James Grafton is a star developer 
with IBM and has worked on numerous web and mobile side projects including ‘Get me Home’ for Android and ‘Recipe Shopper’ for iPhone. He’s the guy you want developing your web or mobile app, but how can you persuade him to work with you? What is it that captures and keeps top talent?
I could write a sensible piece of software, within a sensible amount of time, for a predictable audience, but where’s the fun in that? Trust me, without the fun factor, even the most promising of projects are destined to failure (or at least to under achieve). Only with true passion and appreciation for the task at hand can you keep driving forward through thick and thin, even when the end may be nowhere in sight (especially important in these situations!). From experience, it’s the best motivator, pure and simple. If you enjoy what you’re doing you will do it better.
Look for enjoyment in its purest form – consider the beautiful monstrosity that is Steel Fury, a hand built towering colossus of an arcade machine, spewing over 6,000 games right into your bedroom. Something everyone can appreciate! It took a team of two 800 hours of hard graft, every one of them well spent, and absolutely life affirming!
Yes, these ideals don’t guarantee the success of a project, but then again what’s the worst that can happen? You enjoy yourself pursuing something that ends up not quite working out in the end.
Only with true passion and appreciation for the task at hand can you keep driving forward through thick and thin
Doesn’t sound all that bad to me! And anyway, some of the most important lessons to be learnt in life come only through the most catastrophic of failures.
So, when those sparks of inspiration do start flying, don’t hold back! Become impassioned with whatever your involved in and let that enthusiasm spill out to all those surrounding. Excitement is infectious, and a team of motivated, inspired people can produce some really amazing results (just ask the Launch48 team!).
I’ll leave you with three key adjectives, that for me at least, have always ensured success; incept, inspire, facilitate – Dream up an idea, plant it within the people you meet, excite them, let the idea grow, now facilitate; let them be creative in ways they never before knew they were capable of – everyone has something to offer, it’s just a case of allowing them to realise their full potential…Read More