Our team is packed with developers, designers, program managers, support specialists and all kinds of folks with incredible skills. This is where we share what we learn from the work we do.
Every support exchange is fundamentally about one thing: solving a problem for a customer. While each customer is different, and each issue has its own nuances and context, aspects of the problem-solving process can be standardized to great effect. The best way to standardize support processes is to make and implement checklists. Simple checklists that…
Back to school season is in full swing. From kindergarten to college, kids of all ages are brimming with potential as they gear up for a new school year. Glancing at the news, there are all sorts of articles on how to prepare your child to head back to school. From easing into preschool to…
It might sound trite, but when it comes to providing customer support, communication is key. This is especially true when dealing with angry or tense customers, where the annoyance of communication failures only magnifies their agitation. But figuring out and fixing common sources of friction in communication can be a great step in improving the…
When it comes to client contracts, most of us can agree that they’re generally a pain in the butt. There’s often legal language that’s hard to decipher, clauses and attachments to comb through, and if you want one that’s rock-solid, you’ll need to hire a lawyer to create one with your business’s best interests in…
It might seem counter-intuitive to stop answering the phone when you’re a business owner that’s hungry for clients, but trust us – it helps. This piece of productivity advice is all about moving away from reactionary responses towards proactive processes for your business. How many times did your phone ring last week? Think back to last…
Stock photo libraries seem to have become the chicken pox of the WordPress world. No one actually likes using them, and in many cases, they leave blemishes on an otherwise kick-ass site design. Being stuck using stock photo libraries for your website or events calendar doesn’t have to ruin your design or come across as…
One of the most valuable contributions to any piece of software is user feedback. We love the extremely open communication in our community, and we work hard to utilize the feedback it provides. We receive over 500 comments, emails, and forum posts every week- and many of them contain feedback on the calendar. There are even more votes each week on feature requests…
Parks & Rec may have been the first to feature “treat yo self” day, but Singles’ Day (光棍节) has them beat. Singles’ Day is a Chinese twist on Valentine’s Day. The manufactured holiday was started back in the 1990s as a day to celebrate single people. The date 11/11 was chosen for it’s literal representation…
On July 8, 2012, Rob logged an internal ticket describing compatibility issues between The Events Calendar and WPML. A little over three years later, we are proud to say that The Events Calendar and Events Calendar PRO are now multilingual compatible. As we’ve said before, Modern Tribe strives for the best quality code. We also…
Have you ever wondered what happens when a bug is reported on our support forums? How quickly we respond? How do we decide if something needs to be fixed immediately, in the next scheduled release, or somewhere down the road? We thought we’d take just a few moments and let you behind the curtain to…
There are some serious benefits of being a remote team of Freelancers. We aren’t tied to a desk, an office building, a rigid schedule or corporate bureaucracy. We are encouraged to live a balanced life between work and family, making sure we take the time to enjoy life! As a team that isn’t tied down…
Today I’m excited to introduce you to another member of Modern Tribe, the one and only Jonathan Brinley. He’s a developer with special powers to extend WordPress so that it can do all sorts of cool things. He’s also the winner of the ‘Google Calendar Usage’ award…seriously, just wait until you see how he uses…
As a company that provides both services and products to a vast array of people, we’ve come to appreciate great documentation. It allows us to serve our customers more effectively and efficiently. Plus it makes troubleshooting easier for customers to do on their own as well. A win-win situation if you ask me. So when…
Today I’m happy to bring you a video interview with one of our own: Kyle Unzicker. Kyle is a cool dude who does good work. So we thought, ‘Let’s put the spotlight on him and let you all get to know him a little bit better.’ So, here’s my interview with Kyle: A big thanks…
We’re finding that there’s a lot to be learned from talking to your users. As we take the final steps towards launching The Events Calendar / Events Calendar PRO 3.0, it’s more important than ever to find out who our users are, why events are important to them and how we could better help them…