer should also take in mind what if situations, i.e. if the end user has no credit on his app, low connectivity, etc. Remember the wireframes we did in the last section? They will act as your beacon in writing the specs. Complexities will appear as you debunk the wireframes screen by screen, see it as an opportunity to debunk your wireframes. Use cases example: * User registers through Facebook * Splash screen loads in app * User clicks on “Log In with Facebook” * User allows app to obtain information through Facebook app * User successfully logs in Use cases will also be used as a template for automated test plans. Find the balance of achieving high-level use cases and having enough details for designers and developers to grasp the details that they need to do their job. The specs writer should also be familiar with the main navigation of the product and its core functions. He/she will divide the sections into the appropriate feature set, and define the use cases for each. Include the wireframes in the specs to add clarity. For example, Pi Pay’s specs will include: * Home Screen * Friends * Chat * Places * Me Depending on the size of the product and complexity, the writer fleshes out each feature accordingly. For example, for Pi Pay’s Home Screen: * Top navbar * Primary usage icons: * Scan/Pay * Receive * Transfer * Wallet * Springboard icon * Share * Bills * Map * Top Up * Banner * Bottom navbar Use cases can also be written as scenarios. This is a fleshed out example of how the product works in real life, used by the persona. For example: “**Scenario 1: Mike.** Mike is a busy executive. He is the president of a large, important company that makes dynamite-based products for children which are sold through national chains such as Toys ‘R’ Us. During the course of a typical day, he has many meetings with many very important people. Sometimes a man comes over from the bank to harass him for not paying the interest that was due three months ago on his line of credit. Sometimes another man comes from another bank trying to get him to sign up for another line of credit. Sometimes his venture capitalists (the nice people who gave Mike the money to start his business) visit him to complain that he is earning too much money. “A bonfire!” they demand. “Wall Street likes to see a bonfire!” These visitors are very upset if Mike has previously promised to meet with them at a certain time, but when that time comes around, Mike is nowhere to be found. This happens because Mike doesn’t know what time it is. At his secretary’s recommendation, Mike signs up for a **WhatTimeIsIt.com** account. Now, whenever Mike is wondering about the time, he simply logs onto **WhatTimeIsIt.com**, enters his username and password, and finds out the current time. He visits the site several times during the day: to find out when it’s time for lunch, to check if he’s late for the next meeting, etc. Towards the end of the day, in fact, from about 3:00 p.m. onwards, he checks the site increasingly frequently to see when it’s time to go home. By 4:45 he’s basically just hitting “Refresh” again and again.” This is taken from [Joel on Software – What Time is it?](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/whattimeisit/) **Open Issues** Don’t expect your specifications to answer all the questions about the product. In fact, the idea of the specification is to make you think of great questions to ask! There will be some issues which require further thought and questions. However, make sure to follow up on these issues promptly, as it will resolve plenty of issues which will become nastier as the project continues. Although you may have completed writing some sections, it is also useful to list out the possible issues and potential risks. ### **Get some designs done** Designing the surface or User Interface is very crucial as this is where the users communicate with the product. At this stage, you should strive for not only great visual design but also usability. These are a few fundamental elements to keep in mind: * **Be clear & simple:** It is very important that users understand what they are supposed to do or can do with each element on the screen. For instance, users should not guess whether the button is clickable or not. Everything should be clear and predictable. This is why understanding your users are very important; their habit, background and culture will make a huge difference in your design decisions. * **Give clear & meaningful feedback:** “Every action needs a reaction.” For every interaction that users make with the product, there should be a meaningful response. For instance, if a user types in a wrong password, there should be some form of response letting the user know that the password is wrong. * **Be consistent:** By keeping your design consistent, you ease the learning process of the user while ensuring that each component feel like they belong together. Users should not relearn how to use the product. * **Use visual hierarchy:** Great use of typography, color and negative space help user to interact with the product effectively. * **Be purposeful:** By keeping in mind the goals users try to achieve, you avoid adding unnecessary elements to the screen that may distract users. * **Make trade offs:** Because there are a lot of factors to consider when designing user interfaces, you should be prepared to make certain tradeoffs in your design to optimize the product. Sometimes, you sacrifice the beauty in order to conform with user’s habits. Sometimes, it is the usability versus efficiency. ### **Go back and edit specification based on comments** As Joel Spolsky pointed out, specs are living and breathing documents. It is a beast in its own right. With every design changes and development, the writer needs to update the document. This seems like more work, but it will save you the trouble later on when there are confusions on the design. Use Google Docs comments to point out ambiguity in the specs. ### **Do a video (if applicable) of the final specification draft.** Specifically if it’s a big feature that requires C-Level or BoD (Board of Directors) approval, it is much better to create a quick video mockup of the feature that then can review, as normal people have better things to do with their lives that read specification documents, regardless of how entertaining you think your writing is. # Bug Reporting Template * **OS:** Android, iOS or Both * **App Version:** i.e. 1.9.92 * **App** **Build:** xx * **Environment:** Production or UAT * **Description of issue:** * **Steps to reproduce Issue** * **What you expected to happen:** * **What actually happened:** * **More details:** * i.e. Attached screenshots of the issue to give more context on the bug. * **Add priority tags (please see below)** * High - critical issues. * Medium - important issues that need to be resolved but not immediate attention * Low - low priority issues. Note: Before you file a new bug, please check to see if it has already been filed in the project. If it has, heart or comment on the existing task to indicate that you've experienced the same bug (instead of adding another task).
# Tools ## Google For Business * @manny is the super administrator. ## Telegram The official Telegram groups are: * Mäd Hatters * Mäd Creative * MädBnB * Mäd People * Mäd Management ## Revue * @manny, @frazer have access. * This is used for the monthly newsletter. ## Cloudflare * @manny and @lim have access. ## Gitlab ## Sketch * [License Key can be found in this non-public Google Doc. ](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KrhjNQZqY3Txe8wi29dQNIt9iL9uUqgi-KzD7G3aFL0/edit) ## **Adobe Cloud** ## Abstract ## Balsamiq * A simple but effective wireframing tool. * We have a corporate license that you can find on [this non-public document.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/19W2PjToIkC-V_Vsgc0YfKjzGYpNvZzrxXe5VzsDnC10/edit) * [You can download Balsamiq here.](https://balsamiq.com/download/) * There is also an excellent Wireframe UI framework/collection available at [Wireframes To Go](https://wireframestogo.com/). Setup instructions for this are [here. ](https://support.balsamiq.com/resources/wireframestogo/) ## DigitalOcean ## AWS ## Google Cloud ## WordCounter * Tracks your writing across your Macbook or iMac * You can download it here: * [License key can be found on this non-public document. ](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d1GcIhoaItt29YRyhXUaQKXy4-pOh2W2pHxv4LvTKqc/edit) ## List of Useful & Suggested Software * [VLC](https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html) * [Pocket](https://getpocket.com/) * [Ulysees](https://ulyssesapp.com/) * [Grammarly](https://www.grammarly.com/) * [Day One](http://dayoneapp.com/) * [Pi Pay](https://www.pipay.com/) * [Google Photos](https://photos.google.com/) – Unlimited File Storage with your @workwithmad.com account, and data is yours to keep if or when you leave. * [Boomerang for Gmail](https://www.boomeranggmail.com/) - Allows you to send email later and also schedule emails to come back to you that you need to follow up. * [Tomighty](http://www.tomighty.org/) - A Mac-based timer to help you focus using the Pomodoro Technique * [Moom](https://manytricks.com/moom/) - Gives Mac users the ability to manage windows like on Windows, by dragging on the side to make a half-window, etc. ## ## # People Operations People Operations is an incredibly important part of how we run the company. After all, as long as we look after our people, they'll look after our clients. We've got a fairly unusual method of working, and it's based on a few key ideas: * Freedom and Responsibility. * Treating people like adults. Find below the main sections: {% content-ref url="/pages/-LCaTtGbyqweDjLDRMd5" %} [Key Documents](/operations/people-operations/key-documents) {% endcontent-ref %} {% content-ref url="/pages/-LCaTYVStZ2HLLb2WZuz" %} [Hiring](/operations/people-operations/hiring) {% endcontent-ref %} {% content-ref url="/pages/-LCaUApQKmMWg1qtpdp6" %} [On-boarding](/operations/people-operations/onboarding) {% endcontent-ref %} {% content-ref url="/pages/-LCaUTDEZ\_yEF5n9letr" %} [Probation](/operations/people-operations/probation) {% endcontent-ref %} {% content-ref url="/pages/-LCaUeo1rD56b9eKRWjU" %} [Health and Accident Insurance](/operations/people-operations/insurance) {% endcontent-ref %} {% content-ref url="/pages/-LCaUqPtu1OmyzdDjIII" %} [One to Ones](/operations/people-operations/121) {% endcontent-ref %} {% content-ref url="/pages/-LCaV-9a0JiSL5PiABE7" %} [Off-boarding](/operations/people-operations/offboarding) {% endcontent-ref %} {% content-ref url="/pages/-LCaVHueO2-Gj89E0pW0" %} [Salary Scale](/operations/people-operations/salary-scale) {% endcontent-ref %} {% content-ref url="/pages/-LCaVnrCt-C1cNc7N82y" %} [Holidays](/operations/people-operations/holidays) {% endcontent-ref %} {% content-ref url="/pages/-LCaVx9kBS8m6KNVoGHb" %} [Benefits](/operations/people-operations/benefits) {% endcontent-ref %} {% content-ref url="/pages/-LCaWBteZHZ1f7d7J8fN" %} [Reviews and Performance](/operations/people-operations/reviews-and-performance) {% endcontent-ref %} # Open Positions We often have open positions for various roles. We regularly update this page with our latest requirements. However, please note that we also accept open applications for roles that are not listed on this page. If you're awesome, you'll get in regardless - we collect great people. So, give it a shot, email us at **** to apply. ## Mid-Level User Experience Designer * $600 to $800 depending on experience and skillset. ### Job Description * Gather and evaluate user requirements in collaboration with client and Internal development team * Illustrate design ideas using storyboards, process flows and sitemaps * Design graphic user interface elements * Develop UI mockups and prototypes that clearly illustrate how sites function and look like * Create original graphic designs (e.g. images, sketches and tables) * Prepare and present rough drafts to internal teams and key stakeholders * Identify and troubleshoot UX problems * Being part of the Design Thinking phase and Design Sprint sessions both internally and with users or stakeholders * Conduct layout adjustments based on user feedback * Adhere to style standards on fonts, colors and images ### Requirements * Minimum 2 years of experience working as UX and UI Designer * Strong problems findings mindset * Up to date with designs trend * Good presentation and communication skills * You should eat Sketch, InVision, Adobe Suits as your breakfast * Independent, self-managed and motivated quick learner...you need to be a sponge and soak in lots of knowledge! # Employment Contract The terms and conditions of your employment with Mäd are set out below. [Document template can be found here.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qN7dmoaYj047Et6TGHEgqFJsXE3FsDN6cGQoFuqV5fc/edit) Alternatively, we also provide a simple employment letter at the request of the employee. [Document template can be found here.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/191QYWcwq1lZiOzdfDU2lUB3GB8aIaW-sxy38Q3KJ3wg/edit) ## 1. Position and Place of Employment. 1. You will be employed as a Team Member at Mäd. 2. You will be required to work at the Mäd office, as well as the offices of our clients from time to time. Working from home or another location is permitted as long as: * Project responsibilities are upheld; and * Team members from Mäd have not specifically requested your presence at the Mäd office, the offices of our client, or another location. ## **2. Duration of Employment and Probationary Period.** 1. Your employment will start on \[\] and will be valid for twenty-four (24) months from your start date. 2. Your employment shall be subject to a probationary period of three (03) calendar months from the date set out in Clause 2.1. Subject to satisfactory performance during the probationary period, your supervisor shall recommend you for confirmation at the end of the probationary period. You will be given specific KPI’s during your probation period and any performance concerns during this period will be brought to your attention promptly so as to enable improvement. Continued unsatisfactory performance may, at the discretion of Mäd, result in immediate termination during your probationary period. ## 3. Standard Working Hours. 1. Mäd does not operate on a strict time-based policy for standard working hours; however, Mäd expects that you will work between 30 to 40 hours per week on company matters, such as client projects, and internal work. Hours will not be tracked unless required by a client for a particular project. However, a daily online check-in is required from Monday to Friday. Failure to consistently check-in (less than 80% check-in rate) will exclude the employee from any bonus scheme. 2. There may also be occasions where your work responsibilities require your voluntary commitment and time beyond the official work hours indicated. If this commitment goes significantly beyond the expected working time for a week, the employee is free to make up this time by reducing their working times in the following weeks. ## 4. **Duties and Responsibilities.** 1. Your specific responsibilities are detailed in Annex1. You agree, however, that the scope of your responsibilities may expand or be redefined as Mäd sees fit according to your capabilities. Any expansion/redefinition of your responsibilities will be discussed with you and agreed upon accordingly. 2. While you are expected to fulfill your responsibilities Mäd welcomes any interest from you to move to other departments/disciplines. Actual transfers will be subject to review and approval by the department heads and management team. 3. Your duties will primarily be at Mäd; however, you may be required to complete work for any subsidiaries of Mäd or their clients. 4. Mäd may also send you to prescribed training courses as deemed necessary by Mäd. ## 5. Salary. 1. Mäd shall pay you a net salary of US$ \[\] per month. 2. Your salary plus project allowances and/or reimbursements will be paid in arrears on the 25th. 3. Mäd shall pay on your behalf all Cambodian salary taxes, other taxes, and deductions on your salary, bonus and other benefits and allowances paid to you by Mäd. You shall receive your net salary as stated in Clause 5.1. 4. You shall indemnify and hold Mäd free of any claims arising out of your personal tax liabilities in your home country (if any) in connection with your employment with Mäd. 5. Subject to any applicable law, Mäd reserves the right in its absolute discretion to deduct from your salary any sums which you may owe Mäd including, but not limited to, any overpayments of salary or for advances or loans made to you by Mäd, and for damage or loss of goods expressly entrusted to you for custody or for loss of money for which you are required to account, where the damage or loss is directly attributed to your negligence or fault. ## 6. Benefits. 1. All employees of Mäd will receive the following standard benefits after passing the 03 month probationary period: * [Unlimited leave (see clause 9 for details)](https://howto.workwithmad.com/people-operations/employment-contract#9-unlimited-annual-leave) * [Health and accident insurance coverage](https://howto.workwithmad.com/people-operations/insurance) * [And other benefits in line with company policy](https://howto.workwithmad.com/people-operations/benefits) ## 7. Performance and Compensation Review. 1. Your performance will be appraised on an ongoing basis and Mäd may decide, in its sole discretion, to adjust your compensation as it sees fit. 2. Salary adjustments are not automatic after probation but may happen on a case to case basis. This will depend on your performance during probation, team performance and overall company performance. ## 8. Bonus. 1. Mäd may pay you a performance bonus based on achieving certain performance targets and, in general, the performance of Mäd, your team and your individual performance. You are eligible for the performance bonus (if any) only after your probationary period. 2. If Mäd decides, in its sole discretion, to pay a bonus, then the bonus will be paid to you according to the fixed payment schedule of the bonus plan/scheme. ## 9. Unlimited Annual Leave. 1. Mäd has a policy of unlimited annual leave after passing the 03 month probationary period. However, you must always ensure that ongoing projects are not disturbed and suitable arrangements for smooth continuation of projects have been made while on annual leave. It is also necessary to provide sufficient notice before taking annual leave. 2. You must take at least eighteen (18) annual leave days per year. Mäd will track only the mandatory 18 days. 3. Annual leave earned in any one calendar year must be taken by March 31st of the following year, failing which it shall be compulsory for you to take the annual leave. 4. Unlimited annual leave also covers leave taken for sick leaves and all other manners of special leave (i.e. parental, etc). ## 10. Public Holidays. You are entitled to leave during all public holidays declared by the Royal Government of Cambodia. ## 11. Work Related Travel. Due to the nature of our work, it is necessary to accommodate Mäd’s clients on site and you will be expected to travel within the country and overseas, from time to time. If you have any circumstances that regularly limit your ability to travel (Mäd recognizes that personal circumstances may limit your ability to travel for specific periods of time), it is necessary to declare such circumstances in writing at the time you sign this Contract, failing which Mäd will understand that you have no circumstances that limit your ability to travel. ## 12. Conflict of Interest. 1. You must devote the whole of your time, attention and abilities during your hours of work to your duties for Mäd. 2. You shall not, without the previous written consent of Mäd, be in any way engaged in or concerned with any other business or occupation other than that of Mäd, nor shall you provide any services of whatever kind and in whatever capacity for any other person or for the benefit of any other business. 3. You shall not accept any commissions, other types of benefits or gifts from third parties in connection with your work for Mäd. ## 13. Abandonment of Work. 1. If you are absent from work for a continuous period of three (03) days or more without notification to Mäd, you shall be deemed to have committed an act of serious misconduct, which may result in immediate termination of your employment. You shall further be responsible for all damages or losses which may result from this abandonment to the extent permitted by law. ## 14. Confidential Information. 1. During the term of this Contract, you will have access to confidential information including, but not limited to: company information, its business activities and internal activities. You are committed, under this contract, to comply with the Non-Disclosure and Non-Competiton Agreement. 2. You shall not, directly or indirectly, disclose to any person, whether within or outside Mäd, or use any trade secret or confidential or sensitive information (including but not limited to company information, business activities and internal activities) about Mäd or any of its associated companies to whom Mäd has an obligation of confidence. This applies during and after your employment except as required by law. There is no time limit to this restriction except when the confidential information has become public through no fault of your own. 3. In the event that the disclosure or loss of confidential information directly or indirectly damages Mäd, you are obliged to compensate Mäd for the damage that occurred, is occurring or will occur based on Mäd’s confirmation of the damage. You will take legal responsibility under the respective laws that apply for specific violations. 4. You acknowledge that the terms herein are reasonable and necessary to protect the legitimate interests of Mäd. If any term in this clause is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, you agree that it does not affect the other terms in this contract and may be revised as necessary, in the court’s opinion, to make it effective and enforceable. ## 15. Non-Competition and Non-Solicitation 1. For twelve (12) months from the date of termination of your employment with Mäd, you will not directly or indirectly solicit competitive business from any client or customer (including any potential client of Mäd) that was contacted, solicited, or served by you or your colleagues, or about which you have received confidential information while employed by Mäd. At the same time, you will not perform services or accept any business competitive with that of Mäd's, directly or indirectly from any of the customers and clients as mentioned above, which involves performing similar functions or acting in a similar capacity as during your time at Mäd. 2. As long as you are working for Mäd and until twelve (12) months after leaving for any reason whatsoever, you will not directly or indirectly recruit, solicit, or otherwise induce or attempt to induce any employee of Mäd to terminate his or her employment with the company or to act contrary to the interests of Mäd. 3. If you are found to be in violation of any part of this clause, Mäd has the right to pursue legal action against you and you are obliged to compensate Mäd for the damage that occurred, is occurring or will occur based on Mäd’s confirmation of the damage. ## 16. Ownership of Intellectual Property Rights. 1. All output pertaining to Mäd’s products and services (including but not limited to designs/artworks, strategies, visual/ written content, and any invention, patent, petty patent, utility model, copyright, design, circuit layout-design, trademark, trade name, technology, know-how, trade secret, confidential information or any other intellectual property) that you create, develop or discover during your employment at Mäd is, and will remain, the sole and exclusive property of Mäd. 2. If it is confirmed any law that you are the owner of any intellectual property related or competitive to any of Mäd’s products and services, you will do all acts necessary and execute all such documents to transfer absolute ownership to Mäd (or as Mäd shall direct). You agree that you will not have any claim of any nature in respect of the intellectual property. ## 17. Responsibility for Company’s Office Equipment, Assets and Work Materials. A computer will be available for your use during your employment with Mäd. You will be responsible for the safe custody and proper usage of all office equipment (including computer and peripherals and software), assets and work materials (including work manuals, reference files and training materials) issued to you by Mäd. Upon leaving Mäd, you are required to return all issued property in good condition to Mäd. You are responsible for any replacement costs in the case items are damaged or misplaced. ## 18. Termination. 1. Each Party may terminate this Contract by giving to the other Party one (1) month’s advance notice in writing or one (1) month’s basic salary in lieu of notice. 2. Your employment may also be immediately terminated by Mäd without payment in lieu of notice or any compensation to you if: * You have committed any breach of the contract. * You continually fail to perform your duties to a standard satisfactory to Mäd, after having received an email warning from Mäd. * Your employment pass or residency status or government approval to work in Cambodia is revoked or cancelled. * You are guilty of any serious acts of misconduct, willfully neglect your duties to Mäd or have conducted yourself in any manner calculated or likely to be prejudicial or detrimental to the interests of Mäd. * You have been convicted of any criminal offence, other than an offence which in the reasonable opinion of Mäd, does not affect your position as an employee of Mäd. ## 19. Severability. 1. The various provisions of this Agreement are severable and if any provision is held to be invalid or unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction, then such invalidity or unenforceability shall not affect the remaining provisions of this Agreement. 2. If any such restrictions under Clause 14 (Confidentiality), Clause 15 (Non-Competition and Non-Solicitation) and 16 (Ownership of Intellectual Property Rights) shall be considered to be void as going beyond what is reasonable in all the circumstances for the protection of the interest of Mäd but will be valid if part of the wording were deleted or the periods (if any) were reduced the restriction shall apply with such modifications as may be necessary to make it valid and effective. ## 20. Entire Agreement. 1. This Contract covers the entire understanding between the Parties. All prior agreements, arrangements and communications, whether oral or written, with respect to the subject matter are void. The delay or failure by either Party to exercise or enforce any of its rights under this Contract shall not be deemed a waiver of that Party’s right thereafter to enforce those rights; nor shall any single or partial exercise of such right preclude any other or further exercise thereof or the exercise of any right. ## 21. Governing Law. 1. This Contract shall be governed by the laws of Cambodia. # Key Documents ## Offer Letters Released after a prior discussion between Mäd and the candidate regarding the general role description, monetary offer plus benefits, starting date and time. * [Offer Letter Template](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LMw3GWgrvA8ZhqT888O4axXtnSTG3qg6FMsz-P1VydQ/edit) ## Contracts A fuller description of the terms and conditions of the Hätter’s engagement with Mäd. Ideally released within the first week of employment for review and (digital) sign off. * [Employment Contract Template ](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qN7dmoaYj047Et6TGHEgqFJsXE3FsDN6cGQoFuqV5fc/edit) ## Grow Reports Grow = General Review of Work * [GROW Report Template](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M1QOsApO5HSzYTtl5_4uwL4sZ85P5FhYB7dWiHrPNQw/edit) ## Insurance Documents Released and filled up once the Hätter is confirmed for permanency #woohoo! [Application Form](https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1AABY1VQIDQnNrpoqpJasMH60E96eiEmQ) [Details of Benefits](https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1AABY1VQIDQnNrpoqpJasMH60E96eiEmQ) [List of Hospitals](https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1AABY1VQIDQnNrpoqpJasMH60E96eiEmQ) ## Exit Checklist [Exit Checklist](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BqbaIH7gF1X3ALE1xQDQXVPUlco6KO8blYSL0oTzCm0/edit#gid=0) We acknowledge that people will leave the organization for various reasons. This checklist is to ensure that all necessary files, information and Mäd property are correctly accounted for before the Hätter ends their journey. This is usually released to the member within 3 days of tendering their notice to make sure both the Team Leader and exiting Hätter have ample time to ‘tidy up’ and handover properly. If a separate project handover is needed, feel free to create a document that would best fit the projects’ requirements. **This is a crucial document that can withhold the Hatter’s last salary if not completed to the Team Leader’s satisfaction.** # Hiring ## How do we know that we need someone? It is not always clear when it is time to hire new people, especially as we seem to be almost always hiring new ones! However, there is a way to tell if we really need to bring new people on board. Firstly, new client work often comes with the commitment to hire a certain number of new team members to create a team. If that’s the case, then it will be discussed in the WIP team meetings and the hiring manager will start to check our network.\ Secondly, we may notice that our current team is becoming overloaded, but that is not an automatic sign that we should hire more people. It may be that bad habits or certain inefficiencies have crept into our way of doing things, and we should look primarily at changing or removing these barriers to work, and only then looking to hire more people if there is still a shortage of hours in the week to get everything done. ## Crafting great job adverts * Custom Design * Excite * Anti-Advertising (like the guy that posted advert of people for successful polar expedition) * Call to Action * Budgets for Facebook Advertising * Other Places to Post We’ve also articulated on the website our hiring process. ## Interviewing * Interview Rounds * Questions to ask * Last five books that you’ve read * Why do you want to join Mad, specifically? ## **Test Briefs** Design Team candidates will be given a set of problems or tasks to solve on the spot, in front of a panel. They should be able to explain their thought process as to why and how they solved the problem in the way they did. ## Character References References provide an additional perspective on the candidate. Ideally, we request for at least 3 references who have worked with the candidate in different capacities – superior, subordinate, peer, client, partner, etc – in order to get a fuller and multi-dimensional view of the candidate. However, since these references are very likely cherry-picked by the candidate, expect a high probability of a glowing review. Which is not always bad but worth taking with a grain of salt especially if your gut tells you otherwise. Another way is to do a ‘back door check’. This means finding connections to the candidate and checking on the sly. Must be done with utmost care and sparingly. Definitely not a comprehensive list but some key areas for the Project Leader to probe on: * Personal traits * Core strengths * What could they be better at and why * Leadership ability * Works well with others * Takes feedback (or criticism) of their work * What work environment suits them best (i.e. structured, hierarchical, fluid, process-oriented, result-oriented, etc) * Workstyle * How well they respond to change * Any ‘watch out’ points that would be good for us to be aware of * Any other information that will give us a better understanding of them, whether professionally or personally Areas to cover should be tailored to the role/candidate. This can be done over the phone or via email, whichever would be convenient. # Hiring Process To get different results, we need to do things differently. But it’s not necessary to reinvent the wheel – small, thoughtful changes, we believe, are enough to bring about better results. And we found a way to apply this principle also to our hiring process. In parallel, if you’re one of those brave souls willing to take a shot at joining the Mädness, here’s an insider view: #### **Step 1: Information Gathering** Immediately a crucial step because finding the right people can’t start off with just a designation and a salary range. It’s much much more than that! Apart from a Job Description (normally broad strokes at this stage), The Hiring Manager needs a clear understanding of the context the role will be operating in, what its function is within the team, what sort of issues (if any) the role may be trying to resolve and other surrounding circumstances that the team might otherwise not consider necessary information. Finding all these out could either be done in an sit-down briefing or spending time with the team of which the role is part. #### **Step 2: The Search** Beginning a search from scratch can be time-consuming and frustrating, especially if the role is specialized and not always easy to figure out where to start looking. At Mäd, however, we always have a default place to look first: our catch-all email () encouraging any interested parties to send in their CV’s, work samples and a brief introduction on why they would like to #workwithmad. Not only is it a good starting point, but we have found some interesting profiles that we would love to have on-board. We’ve also received a fair bit of spam – in this day and age, who doesn’t? The next place we sift through are our Facebook messages where we get a healthy amount of inquiries. Similarly, we get lucky finds and interesting bits and, every now and then, some kooky ones too. It keeps things interesting. On occasion, we put out job ads and see what we find in ‘hello’ and Messenger. If that doesn’t turn up any promising profiles, then we take outward measures and actively search in LinkedIn, relevant Facebook groups and, yes, even Instagram. Talent can be anywhere! Outward measures, are not exclusive to the Hiring Manager, however. On the contrary, it’s a collaborative effort: anyone in the team and everyone in the agency is encouraged to look through their own personal and professional networks. Once we have identified high potentials, we reach out and set schedules. The next step, we believe, is where the small, thoughtful change makes the most impact. #### Step 3: The Chats \ At Mäd, we don’t hold ‘interviews’. Instead, we invite potential profiles in for a chat – either in person or via Skype. And because 3 is a magic number, we like doing 3 rounds. In the first round, the candidate chats with their potential Teammates and the Department Head. This is to give the candidate a foretaste of the actual dynamic that they will experience if they become part of the gang. In such a setting, the conversation can go in any direction and can be used to gauge how well the candidate can hold their footing in such a loosely-defined context. It usually also helps make it less intimidating, and sometimes, very much fun. Generally, this stage is used to assess *skill level, job know-how, group dynamic and personality.* If the candidate clears that, they go on to have a chat with the Hiring Manager in the second round. Just as casual as the previous round, but a tad more personal because of its one-on-one nature, this session is to dig deeper into *work style, cultural fit, motivations, professional history and other intangibles.* It’s also the first layer of a ‘further reading’ of the candidate if they have what it takes to be a potential Mäd Hatter. To help what we ‘read’ of the candidate, we have also started to ask for character references – which, for some, is highly unorthodox practice. We’re aiming to make it fairly common. In due time. If they have what it takes and rate quite highly from both rounds, they then get to have a chat with our founder. He is the ‘last read’ and gives either the thumbs up or down. If the candidate gets a thumbs up – it’s not yet over! We’ve added an extra layer like Google’s Two-Factor Authentication for added measure. #### **Step 4: The Clincher Round** \ Now that we’ve heard the talk, we want to see if they can walk their talk. So we’ve thrown in the **Test brief** into the mix! Depending on the role and requirement, the candidate will be given either a hypothetical brief or an actual project (a simpler version) to work on. Details and process will vary. Once the candidate clears Test Brief Stage and sufficient references have been checked, only then will the Offer Letter (package details + start date) be sent out. The reason we’re putting in more stages is to ensure that we hire the right kind of people who will do amazing and awesome things with us, will contribute to a Great Customer Experience and drive the Growth we have set out to achieve. And that, we think, is well worth the small, thoughtful change. # Hiring FAQ Just like in any relationship, it’s only natural to want to know as much as you possibly can about the other person (or entity) before getting in any deeper. In any case scouring the Mäd website and our social media pages still doesn’t satisfy some basic queries, here’s a roundup of the Top 15 questions we encounter from most, if not all, candidate chats: ### 1. Would you have a JD for the role? We normally start with a general definition of the core function in broad strokes but we tell candidates there is always room for them to build on the basic JD. Apart from the core function of their role, they may be roped in for internal or tangent requirements as needed. It’s also highly possible for the JD to completely evolve over time. Change is a constant, after all. ### 2. What does Mäd do (services)? We work at the intersection of business, technology, and design to help our clients’ businesses move up. For specifics, check out the full suite we offer [here](https://xn--md-via.com/services/). ### 3. Who are your Clients? We are in a unique position to be selective about who we work with. Mostly, our Clients are organizations who value a strategic differentiation in their brands/businesses and not just tangible output. They have an idea (or ideas) they want to bring to reality and want to create a significant change in consumer behaviour and market dynamics. Our Clients tend to be early adopters and forward-looking, as opposed to preferring to do things as they are usually and normally done. They are organizations who believe in partnership and collaboration. You can check out the full list here. ### 4. What’s your culture/work environment like? We like to keep it casual and easy, but with a sharp focus on performance and learning through sharing ideas. Ours is a diverse multinational environment where the average age is 28 (because some of us stopped counting at 27, and others age in reverse.) We don’t believe in having too many rules because we’re not in school! But yes, we have a few in place so it won’t be complete anarchy. We do operate largely based on sound principles and common sense. We’re a Results-Oriented Work Environment: where output counts more than the hours you put in or where you work. Though there are times that being in one place with the rest of the team makes it easier and more fun. We also believe in being transparent and sharing important information with our teams – the kind most companies are averse to making available – like salaries and the company’s general financial standing. Most importantly, we are big proponents of work/life balance (or harmony, or whatever term’s *en vogue*): come in or leave whenever you want as long as the work is done and you come to meetings on time; work from where you’d be productive; be responsive during standard work hours of the work week and deliver to the expected standard! ### 5. What benefits do you offer (or salary range)? We believe our salaries are quite competitive, leans toward the higher end of (informal) market standards and corresponds to the value one brings to the team and the company. Our rule of thumb is ‘good work is rewarded’. * We do have other benefits but they are rather modest compared to what most other more established organizations can offer: * Unlimited vacation policy after passing probation * Health/ accident insurance * Yearly upskilling budget and we will also buy any book that you want to read and add it to our library. * Netflix * Monthly mobile phone allowance * Team Lunches fortnightly * The best work equipment (MacBook Pros, iMacs) * Work permit and business visa arrangement * Get experience with a high-performance team * Add companies that are pushing the boundaries of your portfolio Our biggest draw and crowd-favorite is our flexible working hours (see work/life balance) ### 6. Do you work weekends? What are your working hours? Weekend work is not standard, only when required (i.e. events, matches, etc) or when you feel like it. See ‘work/life balance’ ### 7. What nationalities are on your team? The split is 80/20 favoring Cambodians. We are an eclectic mix of nationalities: British-Italian, Indonesian-Australian, Filipino, and Filipino-American. ### 8. Who owns Mäd? * The founder of the company owns 70%. * [Votiva](http://www.votivasoft.com/) own 30% of the company. ### 9. Are you a local company? We are regional with presence in Thailand and Vietnam. We just happen to be headquartered in Cambodia. ### 10. Where is your office? We’ve just recently moved! Mäd is now on the first floor of the Loren Maison Building, #40, St. 240. ### 11. How big is the team? We just hit the 25 pax mark. ### 12. How is Mäd structured? We’re not into making things complex and bureaucratic, so we’re quite flat – there are no hierarchies. The three ‘levels’ we have simply define the area/s of focus: * Management looks after company direction, growth, strategy, People and Brand * Team Leaders or Discipline Heads ensure we always provide a Great Customer Experience * Frontliners deliver the day to day stellar work we want to be known for ### 13. Great looking office (from website photos) It will be even better! ### 14. What do the dots mean? You’ll find out once you join. ### 15. What is the dress code? Wear clothes. # On-boarding Who should be there on the first day to do the onboarding? Suggested is @erika + team lead + one peer. ## **Contract** Preparation of contract that will include available information (name, designation) and salary details (gross and nett) ## **ABA Payroll** If member is not banking with ABA, they will need to open a simple savings account. If member already has an account with ABA, member to pass the account info to Finance ## **Google Setup** * Create email * Ask for preferred name for email address, as well as any alternative aliases to setup. An example of this is that @parker has both and also . * Add to necessary groups * Two Factor Verification Setup * Team Drive Setup * Team member should already have access based on group permissions ## **Give Swag** Currently, just 2x of the latest Mad t-shirts. ## **Welcome Lunch** Doesn’t have to be fancy but to make new joiner feel comfortable. Company expense. ## **Asana Setup** * Mäd HQ * HQ Announcements * Project Teams ## **Team Database** Team Leader to request for: Full name, scan of ID (National ID or passport + Visa), home address, mobile number, personal email address, birthday, computer serial number. ## **Request for Hardware** May be existing equipment or new purchase. Specify if Macbook Pro or iMac. ## **Mac/Hardware Setup** * Macbook or iMac preferences should have been set prior to the start date, and hardware should be in the office prior to the new team member joining. * Designers receive an iMac 27inch, full specs. * Engineers receive a Macbook Pro. * 13inch (Junior Dev) * 15inch (Senior Devs) * Everyone else, free choice of Macbook 12inch, Macbook Pro 13inch, or iMac * Request for full spec kits need justification to @erika when requesting (i.e. Video, Photography editing, etc) * For Macbook users, they can request a mouse if required. * Keynote for Presentations * Install Official Fonts * [Google Chrome](https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/desktop/index.html) as default browser, and [login with @workwithmad.com account for Sync.](https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/185277?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop\&hl=en) * See What We Use (Technology Stack) for any specific software that various roles need to install. * Download and Install Google Drive File Stream * See Suggested Software for some other optional software to install ## **Adobe Setup** If required, add email as an Adobe Creative Cloud license. ## **Telegram Setup** Team member to be added to groups as required by their role. Official company groups are: * Mäd Hätters * Management * Digital * Digital Devs * Designers * Content * Creative * Finance ## **Headshot** For Social Media or Website use. Coordinate with @erika and photographer for schedules. ## **KPIs & Expectations** Ideally, set within first week. Monthly KPI’s to be set during the probation period to closely monitor performance/attitude and to easily determine if they are a keeper or a leaver. KPI’s can be pre-discussed with Management if needed or set collectively with new joiner (there is some flexibility allowed for this area in terms of execution). Establish upfront that any salary adjustment after probation is **not** immediate and automatic. # Probation ## Month 1 Probie gets used to our way of doing things and gets familiar with our tools – Google Suite and Team Drives, Asana, Visual Studio, Officevibe, etc. We should expect some mistakes and lots of questions! Assign a peer to help with Onboarding. Review along with peers and direct superior and inform if current performance would pass the probationary period If yes…great! If no…discuss areas for improvement to ensure a pass. ## Month 2 Same drill as Month 1 ## Month 3 Before the end of Month 3, Probie and Team Lead will meet to discuss performance and next steps. If it’s a Non-Pass, Team Lead will explain the reasons for the result and why the fit isn’t there. Next step is immediate removal after confirming the last pay calculation (if last day doesn’t fall on a payday) If it’s a Pass, new KPI’s will be discussed and agreed between Member and Team Leader. Member will then receive a confirmation email and a copy of new KPI’s. Insurance form for filling in and added to corporate policy. Confirmed Hätter will also be added to the Netflix account Unlimited Leaves now apply! IMPORTANT: salary adjustment is **NOT** automatic. Depends on Probie’s performance and proof of added value to the role, team and organization. # Health and Accident Insurance FAQ roundup You can find insurance details in the following two documents, depending on your provider. Please note you need to be logged in with your work email to view these documents. * [People & Partners ](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bhTRLZkZuQheDyt4RSnPZ1nX1TrCtRJ1/view?usp=sharing) * [Ly Hour](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n5TflifmBWYE4x4w1y1GjYhA26wZv9Ik/view?usp=sharing) {% hint style="danger" %} Information below is somewhat out of date. {% endhint %} Insurance is essentially a financial instrument that 'covers' your health/medical and accident expense so you don't spend for it yourself. I like the idea that it's something you have when you may need it but hope not to. Or, on the other hand, something you can maximize while you're covered ;) In any case, insurance policies can be quite tricky and complicated. Here's a rundown of the most common questions about our current policy that hopefully answers them in a simpler fashion. * **I passed probation, I filled up an insurance application form. What does that mean for me now?** It's great news for you because it generally means, you won't need to spend on visits to the doctor, prescribed medication and procedures or accident expenses! That's as long as you go to accredited hospitals and under specific criteria covered by Mäd's insurance policy. Make it a habit to have your insurance card with you at all times. Throw out the old card to avoid confusion. * **Can I get my family covered under the Mäd policy?** You sure can. However, the cost of your family (i.e. partner, child/children, parent/s) will be deducted from your salary. The cost depends on the age of the member you want to have insured. They will also need to fill up an insurance application form and provide an ID with each. * **When can I use my insurance card? When is it not applicable?** Your card covers Out Patient (OP) visits, In Patient (IP) visits and accidents. OP visits are doctor consultations or doctor-prescribed procedures where you aren't required to stay in the hospital. Any medications prescribed are also covered by the insurance. However, there are certain visits that are not currently covered by our policy: any maternity-related visits (i.e. pre-natal care, delivery, C-section, postnatal care), infant care, immunizations. IP visits are when the doctor recommends that you stay at the hospital (minimum of 12 hours) as needed. The hospital will need to coordinate with the insurance provider/insurance agent to confirm that the procedure is necessary and is, indeed, covered by the policy. Worldwide accident insurance is also covered. This means, if you get into an accident anywhere in the world - as long as it's not via extreme sports and is not self-inflicted - you won't spend a cent for the medical attention you need. However, if you die, transporting your remains back to your home country is not covered. So stay alive! * **What is NOT covered in our policy?** Annual physical exams Vision care - eye glasses, contact lenses, etc. Dental benefits - i.e. teeth cleaning, extraction, dental treatments, etc. Cosmetic treatments - laser eye surgery, weight reduction, breast enlargement/reduction, nose reconstruction, plastic surgery, etc. Reproductive treatments - birth control, infertility, (some) abortions, sexual/erectile dysfunction, etc. For full details of exclusions, see our policy details. * **What is a pre-existing condition?** It's a medical condition that you had even before you were enrolled in the insurance policy. Insurance policies will not always cover these conditions; they are almost always subject to the insurance provider's approval. If, for example, you *never* had cancer before but suddenly you get it while covered by the Mäd policy, any treatment you need for it will be covered 100% by the insurance. If you have *had* cancer before and you suddenly relapse (meaning, it comes back after remission) while covered by the Mäd policy, the insurance might not be able to cover all your medical expenses. * **Where in the world is our medical insurance coverage accepted?** Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Korea, Myanmar, Philippines, Laos. However, not all hospitals are part of the hospital network. Within these countries are a selected list of hospitals that are accredited. * **I needed to get to a clinic/hospital quickly and didn't get to check the hospital list. I paid for the bill myself. How can I make a claim?** Firstly, make sure you have ALL the documentation and paperwork from the hospital/doctor. These would usually include medical certificates, prescriptions, receipts, all and any reports/results if any medical tests were taken. These documents will be used by our agent to satisfy 'Part B - Medical Information' of the Claim Form. Next, fill in the 'Non-Direct Billing Claim Form - Part A' (accessible [here](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0AOke6k7GqVDqUk9PVA)). Make sure you give specific information especially on Payment Information. Scan all the hospital documentation, zip them in a folder. Email your completed Claim Form and zipped supporting documents to Marie Nhean (). She will work directly with the insurer and yourself to arrange for the claims. If there are no missing requirements, reimbursements average 15 working days. If there is missing information or documents, expect it to drag on. Best to process your claims within 3 months of your hospital visit. * **I injured myself and went to a doctor to get checked. I was informed to have surgery done abroad. What should I do?** Firstly, make sure you went to a doctor within MSH's hospital network. If you did, you will likely be referred to a sister hospital at another country. Your doctor/hospital will prepare the necessary documentation stating this recommendation and coordinate with the insurance agent. Any requests or preferences you might have, pls communicate this to our insurance agent, Marie Nhean of AG Cambodia via Whatsapp (+855 12 254 757) or email (), so she can help facilitate for you. If the surgery or required procedure is not an emergency, flights and accommodation are not covered by the insurance but will be shouldered by yourself. * **I have a problem with my bones and went directly to a chiropractor referred by a friend. Can I get this reimbursed from Forte/MSH?** Ah, unfortunately not.You need to get an official recommendation/prescription from a doctor of a hospital within the accredited network to a referred specialist first. To be sure that you won't spend your own money, you can check with our agent if the referred specialist is part of the policy. There are also instances where you could get reimbursed for your expense. Again, best to check with our agent. * **I suffer from mental breakdowns every so often. Is this covered in our policy?** If you need to be admitted to the hospital for your mental issues, you are covered for up to $5,000. If you only need OP services, sorry, but there's no cover for that. * **I (secretly) need to be treated for alcohol and drug abuse. Is this covered?** As long as you keep it within $3,000/year, you're covered. Discretion will be on you. * **Why don't we have dental and maternity cover?** Cost of dental work/ maintenance is relatively affordable in Phnom Penh and the cost to include this in the policy just doesn't make sense (an additional $320 per person). If, on the other hand, your condition counts as an emergency dental situation, you are covered up to $800. Maternity cover could not be included in the policy because the insurance product is not designed to cover only specific individuals in the group. This means, everyone under the policy will need to be covered by maternity benefits - which does not make financial sense because not everyone will need it. # One to Ones {% hint style="success" %} This guide is for managers within Mad to use for their one-on-one sessions. {% endhint %} ## Introduction **These are critical to maintaining communication in the workplace.** Management can make a big difference by having regular, structured yet informal One-on-One conversation with their team members. **This is a simple yet powerful practice that takes just 30 minutes every month, bi-weekly if possible.** The goal is for each team member to have an informal conversation around engagement, workload, team dynamics, performance, learning and development. **Although it’s a time-consuming effort, the returns on One-on-Ones are huge.** Most people like to speak about their accomplishments and concerns. As a manager, have an open ear and actively listen to everything your team members have to say. You can guide the conversation to understand even better what is meant and provide immediate guidance and feedback. Effective One-on-Ones need preparation and structure. You need to discipline yourself to prioritize them, despite any conflicting demands for your time. Losing engagement with your staff has a compounding impact on both your effectiveness and workload. One-on-Ones are important to preventing this. The following guide demonstrates how to have effective One-on-Ones that engage team members and give managers a better understanding of how their teams are operating. One-on-Ones also provide insight into the team’s morale; such has happiness or motivation. ## Preparation It is important to prepare for a One-on-One. While planning, take into consideration: the mindset, the schedule and the agenda. ## Mindset Don’t overthink the meeting, the conversation should be informal and somewhat free flowing. There is no need for a rigid agenda or meeting minutes; however, as the manager you need to track and follow through on any actionable discussion that results from the meeting. Put yourself in the mindset that this conversation is happening in a relaxed and very natural manner. Most important is that the focus is on the team member – not the manager. It’s more important to ask open-ended questions and listen rather than explaining and justifying recent decisions. Be open to step back and listen to your teammates as much as you possibly can. Come in with a clear mind and no bad feelings. As a rule of thumb, a manager shouldn’t really talk more than 25% of the meeting. You should certainly guide it, asking the right questions, but then listen to sense the team member’s motivation or concerns. ## Recurring Schedule During the first One-on-One you should briefly explain the purpose and set the tone right. Make sure to establish this is going be an informal and recurring meeting that doesn’t require much preparation but a certain openness, trust and honesty to share whatever is on top of mind. The first few meetings might be a little dry – it takes time to build trust and communication. Each person is different – the key is keeping cadence to ensure the communication remains open. Rapport will build naturally over time with each consecutive conversation. Therefore, it is imperative that these meeting commitments are kept and not pushed to the side. You need to put your One-on-One appointments directly into your calendar as a recurring meeting and be sure to invite the relevant team members. This way you and your team have already committed to having a regular conversation. Stay disciplined and consistent. These conversations should not be a surprise. Speak to each team member prior to sending the invite so that they know what it is about and why it is valuable—for both you and them. ## Sample invite: > This is our time as previously discussed to start doing one-on-ones in our team. Just informal conversations to get more feedback from you. We can talk about anything. What is bothering you? Your progress? Or whatever else that you find important. This will happen every two weeks. Let me know if you have any questions. Do not cut meetings short if they end early that is ok, but don’t start double booking over. Remember, this is their time and you should take it away. Always allow the team member to speak first. It is advisable that you schedule an hour. If you find in the beginning that content is light at the conclusion of your session spend the remaining time reflecting specifically on that person and how you can assist them in their development. By focusing on the team member, your assistance will be tailored to the individual and will increase productivity as a result. Try not to skip any meeting. Should an unavoidable conflict arise, make every effort to reschedule the One-on- One, not cancel it. Others who have already incorporated one-on-ones into their schedules have shared some of their solutions: Some approach scheduling a specific day to dedicate it to One-on-Ones. Some use Fridays because they can directly recap the week and it lets people go more motivated into the weekend. Others kick- off the week with One-on-Ones on Monday when the mind is fresh and everything being said can directly have an impact on the days ahead. The day isn’t as important as consistently doing them without fail. When the conversations happen regularly, they have a beneficial side effect of keeping the “do you have a minute” – daily interruptions reduced. If team members have confidence and trust that they have a scheduled time to bring non-time-sensitive issues to your attention, they will utilize that time instead of feeling as though they need to create that time during the day. Make a genuine, non-forced effort to also connect personally. Build a strong relationship with your team members to create an environment of trust, respect and honesty. Sometimes it’s good to share some personal happenings to make the atmosphere more relaxed and less tied to actual work. This way team members will be more likely to open up as well if they have any problems today or in the future. The key is to be genuine – we care about our team members and giving them the opportunity to grow is one our most important investments. ### An Agenda is Optional You can ask your teammates to shortly share with you what they would like to talk about so you have the chance to prepare critical topics like promotions or performance discussions. However, this is really up to the team member to set the direction of the meeting if they want. If there’s no agenda it may be helpful to set one overarching topic that the One-on-One could be about. Some examples include the following: * General engagement and motivation * Team dynamic * Learning and development * Your leadership style * Future ambition and past performance * Ideas and requests for change ### During the One-on-One Meeting As the manager, you should take the lead to set an informal tone for the meetings. Focus on asking questions and listening attentively to understand the feedback. Don't forget to wrap up each meeting and prepare for the next. ### Be on Time. The 1:1 is really not your time, it’s their time. Being late is disrespectful. Constantly prioritizing “something else” – email, other meetings, etc. suggests that this particular 1:1 meeting is not as important to you as these other things. Remember, as a manager, in many ways, you represent the company to the team member. Think about the message that you and the company are sending to someone that their time is not that important to you. ### Keep It Informal Keep your One-on-One informal, but private. It is best to find a relaxing place where you can hold the conversation. These are best when not done with a desk between each other. Also try to avoid using a manager’s office– while this may be your comfort zone, it is not necessarily comfortable for the team member. Use shared meeting space when available. They can be done over a walk, coffee or breakfast. It’s really simple. Also, never include any one else prior to the meeting. If it isn’t truly One-on-One – it isn’t the right format. ## Ask Questions To get the most out of your time together, a good practice is to prepare some questions in advance just in case the team member is reserved at the start. A well-asked question is a powerful tool because there are so many things one does not think of sharing until asked to do so. When conversations come to a certain topic, such as work habits or personal learning, you can use the questions to get the more feedback from your team. One- on-ones can be about almost anything. However, there are some common topics that managers like to cover. ### Work Habits As a manager you want to understand how each of your team members operates. Once you learn their productive modes, you can support them to work more efficiently. Here are some questions regarding work habits:
* Which part of the day do you feel most productive? * When do you feel that your energy and focus at the lowest level? * What are the changes that can be made so you can take the best out of a work day? * What were your biggest time wasters or roadblocks in the last couple of weeks? * What do you do when you stuck on something? * What is your process of getting unstuck? * Who is the team member you turn to for help? ### Team Collaboration and Relations Opportunities to increase team productivity by improving the interpersonal relationship amongst team members. Ask the right questions to uncover the hidden challenges and opportunities. Some examples: * * Who in your team inspires you? * Whose opinions do you respect? * What have they done to earn it? * Is there anybody in the team that you find it difficult to work with? * Can you tell me why? * What do you think about the amount of feedback in our team? * When do others give feedback to you? * Would you like to hear more feedback from other team members and me? * What do you think would help us work together better? * Any suggestions for improvement in the way we work together? ### Happiness Personal happiness has an undeniable impact on productivity and engagement. Here are some questions you can use to promote the discussion:
* Are you happy working here? * Are you happy with your recent work? * Why or why not? * What keeps you engaged with your daily work? * What can I do to help make daily tasks more engaging? * What kind of projects do you enjoy working on? * What motivates you to work on a project? * Can you name three things we can do to help so you can enjoy your job more? * What is the best accomplishment you had since you are here? * Do you feel appreciated for it? * What are the things that worry you? * Anything on your mind? * Have you ever felt undervalued here? * Why? * ### Short-term Goals Your team’s feedback on their short-term goals will keep you aligned with their progress as well as their frustrations on the projects. It is healthy to address frustrations in a timely manner. Ask some questions, like: * * How is the project going? * What can we do to help? * What are the main bottlenecks? * Can we do anything to move it along? * What are the projects you would be interested in working on next? * ### Long-term Goals Long-term goals are important to a person’s sense of fulfillment and happiness. Your team members like to see that they are making progress toward their big life goals. You want to learn about their goals, and whether their current job fits into those goals. Here are some questions you can use: * What do you want to achieve in the next 3 years? * How do you think about your progress on your big goals? * What needs to be done to move towards the goals? * What can we do to help? * Which part of the work here do you feel as most relevant to your long-term goals? * What kinds of projects do you want to take part in to move toward your goals? ### Personal Development Plan You want to find out if your team members take learning and development the same way as you do. Some of the following questions can help you learn more about their motivation. * Do you feel like you are learning at work? * What are the new things you learned lately? * What are the areas you want to learn about? * Whom in the team do you want to learn from? * Whom do you get valuable feedback from? * Do you think that you receive enough feedback? * Is feedback helpful for your personal development? * What can I do to help you get the feedback you want? * Would you like more coaching? * What aspect of your job do you like more help and coaching on? ### Manager Improvement It is crucial for you to know how your team thinks about you and your management style. It is challenging to get honest feedback specifically about you from a direct report. Set the right tone and choose your questions wisely. Here are some examples: * What can I do as a manager to make your work easier? * What do you like about my management style? * What do you dislike? * What is the percentage of my involvement in your daily tasks? * Would you prefer more or less? * How can I support you better? * What is something I could have done better? * What are the situations that I could have helped more but didn’t? ### Listen Actively Listen to your team member’s insight carefully. It is important to remember that you don’t just listen to be polite. You listening to understand what is being shared. Active listening involves: * Asking clarifying questions, something like: "Let me know if I got you right. Do you mean that you would rather see me being less involved in your daily task?" * Paraphrasing giver’s view, such as: "So you are saying that I should give you more autonomy in making decision regarding your daily tasks." * Acknowledging their feelings, for example:" I understand your strong feeling about your independence at work." * Clarifying questions and reaffirmation bring you closer to what is being expressed. By showing your recognition and respect toward one's feeling, you are to build a stronger relationship with your team. ### Wrap Up & Suggest Next Moves At the end of the meeting, you should wrap up the talking points. It is also essential to suggest an action plan till the next meeting. Be careful to set proper expectations at the conclusion of the session. While the team member has the right to bring any suggestion or idea to the meeting it does not mean the manager can solve them all immediately or even to the team members ultimate desired result. Building trust and confidence doesn’t mean saying yes to every request. It does however require listening and responding back timely. ## General Tips * One-on-One’s with remote team members should be conducted with webcam’s when possible. Day to day interactions should never substitute for an team member’s session. * Remember a focused time is a critical component for these meetings being successful. One-on-One’s are not project or deadline reviews. * Each team member will have a slightly different approach that works for them. * Manager’s must be careful to not be too rigid in the structure to account for this individuality. * Always thank the team member for their time at the conclusion of a session. * Show up on time. * Showing late even by a minute demonstrates you don’t respect the time seriously. * Demanding excellence is only possible when a leader demonstrates it first. * Start with a positive point. * Even if a tougher conversation is to take place – no one likes being greeted with negative talk first. ## After the One-on-One meeting Make notes about the discussion points and the action plan. If you have done this already during the meeting, log it on your note system. You want to make sure you can easily review the items and act on what is needed. Make sure you do the legwork before the next meeting. Also, remember to make it happen for the next meeting! Your credibility as manager depends on this step. ## Conclusion One-on-ones are a great tool for managers and team members. The weekly sessions are for you to check in with the team’s morale. They are also about getting to know the people you are working with better. You can also save one-on-ones for higher-level things like career development and continuous learning. Each team member’s feedback is extremely important for managers. Effective one-on-ones are one of the best ways to seek feedback, as well as opening a two-way dialogue through which to give feedback that is tailored the specific team member’s motivations and needs. Learn to do one-on-ones the right way so you can get your team members engaged and let them know that you value them. These conversations will have a huge impact on your whole team.
# Off-boarding Sometimes, team members will need to leave Mäd either for personal/career reasons, or because of performance issues. As Mäd grows and expectations of performance increase, it is natural that not all team members that were good at a certain point in time will be able to make the jump to the next level. {% hint style="danger" %} Please note that a correct off-boarding procedure is incredibly important. If there are issues with handovers this may delay your last salary until these issues are resolved. Work proactively with your team lead and team members to ensure that this doesn't happen. {% endhint %} ## Off-boarding List * Bloo * Google Takeout for Photos - If the team member has stored personal photos in Google Photos to take advantage of the unlimited backups, we should do a Google Takeout on the photos, and have them saved to the Google account drive and share with them the links to download the photos, and then immediately erase all Google Photos to respect their privacy. * Adobe (if applicable) * Gitlab (if applicable) * Insurance * Netflix (Change Passwords) * Officevibe - @erika or @manny can delete the user from OfficeVibe * Handover of all hardware * Return books to Mäd Library * Lock Google Account - Google for Business accounts should be suspended immediately, and kept in suspended mode for at least six months, in case emails are required for project purposes. After that period of time, a full Google takeout of all emails can be done, and the account safely deleted. ## Last Salary Calculations To avoid any confusion, this is the calculation we use: $$ Last Salary = (M/W) x (D) $$ Where: * M = **Monthly** salary * W = number of **Working days** of the month, Mondays to Fridays * D = number of **Days Hätter worked** As an example, let's say: * Your Monthly salary = **$1000** * Your last day is effective on March = **21 days** (Mondays to Fridays) * Your last working day is March 17, 2019. It happens to be a Sunday, so the last working day is considered as March 15, Friday. That would make it **11 days** in March. So: Last Salary = ($1000/21 days) = $47.62 Last Salary = $47.62 x 11 days **Last Salary = $523.82** If, on the other hand, you have any outstanding reimbursements or owe Mäd any sums of money, these will also be considered in the calculation of your last pay - i.e. added or deducted. Your Last Salary will be paid to you on the scheduled pay day, on the assumption that you have properly completed your turn over/handover to your Team Lead or Department Head and s/he confirms that everything has been received in good order. ## Issues to Discuss The person leaving should be informed that any of the following breaches will be met with legal action: * Stealing files * Approaching Clients, both existing and those already on the New Biz funnel. * Poaching Team members * Other Breaches of Contract. Make sure you understand which actions may be a breach of contract. # Resignations Sometimes your own personal goals and the company's goals (or direction) start to take divergent paths and feel like Mäd is no longer the place for you. It happens, regardless of reason, and it's a natural feeling or reaction of any member in any company. Before it gets to that breaking point, reach out to someone at work - a colleague or a senior member, it doesn't have to be someone you report to directly - and try to process the issues you are experiencing. Chances are, things may still be solvable. But let's say you're over this already, some key things to keep in mind: * If you're a Department Head or Senior Member, your notice period is two months. This allows the company time to find a suitable replacement and for you to help with the handover to your replacement. * It would be much appreciated if you can also provide leads to potential replacements or recommended talents. * Mid-level to junior members are contractually required to give a month's notice. * We have no strict template for the Resignation Letter but the minimum content should include the reason/s for leaving and your effective last day. Whenever resignation letters are received, the matter is discussed among the Management Team and specific next steps are agreed as each resignation is not like the last one. # Salary Scale ## $3,000 up (Leadership) * Team member has a deep understanding of the entire business including operations and finance. * Fully understands the Mäd brand and is able to drive the organization forwards both in strategy and execution. ## **$2,000 up (Discipline Head/ Project Lead Level)** * Leads and manages a team of 7+ people at Mäd. Provides coaching/mentoring and helps develop their members’ career paths * Can work independently most of time, checking in only when required for certain edge cases. * Brings expertise and experience to the role; makes decisions aligned with company values and principles * Holds and builds key day-to-day relationships with Clients, peers and all other strategic partners. * Finds opportunities for organic growth and/or involved in new business * Has started to actively drive the organization forwards in small ways * Actively contributes to the Mad brand * Ideas * Case Studies * Talks ## **$1,000 up (Senior** Frontliner**)** * Understands far more of the brand and company values. Lives and abides by these values. * Fully understands the work standards required including speed, timeliness, accuracy * Bring added value to the role, able to anticipate needs and provide solutions/ ideas to the work or for Mäd * May be roped in for ad hoc projects of any nature, including but not limited to internal. * Still requires some management from team lead. ## **$750 up (Advanced Frontliner)** * The team member can now be left to work without being checked some of the time, but still cannot achieve consistent Mad standard quality work by themselves. * Has gained an overview of the Mad brand. ## **$300 up (Junior** Frontliner**)** * Talented (otherwise they would not work at Mäd!) but require a large amount of overview to ensure standards are upheld. * Still learning and understanding the Mäd brand. * A high-functioning sponge! # Salary Increases **No negotiated salaries or negotiated pay rises at Mäd**, everyone in the same role at the same level is paid the same, and salary goes up according to the salary scale as you grow into a new role. So if your managers and team members believe that you are 10% of the way to the next level in the salary scale, you’ll receive a salary adjustment of 10% towards the new level. The idea is to minimize company politics, and ensure that we are rewarding individuals based on performance, not on their ability to pitch themselves and their work to management. See this link for more details on this idea: It also goes without saying that a higher salary comes an expectation of greater responsibility and value creation. ## Factors Affecting Pay 1. What the company can afford to pay. 2. Your Individual Performance: 1. Performance in projects. 2. Training and helping other team members 3. Initiative on subjects or areas that are not your direct responsibilities 4. Following (and contributing!) to our SOPs. 5. How long you've been at Mäd. Note that while we consider this, it's a small part of what we consider, likely 5%-10%. Let's look at these two main points. ### 1. What The Company Can Afford. Let's do a quick Finance 101. We have sales (also called our "Top Line", because that's the top line in our financial statements) that come from the services that we render to our clients. Some, actually most, of these billings are recurring in nature, clients pay us every month for services that we do for them on an ongoing basis. Next up, we calculate what is called our "Gross Profit", this is all of our sales, minus any expenses that we have that are directly related to doing the work that the clients pay us for. This is called COGS or "Cost of Goods Sold". In our case, this is mostly all the salaries of the project teams, and a small amount of software costs. So we would include the salary of a graphic designer or an engineer in this calculation, but not the salaries of the management team or administration team. Next up, we need to calculate our "Net Profit", this is what the company actually makes as a profit at the end of each month/quarter/year. We do this by taking the "Gross Profit" we calculated earlier, and then taking away any "Operational Costs". These are all costs related to running the business that were not included in the COGS calculation above. That's rent, internet, electricity, other software costs, legal fees, insurance, management and non-project staff salaries, and so on. So the key question here is what should be the percentage split between all of these areas or line items? So let's work backwards. **We aim for a 20%+ Net Profit.** This is enough to reinvest back into the business for growth, as well as providing enough incentive for current and future investors to invest further funds into Mäd if required. With this in mind, we can see that a reasonable division of cost is the following. Let's take $100,000/month in sales as a starting base: * Sales: $100,000 * COGS: $40,000 (40%) * Gross Profit: $60,000 (60%) * Operational Costs: $40,000 (40%) * Net Profit: $20,000 (20%) So, the company can pay approximately 40% of total sales into project salaries, and this is how we work out our yearly budgets. We need to calculate how many additional team members we are likely to hire, plus any increases we want to give to existing team members. Note that for sales, we tend to make this calculation based on our MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) instead of the one-off large sales we may have. This is because when we hire someone new or increase a salary, we are committing to the long-term, and if we base this on short term projects, things won't look so great in the future. So, for the above example. If we have $100,000/month in revenue, but we find ourselves only paying out $35,000/month in salaries, the management team would know that they have $5,000/month worth of salary increases that they can hand out to deserving team members. ### 2. Individual Performance This is where there is a lot of grey area, but we have put a system in place to try and recognize great performance as quickly as possible, and reward it. A compensation committee made up of team members from design, front-end engineering, back-end engineering, and management meet every three months to do an in-depth review of performance across everyone in the company and see if pay and performance are well-matched. Our process for this is: 1. How much budget do we have right now for salary increases? 2. Which team members should receive an increase? 3. How do we split our budget between the team members? Point 1 is quite easy to solve, we just make the calculation that was explained above. For point 2, we look at the relative performance in the company, and look for examples of where team members have performed above their current pay grade. Has a junior been working independently on a project and received rave reviews from a client? Perhaps they are edging towards mid-level performance and their compensation should be matched. Or perhaps one of our team leads has started to take a much more active role as a full leader in our company, and so on... For point 3, splitting our budget across the team members, this will be done with the following in mind: * Historical increases to that particular team member and other team members * Following current market rates. Mäd aims to pay at the top of the local market, and we believe that we consistently do this. * Can we offer spot bonuses to certain team members instead of salary increases? We believe this is the fairest way to handle the sensitive topic of salary increases which makes sense both at a company-level - i.e. ensuring that we don't pay too much and become uncompetitive or go bankrupt, and also at the individual level, where we pay equal performance equally, and do not rely on the individual's ability to negotiate as the primary driver of salary increases. # Holidays ## Holidays At Mäd, everyone has a minimum standard of 18 paid leaves every year. These include sick leaves, special leaves, and all other classifications companies usually have. These 18 days are also on top of the government-mandated public holidays (now 28!) After passing probation, Hätters are now eligible to take unlimited holidays. This, however, is conditional. Take what you want or need but you **need to inform everyone** – your team, Team Lead, Clients, suppliers, everyone who needs to know – well ahead, \***not**\* on the day itself, or a day before, especially for longer breaks. Log in your day(s) off on Google Calendar and “invite” the necessary people so they are aware of the days you are away. Even if you’ve mentioned this verbally, consider that not everyone will always remember. If we are expected to work on certain long public holidays, coordinate schedules with your team so not everyone is away on the same days. Prepare a handover document and set a meeting to discuss details with the people who’ll cover for you while you’re away. The handover must be completed at least 2 days before leaving so any questions can be addressed while you’re still at work. Turn your Vacation Responder on in Gmail to inform outsiders that you’ll be unavailable. You can turn that on here: Gmail > Cog Icon > Settings > General Tab > scroll down to the bottom. Preferably, we let people on holiday stay on holiday. Unless it’s an emergency or unless *they* reach out.
# Benefits ## Up-skilling Budget There is an approximate budget of $50/person for a selected mode of learning. If the cost is more than $50, no sweat, there is wiggle room for this. Inform @manny via email or direct message that you want to take a course, join a webinar/seminar, buy a publication (digital or print)… ## Office Bar We have a well-stocked bar in the office, so pour yourself a drink! ## Playstation 4 We're FIFA addicts at Mäd, matches happen daily at 5pm in our war room. ## Netflix You’ll be part of the Mäd corporate account. You will receive email and password log-in information either via email or instant message. ## Insurance Mäd is under Forte’s Medi+ Classic Health Plan. Hätters are covered for in Southeast Asia: * Inpatient procedures – when you need to be admitted * Outpatient procedures – check-ups and other procedures recommended by the doctor/ specialist where you don’t need to be admitted * Emergency/Accident coverage * Medical Evacuation * Full policy details are [here](https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1AABY1VQIDQnNrpoqpJasMH60E96eiEmQ). Full hospital list is [here](https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1AABY1VQIDQnNrpoqpJasMH60E96eiEmQ). Once you’ve passed probation, you will receive an Insurance Application form to fill in and a detailed brochure. Anything unclear or wish to clarify, look for @erika. You’re also given an option to apply for coverage for Dependents – spouses, children. Your Dependents will be enrolled under the Mäd corporate policy but the premium will be paid for by them (or yourself, via salary deduction or cash). ## Mobile Top Up USD 10 is the monthly allowance, included in monthly salary payments. ## Visas & Work Permits If you need a visa or a work permit to work in Cambodia, Mad will pay for it. For visas, simply give your passport to Finance Team, and they’ll return it with a one-year visa. Note that this is only applicable *after* the probation period. # Business Visas As of this writing (Jan 2019), the process to renew your business visa is relatively simple. Depending on which travel agency you use, they have a bit of varied requirements but to be safe, here is the full list as currently known: 1. Secure an employment contract from the Chief Culture Officer (aka @erika). This includes: your designation, current salary, start date, signature by Management, stamped. Printed on company letterhead. 2. Print a copy of your signed employment contract 3. Prepare a few passport-sized photos 4. About $300 cash Just present all the requirements to your travel agency of choice. Keep the receipt for you to claim back your passport. Processing takes anywhere between 8 -10 days. Once you've retrieved your passport, submit the receipt to Finance for reimbursement during the next salary schedule. Suggested travel agency is [World Pop Travel & Tour](https://goo.gl/maps/Q5Pq7L4ghX72). NOTE: Government policy re business visa renewals may change as they please. # Reviews and Performance ## Tackling Performance Problems If you feel that a team member is not consistently performing up to the Mäd standard, there are choices available to you: 1. Speak directly to that team member. Find out if there are any issues (whether work or personal) that might be affecting their performance. If there aren’t any, share your observations and/or feelings, and find ways together on how to bring them back on track. 2. Discuss their performance with some other team members, and see if you can provide a framework for improvement as a team. 3. Discuss it with your team lead, or @erika or @manny directly. However way you approach this, ensure that you come from the point of **constructive criticism.** It’s not useful to just point out to shortcomings or issues, but you need to give suggestions for improvements. ## Reviews ### Performance Reviews * Probation: monthly review * Confirmed: case to case between Team Lead and Member * Can be used to justify re-scoping or promotion ### Salary Reviews * Rule of Thumb: good work/added value gets rewarded * Not automatic after probation… but! Exceptions can be made for exceptional performance. * No fixed schedule for their application * The range of adjustment is Mäd’s discretion (usually based on team and company performance) # Parental Leave If you're going to have a baby, congrats! :) We've got a parental leave policy that exceeds the labour law standards in Cambodia, which can be found at: Our policy: * Inform management at least 3 months before the child is born * If you've been with Mäd for more than a year, you're entitled to 90 calendar days of parental leave with 100% of salary. * If you've been with Mäd for less than a year, you're entitled to 90 calendar days of parental leave with 50% of salary. * You can take up to an additional 90 calendar days of unpaid leave, for a total of 180 days of leave. * If you need take more than 180 days, this will be reviewed on a case to case basis. The likely scenario is that you'll be asked to resign from your position after 180 days of leave, and that we will try our best to bring you back in when you're ready. However, pls note that any maternity coverage is \*not\* included in our insurance policy. Further details in our [Insurance](https://howto.workwithmad.com/~/edit/drafts/-LMLBj-SZySAgCIBD9Qb/people-operations/benefits#insurance) section. # Finance ## Paying Vendors Our aim should be to pay vendors at the earliest opportunity, but always ensuring that we keep a positive cash-flow cycle by ensuring that we’re paid by our clients prior to having to pay our vendors. If there is a delay by the client, the vendor should be informed and kept up to date on a regular basis. On a general basis, we pay vendors within ten working days of receiving the client payment related to the work of the vendor, but ideally within two working days. ## Payment Terms for Client NET 7, unless already negotiated. ## ## # Procurement Onboarding These are common documents requested by procurement teams when onboarding us to their vendor registration portals: * [Passport of CEO](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ssv4HAx6WAVg2jwZBh_6c9kD0RKg0fYl/view?usp=sharing) * [Certificate of Incorporation](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LJxsuYkgW1mlocAm9zs1hy3h7vsbuwMC/view?usp=sharing) * [Employer Identification Number ](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fq0MIv8y5DiMky71Q11FmpELQMniTrJo/view?usp=sharing) # New Client Financial Details Required details: * Company Registration Document * Key Company Contact for Finance * List of emails for CC for invoices # Reports ## Reports We have two key reporting tools that we use: * Wave, a cloud-based accounting system that we use to keep track of sales and related costs, and view our P/L on an accrual and basis and run various reports. * A Google Sheet called “Free Cash Flow Financial Projections” where we track FCF (Free Cash Flow) by doing cash basis accounting. ### 1. Accrual Basis P\&L Report In Wave, we do our accounting on an accrual basis. Under the accrual basis of accounting, expenses are matched with the related revenues and/or are reported when the expense occurs, not when the cash is paid. The result of accrual accounting is an income statement that better measures the profitability of Mäd during a specific time period. This is fully updated every two weeks. ### 2. Free Cash Flow Report Free Cash Flow (FCF) is one way to measure a company’s financial performance. It is calculated by taking Operating Cash Flow (Income – All Costs) and removing Capital Expenditures as they happen (not with depreciation). FCF represents the cash that Mäd is able to generate after spending the money required to maintain or expand our assets. The interesting thing about FCF is that it actually grow even if we have months/quarters that show a negative P/L, as it measures the overall effectiveness of our business model vs our sales cycle. A high FCF is important because it allows Mäd to pursue opportunities that enhance shareholder value. This means aggressively and proactively reinvesting future known profits back into the company to bolster future growth. For Mäd, this will especially mean a large investment in branding, employee training and development, and the highest quality equipment possible. However, because we cannot grow Mäd with profit, but we need actual cold hard cash (who doesn’t!), we then use Google Sheets to track the amount of cash that we actually generate from our operations during a given time frame. Unlike in accrual accounting, on this sheet, we also track capital expenditure to ensure that we understand the implications of making large hardware orders as we scale. Our calculation for FCF is the following: **(Invoices Paid + Other Income) – (Cost of Goods Sold + Operating Costs + Capital Expenditure) = Net Free Cash Flow** For tracking sales, we have one line for each customer, and the total cash received by the customer that month is entered as a sale. If there are multiple invoices, add the total of the invoices as the amount, and add a comment to the cell, giving a breakdown of the invoice details. The final results will be the tracking of the following: * Monthly Income * Total Historical Income * Monthly Expenses * Total Historical Expenses * Net Monthly Free Cash Flow * Total Historical Free Cash Flow * Free Cash Flow Margin This is updated in real time as soon as new information (sales, costs) come in. There is a level of approximation for variable costs such as servers, where we don’t know the precise amount upfront, these can be estimated. ### 3. Free Cash Flow Projection Report This is done by cloning report #2 (Free Cash Flow Report) and adding the projected payment date for potential sales, and the requirements for hiring, hardware purchased, and any additional project costs. Updated every two weeks. # Using Company Money (Expenses) ## Using Company Money As a simple rule of thumb, use company money as if it was your own. Don’t spend unnecessarily, but also don’t skimp on spending money when required. We trust your judgement on this matter. For small everyday expenses, just keep a receipt (digital or printed) and add it to Team Expenses Project in Bloo. For larger expenses than your limit allows, speak to someone who has a higher spending limit ([See Expense Limits for details](https://xn--md-via.com/sop/finance/#expenses-limits)) and ask them to approve the expense via email (so there is a written record of the approval) before you go ahead and spend. ## Advances For larger spending, request money upfront from @manny via the Team Expenses project on Bloo, the earlier the better. Bring back receipts plus change. ## Expenses Limits These are per expense, not per month. * Everyone can spend up to $100 * @manny no limit * Board approval by unanimous consent required for any expense that can be deemed a “large capital expenditure.” # Bank Accounts {% hint style="info" %} **For Instructions on sending payments to any of these accounts from outside of Cambodia, please see the official** [**ABA Bank Website.**](https://www.ababank.com/international-transfers/) {% endhint %} ## Primary Account Bank Name: **Evolve Bank & Trust**\ Account Number: **9800100129**\ Routing Number: **084106768**\ Beneficiary Name: **Mad Creative, Inc.** \ Address: **E6070 Poplar Ave, Suite 200, Memphis, TN 38119** ## Secondary Account Bank Name: **ADVANCED BANK OF ASIA LIMITED**\ Account Number: **000242102**\ Beneficiary Name: **M.A.D (CAMBODIA) Co., LTD**\ Address: **No. 148, Preah Sihanouk Blvd., Phnom Penh, Cambodia**\ SWIFT Code: **ABAAKHPP** ## **Tertiary** Account Bank Name: **ADVANCED BANK OF ASIA LIMITED**\ Account Number: **000242101**\ Beneficiary Name: **M.A.D (CAMBODIA) Co., LTD**\ Address: **No. 148, Preah Sihanouk Blvd., Phnom Penh, Cambodia**\ SWIFT Code: **ABAAKHPP** ## [
](https://www.ababank.com/international-transfers/) # Free Cash Flow # Legal {% content-ref url="/pages/-LU32IsmDQQX\_o4gfkzw" %} [Our Law Firm](/operations/legal/our-law-firm) {% endcontent-ref %} {% content-ref url="/pages/-LU32FErGEcubWsHRrC6" %} [Legal Entities](/operations/legal/legal-entities) {% endcontent-ref %} {% content-ref url="/pages/-LU32544dtxMNSXzfm-6" %} [Document Templates](/operations/legal/document-templates) {% endcontent-ref %} {% content-ref url="/pages/-LCacRGYWm\_h1um7UKcB" %} [Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)](/operations/legal/nda) {% endcontent-ref %} {% content-ref url="/pages/-LCachSxjGBLTyiiVOqO" %} [Service Level Agreement (SLA)](/operations/legal/sla) {% endcontent-ref %} # Our Law Firm Our law firm is [Tilleke & Gibbins](https://www.tilleke.com/) {% tabs %} {% tab title="Phnom Penh Office" %} Tilleke & Gibbins (Cambodia) Ltd.\ 16th Floor, Phnom Penh Tower\ \#445, Monivong Blvd., Sangkat Boeung Pralit, Khan 7 Makara, Phnom Penh 12258, Cambodia\ T: +855 23 964 210 F: +855 23 964 215\ {% endtab %} {% tab title="Bangkok Office" %} Tilleke & Gibbins International Ltd.\ Supalai Grand Tower, 26th Floor\ 1011 Rama 3 Road, Chongnonsi, Yannawa, Bangkok 10120, Thailand\ T: +66 2056 5555 F: +66 2056 5678\ {% endtab %} {% tab title="Ho Chi Minh City Office" %} Tilleke & Gibbins (Vietnam) Ltd.\ Viettel Tower A, 25th Floor, Suite 2506\ 285 Cach Mang Thang Tam, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam\ T: +84 28 628 45678 F: +84 28 628 45666\ {% endtab %} {% endtabs %} # Legal Entities We currently have Four registered legal entities: * **Cambodia:** M.A.D (Cambodia) Co., Ltd * **Thailand:** Mad Creative (Thailand) Co., Ltd * **Singapore:** Mad Creative Global Pte., Ltd * **USA:** Mad Creative, Inc. # Document Templates {% hint style="warning" %} **You must be logged in with your @workwithmad.com account to access these documents.** {% endhint %} * [Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs)](https://howto.workwithmad.com/legal/nda) * [Client Contract](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t7CISm1a0RJXaJa00z6Gs3epT7u9KMBmh6I-5bo8RA0/edit) * [Service Level Agreement (SLA)](https://howto.workwithmad.com/legal/sla) # Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) {% hint style="info" %} **This is a document that gives peace of mind to a prospect or client that they can divulge sensitive company information to us.** {% endhint %} ## Agreement This contract and supporting materials (if any) contain confidential and proprietary business information of Mäd. These materials may be printed, photocopied for use in evaluating the project, but are not to be shared with third parties. This agreement (the “Agreement”) is entered into as of this day by and between: M.A.D. (CAMBODIA) Co., Ltd (the “Agency”) **AND** XX (the “Client”)\ (the parties shall be collectively referred to hereinafter as the “Parties” and individually as a “Party”) ## 1. Definitions “Disclosor Confidential Information” means: (a) any information disclosed by \[or on behalf of ]the Disclosor to the Recipient \[during the Term] OR \[at any time before the termination of this Agreement] (whether disclosed in writing, orally or otherwise) that at the time of disclosure was marked\[ or described] as “confidential” or should have been understood by the Recipient (acting reasonably) to be confidential; and (b) \[the terms of this Agreement]; “Effective Date” means \[the date of execution of this Agreement];\ “Permitted Purpose” means providing creative consultation services ; and\ “Term” means the term of this Agreement, commencing in accordance with Clause 2.1 and ending in accordance with Clause 2.2. ## 2. Term 2.1 This Agreement shall come into force upon the Effective Date. 2.2 This Agreement shall continue in force indefinitely, subject to termination in accordance with Clauses 5, 7. ## 3. Recipient’s confidentiality obligations 3.1 The Recipient must: (a) keep the Disclosor Confidential Information strictly confidential; (b) not disclose the Disclosor Confidential Information to any person without the Disclosor’s prior written consent\[, and then only under conditions of confidentiality \[approved in writing by the Disclosor] OR \[no less onerous than those contained in this Agreement]]; (c) use the same degree of care to protect the confidentiality of the Disclosor Confidential Information as the Recipient uses to protect the Recipient’s own confidential information of a similar nature, being at least a reasonable degree of care; (d) \[act in good faith at all times in relation to the Disclosor Confidential Information]; and (e) \[not use any of the Disclosor Confidential Information for any purpose other than the Permitted Purpose]. 3.2 Notwithstanding Clause 5.1, the Recipient may disclose the Disclosor Confidential Information to the Recipient’s \[officers, employees, professional advisers, insurers, agents and subcontractors] \[who have a need to access the Disclosor Confidential Information for the performance of their work with respect to the Permitted Purpose and ]who are bound by a written agreement or professional obligation to protect the confidentiality of the Disclosor Confidential Information. 3.3 This Clause imposes no obligations upon the Recipient with respect to Disclosor Confidential Information that: (a) is known to the Recipient before disclosure under this Agreement and is not subject to any other obligation of confidentiality; (b) is or becomes publicly known through no act or default of the Recipient; or (c) \[is obtained by the Recipient from a third party in circumstances where the Recipient has no reason to believe that there has been a breach of an obligation of confidentiality]. 3.4 The restrictions in this Clause 5 do not apply to the extent that any Disclosor Confidential Information is required to be disclosed by any law or regulation, by any judicial or governmental order or request, or pursuant to disclosure requirements relating to the listing of the stock of the Recipient on any recognised stock exchange. 3.5 Upon the termination of this Agreement, the Recipient must immediately cease to use the Disclosor Confidential Information. 3.6 \[Following the termination of this Agreement, and within \[5 Business Days] following the date of receipt of a written request from the Disclosor] OR \[Within \[5 Business Days] following the date of termination of this Agreement], the Recipient must destroy or return to the Disclosor (at the Disclosor’s option) all media containing Disclosor Confidential Information, and must irrevocably delete the Disclosor Confidential Information from its computer systems. 3.7 The provisions of this Clause 5 shall continue in force \[indefinitely following the termination of this Agreement] OR \[for a period of \[5 years] following the termination of this Agreement, at the end of which period they will cease to have effect]. ## 4. Warranties 4.1 The Disclosor warrants to the Recipient that it has the legal right and authority to enter into this Agreement and to perform its obligations under this Agreement. 4.2 The Recipient warrants to the Disclosor that it has the legal right and authority to enter into this Agreement and to perform its obligations under this Agreement. 4.3 All of the parties’ warranties and representations in respect of the subject matter of this Agreement are expressly set out in this Agreement. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, no other warranties or representations concerning the subject matter of this Agreement will be implied into this Agreement or any related contract. ## 5. Termination 5.1 Either party may terminate this Agreement forthwith by giving written notice of termination to the other party OR by giving at least 7 days’ written notice of termination to the other party. ## 6. Effects of termination 6.1 Upon the termination of this Agreement, all of the provisions of this Agreement shall cease to have effect, save that the following provisions of this Agreement shall survive and continue to have effect (in accordance with their express terms or otherwise indefinitely): \[Clauses 2,3,4,7]. 6.2 Except to the extent that this Agreement expressly provides otherwise, the termination of this Agreement shall not affect the accrued rights of either party. ## 7. General 7.1 No breach of any provision of this Agreement shall be waived except with the express written consent of the party not in breach. 7.2 If any provision of this Agreement is determined by any court or other competent authority to be unlawful and/or unenforceable, the other provisions of this Agreement will continue in effect. If any unlawful and/or unenforceable provision would be lawful or enforceable if part of it were deleted, that part will be deemed to be deleted, and the rest of the provision will continue in effect (unless that would contradict the clear intention of the parties, in which case the entirety of the relevant provision will be deemed to be deleted). 7.3 This Agreement may not be varied except by a written document signed by or on behalf of each of the parties. 7.4 Neither party may without the prior written consent of the other party assign, transfer, charge, license or otherwise deal in or dispose of any contractual rights or obligations under this Agreement. 7.5 This Agreement is made for the benefit of the parties, and is not intended to benefit any third party or be enforceable by any third party. The rights of the parties to terminate, rescind, or agree any amendment, waiver, variation or settlement under or relating to this Agreement are not subject to the consent of any third party. 7.6 Nothing in this Agreement shall exclude or limit any liability of a party for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability of a party that may not be excluded or limited under applicable law. 7.7 This Agreement shall constitute the entire agreement between the parties in relation to the subject matter of this Agreement, and shall supersede all previous agreements, arrangements and understandings between the parties in respect of that subject matter. 7.8 This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with Cambodian Law. 7.9 The courts of the Kingdom of Cambodia shall have exclusive jurisdiction to adjudicate any dispute arising under or in connection with this Agreement. # Service Level Agreement (SLA) ## Red – Critical issue * **Contact type:** Phone call to the emergency contact number.
* **Response:** Team will be reviewing and taking action within 30 minutes within Mon-Fri 9am-6pm on working days. Outside of working hours, this will be within 1 hour.
* **Definition:**
* API Response Failures / Server Errors / Database Errors * A system-wide error that affects all users, and stops them using the app or causes a spike of 5% of user-base crashes. ## Orange – Serious issue * **Contact type:** Phone call to the emergency contact number.
* **Response:** Team will be reviewing and taking action within two hours. * **Definition**: * A system-wide error that affects all users, and stops them using the app or causes a spike of 2% of user-base crashes. * The system is usable but slow, etc. ## Yellow – Urgent Issue * **Contact type:** Flag in Asana, followed by Instant Message alert
* **Response:** Team will be reviewing and taking action on the same day (8 hours)
* **Definition:**
* An investigation into potential integration issues, that are not confirmed to be coming from a particular integration. * The requirement to block users for fraud, etc. ## **Green – General Issue** * **Contact type:** Flag in Asana
* **Response:** Team will be reviewing next two working days, and schedule out a solution and timeline within 4 working hours.
* **Definition:**
* Bugs that affect only a handful of users. * UI bugs, misspelling on labels, change requests. # Engagement Agreement * This agreement is between ***Mäd*** and **\[Client Name]** on **\_\_\_\_\_\_** * The representatives are **\[Rep Name]** for Mäd and **\[Client Rep Name]** for the Client. * This contract is the only agreement. There are no other agreements, oral or written. * The Client wishes to purchase the services from Mad described in **“Scope of Work”**. * This contract can only be modified or amended by mutual agreement of Mäd and the Client, in writing. * This contract is governed by the laws of the Kingdom of Cambodia. * All official project communication will be in the project management platform [Bloo](https://bloo.io/). * The client will provide feedback on any mid-project deliverables within 5 working days. If feedback takes longer, Mad may re-quote the timeline and price of the project. * Invoices are to be paid within 15 days of being received by the client. * Mad will stop working if the invoices under this contract are not paid within 30 days of being received by the client, and may terminate the agreement. * Mäd has full permission to use any non-confidential deliverables in their portfolio and marketing materials, including but not limited to a case study on the Mäd website. * The liability of Mäd to the Client under this contract will be limited to the payments actually received by Mäd from the Client under this contract. * All intellectual property created by Mäd under this contract will be the property of the Client, after all payments have been received by Mad. * Mäd will treat all client information as fully confidential. Mad will only disclose confidential Client information to pre-approved employees and subcontractors.
# Sales ## Growth Our business model is built on growth. We want to give our team and clients the best possible opportunities for the future, and that requires us to growth in a number of ways. While growth causes problems, they are the best type of problems to have. In addition, many of our clients hire us because we can help them grow fast, so we need to ensure that we stay a fast-growing company ourselves. {% hint style="success" %} **Our aim is for 40%+ top-line (revenue) growth per year.** {% endhint %} ## # Newsletter Format ## Crazy Idea #x (Sent Monthly) Should include following sections: Definition of key theme. 1. **Our Latest Thinking -** 2-3 of our latest thought pieces. 2. **Recommended Books** - 3 links to good books worth reading. We should not link to Amazon links in case clients thinks they are referral. Suggestion is Good Reads or direct to Author website. 3. **Recommended TED Talks** - 2-3 recommended TED Talks 4. **Worth Thinking About (a quote)** - A business or general improvement quote from someone well known. ## General Update (Sent Quarterly) * News * Case Studies * Latest Project Wins * New Senior Team (members) # Scope of Work This is sent prior to the proposal, and can be in two formats: 1. High Level / Short Form 2. Detailed / Long Form Generally speaking, we do #1 first and get a confirmation and feedback, and then proceed to the long form SoW. Typical format for short form: * The Big Picture * Overview of SoW * Each point in overview then receives it's own section * Summary of deliverables # Minimum Project Price {% hint style="info" %} **Our minimum price for an engagement is $10,000** {% endhint %} This is to ensure that we focus on quality, not quantity, and that we are able to take enough care to each client. We've also worked out that this is really the minimum required to cover the overheads of actually even having a project on our books. This is also based on our calculations in regards to pricing: $$ S*B*A=Final Price $$ * S\*B\*A = Final Price * S = Salary cost- Based on Estimated days required for the project * B = Business Overhead Cost as a multiplier of Salaries. This includes everything required to run Mäd, including office facilities, insurance, software, depreciation on assets, management and operations costs. This generally runs to an additional 70% of each team member’s salary. * A = Agency Markup on Total Cost. This is our profit that we use to reinvest and grow Mäd. We currently set this at 25% of revenue.
So as an example, if we pay a staff member $1,000/month, we have an additional $700 overhead cost to have them work at Mäd, and their project billing will be:
$1,000 \* 1.7 \* 1.25 = $2,125/month
This gives us an approximate 20-25% net margin at the end of year, which we believe is enough profit for a healthy long-term business, and also fair to our customers.
# Non-Negotiable Contractual Points At times, clients may negotiate or have questions/queries in regards to our contracts. While there is room for negotiation on certain clauses or points, there are certain items that cannot be negotiated: * Any clause involving liability * Confidentiality Agreement * Any suggestion about penalties or any type of financial guarantee * Specifically: * Licensing * Limitations of Liability * Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Policy * Intellectual Property Rights * Termination Terms # Credentials Deck Our credentials deck is a brief overview of Mäd that can be used to send to any prospective client or team member that wants to get a general idea of what we do. [**You can download the PDF version of the credentials deck here.** ](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1r4bqSbfFT1e0yVobeR2o1HMGh2c17XKr) # Proposal Format We have two formats of proposals: * **Long Form** - This is done on Google Docs and is a long form document, often spanning anywhere between 60 and 120 pages. * **Short Form** - This is a Google Slides document that is shorter and is more suitable for smaller proposals and also as a summarized version of the long form proposal, that can be given to key stakeholders. ## Images for Proposal * For icons, you can use [www.undraw.co](https://undraw.co) and use our red code #e3211a when choosing a color. * For proposal cover images, use [www.unsplash.com](https://unsplash.com) to search and find an appropriate image. ## Overall Structure 1. Introduction - An introduction letter signed by a senior member of the Mäd team. 2. Our Understanding of the Project 1. Overview 2. General Scope of Work 3. Risks (only if required) 3. Key Objectives 1. Short Term Key Objectives 2. Long Term key Objectives 4. Scope of Work 1. Feature Overview 2. Phase Overview 5. Out of Scope 6. Summary of Deliverables 7. Timelines 1. Known Timelines 2. Any Estimated Timelines 3. Calendar View (only if required) 8. Pricing 1. Pricing Breakdown 2. Pricing Schedule 3. Any estimated items 4. Total Combined Pricing (if there are multiple modules/phases) 5. Make It Happen.™ Approach 6. Mäd Guarantee on Invoicing 9. Appendix A - Case Studies 10. Appendix B - Team Profile 11. Appendix C - Company Profile 12. Appendix D - Frequently Asked Questions 13. Contractual Terms and Conditions 14. Signatories ## # Qualifying Prospects We use the BANT framework for basic customer qualification. Try to make sure that during the qualification stage, you get to these answers: 1. B = Budget 2. A = Authority 3. N = Need 4. T = Timeframe ### **Target Customer Base** We have a few key targets * Well funded fast growing startups that have large requirements in business processes, branding, and technology. * Established businesses that are looking to modernize their organization and improve efficiency. ### **Giving Work to Prospects** If we are seeking vendors for particular work, and a current prospect offers the service, we should prioritize them in our RFP if they are a good match. ### **Questions to Ask** * When is the last time you made a similar purchase? * How long did the purchase take? * What are the key factors in your buying decision? Price, experience, quality, speed? * When is your go-live date? * Ideas on budgets * What is your role and what do you do? * What led you to look at us? * What are you using now? * What problems are you looking to solve? * If these problems are not solved, what happens? * What tools are you using in your stack? * What issues are you experiencing in any of these areas? * Where is this interest/initiative coming from? * What is the timing to purchase? * What are the requirements you have for this project? * Do you have a budget allocated to a solution? # CRM Our CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Software a project in Asana that allows us to track at which stage of the buying process the various companies that we are talking are at. We can also loop in team mates if required to add design files, mockups, and presentations, or just inform them of what is going on. The buying stages are: * **Unqualified** – We don’t know this prospect, or we have not identified if they have a serious interest in purchasing from Mäd or moving forward with the project. * **Qualified To Buy** – The prospect has committed to do the project in a given timeframe but has not yet chosen a vendor. They have enough budget to potentially buy from Mäd. * **Preparing Proposal –** We have received a formal RFP (Request for Proposal) and are currently working with the prospect to understand their requirements and be able to price accordingly. * **Proposal Sent** – The prospect has received a formal priced proposal from Mäd. * **Proposal Back and Forth** – We're currently negotiating the proposal based on feature set, pricing, timelines, and other details. This is a strong buying signal. * **Closed Won** – The prospect has signed a contract and awarded the project to Mäd. * **Closed Lost** – The prospect has informed Mäd that our bid was not successful, or we have not heard back from the prospect after the three follow-ups within one month. * **Project Completed** – Testimonials and feedback to be gathered. Each prospect becomes a “to-do” item in this Asana CRM and we have the following details on them: * Company Name * Individual Contact Name * Phone Number * Email * Potential Contract Value in $. ### Outbound vs Inbound CRM Our Inbound CRM is for prospects that come to us via any of the following ways: * Website inquiries * Customer referrals * Word of Mouth * Any other non-direct means of contact Our outbound CRM is for prospects that we are specifically targeting based on their company profile: * Pushed referrals * Advertising (currently we don't do any, but we've done this in the past) * Credentials meeting requests * Cold Calls So essentially: Inbound: Prospect --> Mäd Outbound: Mäd --> Prospect