Once we decided to move forward with the website, our weekly meetings began to focus on clear tasks in a combination of time and cost management. One of the very first ones was securing our desired domain name and that proved more challenging than we originally thought. A quick online search for options brought back surprising results. The following examples are the most telling (Jan 2017 prices):
1) yourpm prices:
*.com = $4,288
*.ca = $15.95
2) youngpm prices:
*.com = $2,895
*.ca = $15.95
3) pmlife prices:
*.com = $9.99
*.ca = $15.95
Probably the expensive options were priced based on potential future value of business generated. It is funny how cost narrows down your preferences in a hurry! We liked the 3rd option but delayed purchasing them for a week; who would snap them up from under our noses anyway? This is a good example of risk management I guess; in PM terms we concluded the probability to lose them was low while using “expert judgment” as a tool and technique. It is exactly what happened: when we were ready to go for it a week later, they were not available anymore. After a quick review of what was still available and also a good fit, we settled upon what we have today. It had for sure a higher impact than expected since it led us to a different name; however it won’t be clear for a while how this is going to affect our project as a whole. Sometimes you have to accept the results of your decisions, adjust and move on.
Being online feels like driving in the fast lane. You must keep up with the traffic and this reminds me of driving on the autobahn years ago. It should be common knowledge there are no speed limits on it. You choose a lane suitable for your cruising speed and you have to stick to it. Whenever we decided to pass slower cars on our lane, we were in for a thrill: there was no car in the rear view mirror, so we switched to the fast lane in order to pass; by the time we were in parallel with the car we were passing, out of nowhere a faster car would be right on our tail, flashing its beams to tell us to move aside. I guess missing on the desired domain name is kind of like that. This definitely goes on the first draft of lessons learned!