At Springbox, we are witnessing an evolution in the types of projects we produce for clients. Instead of a microsite, banner ads or an email campaign — mainstays of interactive marketing — some of our clients seek our expertise in developing software-based products and services.

To date, the agency has developed complex applications such as the Michael J. Fox Foundation's Clinical Trial Finder and we're working on a fully customizable content management and marketing solution for another client, to name a few.

It's an ongoing learning process, and, we've learned, which should come as no surprise, that software development processes are quite different from interactive marketing processes. So what do you do when you move from the promotion of products and features to, well, actually creating the products and features themselves? I don't pretend to have all of the answers, but here are some trends I've noticed.

Different Goals, Different Processes

Like many agencies, most of our processes and workflow are linear — each phase in workflow is a prerequisite for the subsequent step. Discovery leads to strategy to design to development (and so on and so forth). Product and software development is different. More exploratory. More iterative. More complex. Progress often sheds new light on a problem, and initial approaches are abandoned. In terms of scheduling, this can create problems. How do you plan for the unforeseen? Many of the processes relied on by agencies, while intended to promote progress, can lead to divisions within an agency and in-between clients and agency (one client/agency/team has its assigned action items, another a different set). How agencies address the challenges created by divisions is key.

Design Strategy

Creative agencies, not surprisingly, often place a premium on time and energy spent in the creative phase, with strategy and production oftentimes taking a back seat. In terms of interactive marketing projects such as a microsite or a simple app, a strategy and content document, some wireframes, a design direction and basic functional descriptions are usually sufficient. But when it comes to more complex software development, the client's business objectives and the agency's strategies and outputs can be quite different (and often there's more of them).

Documentation

Documentation, as always, is essential, but even more so with projects that have a wider scope. In collaborating with clients on developing software and/or products there is more back and forth as compared to a website project. The product being produced has a direct impact on the clients' business and it's being built from the ground up. Changes and revisions are bound to happen. Better to have thorough documentation in place.

The People Factor

It takes the right kind of people to tackle product or software development projects. It's learn-as-you-go process. A cross-disciplinary team is preferable and, quite possibly, a necessity. Our agency has begun to discuss the benefits of agile development, and we're looking for projects where we can test-drive that approach.

So what have you noticed? Which trends in software development can benefit agencies? What will an agency look like in the future, and what kinds of projects might it be working on?

Last week I attended the An Event Apart conference in Atlanta. An Event Apart is produced by the folks behind A List Apart website and the A Book Apart publications.

Topics ranged from responsive web design, mobile developments, SEO and trends in content. Here are several topics of conversation that remain stuck in my head.

Amazing Online Typography 

Think Mobile First

Wroblewski suggested that organizations consider their mobile experience first. I agree. It forces organizations and agencies to distill their projects down to the most important, the most fundamental, information. Wroblewski also shared interesting approaches to mobile user interfaces, stressing the importance of leading with content, with navigation in a supporting role. Best case, the nav should be practically invisible to the user.

Psychology and User Interface Design   

Doing More with CSS

Keeping Up with Content

When news broke that World Entertainment News, purveyors of celebrity photos and gossip, inked a deal to become the exclusive photo agency partner of Twitpic, the agency announced it was empowered to sell images posted on Twitpic for publication. While users that upload images hold the copyright, World Entertainment News is free to syndicate images as they see fit.

Soon thereafter,  Ellen DeGenres, celebrity and avid Twitpic user, announced she would no longer use Twitpic. Good for Ellen. Following suit, professional photographers expressed concerns that the new agreement would allow World Entertainment News to publish any photo posted to Twitpic.

And they may be right.

Those snapshots of your kids playing in the backyard, a pic uploaded at a concert, your photo of blueprints of the Death Star — if your images are uploaded to Twitpic they may be fair game for publication.

Welcome to the latest battle in internet privacy.

It’s hard to imagine a company that trades in celebrity red carpet shots would take the time to riffle through terabytes of images. But they could. And should that come as a surprise?

Twitpic’s terms of service — you know, the words you likely ignored when creating your account — explain that the organization can update terms of service clauses at any time.

The moral of the story is read before you click. 

Last year, Springbox held a swank SXSW party. This year, our best and brightest have submitted SXSW panel topics about a range of subjects. We need your help to rock the vote.  

As far as we can tell, there aren’t electronic voting machines involved — so vote often and be sure to share your comments. Voting ends on Friday, August 27.

Here’s a rundown of this year’s topics: 

Is HTML5 the Death of Flash?

Tom Hudson  

HTML 5 is challenging other plug-in-based rich internet applications (RIA) by providing much of the same functionality as Flash, and has the potential to render technologies like Flash obsolete. Or is it? Flash has capabilities that are way beyond those of HTML5. Will HTML5 catch up? We’ll explore items like this, compare current HTML5 adoption to Flash, and see where we might land in the future.

Read More and Vote

QR Who QR: Exploring QR Codes

Grant Norwood  

QR codes are new and cool in America. Having originated in Japan mostly for business applications, their use for social and commercial purposes is growing every day in the US. Let’s explore how developers can stay ahead of the game by incorporating new technologies into the popular trend!

Read More and Vote

When Facebook Falls: Future-Proofing Your Social Media Efforts

Justin Clemens 

Learn to future-proof your social media efforts so they don’t go the way of MySpace. The right social networking content, contests, features, news, etc., works across multiple platforms so that if you lose a follower on Twitter, you gain a fan on Facebook. This panel will give you social media secrets and tips to build an audience on every platform and create content that doesn’t rely on any of them.

Read More and Vote 

HTML5 Buzzword Bulls**t: The Truth Revealed

John French

Ever since Steve Jobs starting touting HTML5 as the new replacement for Flash, the standard has become the new buzzword from Human Resource departments to CEOs. This panel is designed to clear up the misconceptions and set the record straight with HTML5.

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Listen To Me Dammit! I'm An Expert!

Chris Mayfield

Great creative work isn’t always immediately recognizable — even by the creators themselves. We, Creatives often require time to develop ideas before we’re fully convinced of their potential for success. So how do we get beyond our own damaged egos so we can see our creative visions fully realized? Understanding how to address our clients’ expectations as well as the obstacles they face, is not only good for business — it’s good for quality. And as the experts, that’s what we should care about the most.

Read More and Vote

Apps or Mobile Site: How to Choose

Adrian Taylor and Josh Kemmerling

To app or not to app? Consider it an apt question since web-enabled smart phones have essentially swarmed today’s market. Users have become accustomed to purpose-built apps, which leaves designers, developers and business owners with a tough choice: app or mobile site. This panel will provide participants with the information they need to make the smart choice on their next mobile project.

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Is Mobile Ticketing The New Golden Ticket? 

Randy Elliott

Mobile ticketing is projected to be a multi-billion dollar industry in 5 years. While just 2 billion tickets are forecasted by Juniper Research to be sold this year, they predict that number will rise to 15 billion by 2014. The technology is moving quickly with Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled phones already being used in the Far East.  We’ll discuss where this new integration in taking mobile technology.

Read More and Vote 

Stop the Postmortem Boredom!

Rachel Barber, Priya Kothari and Tom Hudson

The reason for a postmortem is to learn from your mistakes and successes. Most of the time this meeting never happens or doesn’t follow a clear agenda with actionable items. We will discuss what ingredients make for a useful and productive postmortem meeting after a project.

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Collaboration Nation: How Side-Projects Can Keep You Relevant

Phil Coffman

Side projects are crucial to remaining relevant in our industry. The web is constantly changing — new conventions, techniques and technologies — and one of the best ways to keep up is to do something for the love of it. Side projects facilitate a unique blend of experimentation, creativity and play that arenʼt always possible during billable hours or client projects. Weʼll be grilling our panel to bring practical advice and a candid take on their past experiences.

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How to Whup 'Em with the Leroy Stick

Hawk Thompson 

Leroy Stick — the man behind @BPGlobalPR — is just a regular guy. Yet he managed to help bring a global brand to its knees (and attract hundreds of thousands of followers in the process) with a single Twitter account and a mission that resonated with the masses. Meet the new consumer. Empowered by social media, each and every one of us is capable ofinflicting this kind of damage on a brand. In this panel, find out what professionals can do to protect their clients’ brands from being whupped with the Leroy Stick.

Read More and Vote 

Last night, after much speculation and grandstanding, LeBron James announced which NBA team he’d join via free agency. Congrats, Miami. At last, closure. Finally, the news, blogs and spam emails I enjoy every day can return to normal.

Mr. James’ decision — or the LeBronocalypse, as some have called it — goes beyond the public’s obsession with celebrity, entertainment and trending topics.

Love it or hate it, King James demonstrated how one brand (no doubt an international brand with global popularity and unprecedented access to the press) can overwhelmingly set the agenda for content and conversations, across all media.

The aftermath of “The Decision” speaks to the fragile nature of how the public perceives a brand. Overnight, James went from being a top attraction in the NBA — and one of the good guys — to a self-absorbed narcissist in the eyes of many and even a traitor (especially in Cleveland).

Brands and agencies should take note: One action, one press conference, one message can impact the goodwill, the momentum, the standing that your brand has worked hard to achieve. Sure, time — and PR efforts — heal wounds. But make no mistake: last night’s broadcast was a case study in what brands shouldn’t do.

And we are all witnesses.