Lately I have been working on a new desktop application for the Mac called “Snippet”. I don’t want to talk about the app itself but the experience of making the app. As many or some of you may know. I’m a designer, I create websites, write awesome HTML and CSS and occasionally create printed material. I say this because I am not a programmer. I would love to learn more on programming and a language like Ruby or Cocoa, however for this app I wanted to work with someone who knew what they were doing.

So I tweeted, posted, and asked around to find a programmer. I’m short on funds so I was looking for someone who was willing to profit share. After posting to the Cocoa Dev forums, talking to a few people, I found a great programmer. Still in school, hard working, and had a great attitude. To this day it has been great working with someone purely online. We use IM and Basecamp to communicate, share files, and work things out.

Why working online works? We stay focused, no unnecessary meetings, and way different work hours so we typically stay out of each others way when we are busy working on something. Yet there when we need to ask a question or work through a problem. We think different yet the same. I can say “lets try this” and He’ll respond with “no problem” or “sure, but what if this happens” Bring to my attention to UI decisions, functionality problems, or other oversights I might have had.

Working online with someone also really sharpens your wiring skills and the way you talk. There is no “hey, look at this real quick” or “watch what happens when I do this” You have to explain the problem or situation and make sure they can understand. I’m fortunate enough to find someone caring enough to explain their answers. Instead of a simple “no, we can’t do that” He will get back to me with why we can’t do that, and what limitations we have that prevent that feature.

In the end, I highly recommend working with someone online vs. in an office environment, but it takes the right kind of person to make that happen. Sure this happened more out of necessity, but it continues to be a great experience.