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Akbar is in trouble!
The mall is too small! It won't hold all the great designs which artists are
sending him. Recently, his storeroom was so full of stuff that he had to close
the doors for a while just to get some time to do some house-keeping. (That
means the disk drive got over-loaded and crashed.) Akbar re-stored his stock of
merchandise quickly. All of his loyal customers were very relieved when the
doors opened again for business. But the solution is only temporary. Either
Akbar has to re-locate in a new and bigger building (this means get another disk
drive), or find ways to improve his currently available location (find improved
ways to handle the huge number of designs which are sent to him).
Akbar says that he likes his current location just fine (no new disk drive, at
least right now), but he does need some sort of an organizational makeover to
improve his business.
So I thought it might be a good idea to look at some options.
First, suggestions for how parts could be listed:
Traditionally, Akbar has four "rooms" where he "stores/showcases" his parts. Two
of them are not being used. I've listed them with notes and suggestions. Some of
the suggestions relate to how long the part is posted, though no part should be
listed in more than one category, to prevent multiple postings of the same
thing. A formula with a date-stamp would determine how the design would be
listed in Akbar's:
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Hall of Fame (Items of exceptional quality, highly collectible,
some "antiques." I've leave this alone just as it is. The parts show up in the
Hall of Fame and also in the Designer's Store.)
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Premium Parts (Currently has no parts. But it could be thought of
as Good Quality parts -- but not Hall of Fame, which are might be listed for 2
weeks and after that it drops from this category to the Designer's Store.)
-
Bargain Basement (Also currently has no parts. However, it could be
used to list parts where the price is low, for example 15 clams or under, for
5 days, and after that it drops off the listing and goes to the Designer's
Store.)
-
New Arrivals (Anything new, available for about 4 days, then drops
off the category and goes to the Designer's Store, according to the current
system.)
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Heads: (Has been Heads only. I don't think this category is needed,
unless you start a whole group of categories like Heads, Eyes, Hair, Makeup,
etc. Suggest dropping this.) (Editor's Note: Akbar does plan
to set up categories like you suggest, sometime, hopefully sooner rather than
later. :) )
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Designer's Store (Keep this the same. The Face Factory management
system works pretty well.)
Second, suggestions for how designers can work:
Some of the methods used to educate Whyvillians in racing "Smart Cars" could be
applied to Akbar's, too. In "Smart Cars," there are some practice race tracks
where you can try out ideas and learn racing skills, but you can not "save"
anything you do on the practice tracks. When the novice racer gets their
confidence, then they "register" with "Dot" and that allows them to
participate in real races.
That could work for designers who want to create designs for Akbar. You could
have some practice canvases where a potential artist can learn how the design
tools work, and can develop their skills, but they can't "save" or "submit"
designs. This would save disk space, and Akbar wouldn't have to return work.
Optionally, they might be able to "save" the designs on their home computer, but
not on Akbar's drive. When novice designers have more confidence, they could
then "register" as a designer with Akbar. Akbar would, in effect, give them a
"Designer's License." Just as in "Smart Cars," the registration would permit them
to pull up the real design canvases, which costs clams, and they could "submit"
a part for real, with the traditional rules.
Third, a (radical?) suggestion for assisting Akbar
This may be going a little too far, but Akbar might consider inviting some of
the experienced or veteran Whyville designers to assist him by "pre-screening"
design submissions. They would have to be selected because they meet certain
criteria, be extremely reliable, and promise to work within the Akbar's guide
lines, and maybe use Standard Responses to explain why some design was rejected,
with a copy to the Whyville City-Management records, in case of a dispute. Once
the file has been screened, then it goes to Akbar for the final decision.
Although Akbar will still have a lot of work to do, it might lighten his load
considerably and keep clutter off the disk drive, and he might even be able to
"take a real vacation" once in a while for some reason other than exhaustion.
(Just kidding!) Editor's Note: Indeed, City Hall does hope to
help out Akbar by designing a tool that veteran designers could use to help out.
Someday!
In any case, I love you, Akbar, and I hope that there is something in this
article which can help you, but I won't be offended if it gets rejected. Also, I
want to thank superid for the invitation to write this article.
Ahdieh
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