Aiming higher

Scott McCafferty
October 13th, 2007.

Michael Jordan and I share a very similar life experience, but vastly different career paths. Like Mike, I was cut from my high school basketball team not once, but for three consecutive years. Finally, as a senior in high school, I earned the right to wear a high school basketball uniform as a member of the varsity squad. Unfortunately, my playing time mostly consisted of assisting in lopsided games where we won by 20 or more points. My final stat line was scoring a total of 8 points my senior season. While we all know what Jordan accomplished in the NBA and college ranks, my basketball career went onto greatness by playing college intramurals and recreation league games. In my mind, though, I was still like Mike.

My senior basketball season taught me one of my most valuable life lessons. I set the goal to make the high school team, and did everything possible to prepare myself, but I never re-evaluated my goal to go beyond simply making the team. I never set another goal of playing in the game.

I apply that lesson more frequently now. With Design World, for example, we are constantly raising the bar on our expectations to deliver a better media product in print and online. We are continuing to develop processes and systems that will help provide information and resources that aid you to design products faster, smarter, and under budget.

Last October, we promised to redefine traditional methods of media dissemination through technology. As part of our ongoing efforts, we introduced the Design World Video platform that

allows you to share popular online videos and we continue to aggregate RSS feeds from the supplier community through our Engineering Watch section on www.designworldonline.com. In partnership with TraceParts, we are making available millions of 2D and 3D drawings from suppliers around the world. Further, we’ve created custom widgets to help point you to specific areas on suppliers’ web sites that will help you find what you need, when you need it.

With our printed publication, Design World is being recognized for setting a new standard for emphasizing quality production practices by delivering the best in class use of paper, photography and graphic design. Our experienced editorial team is constantly raising the bar on bringing accurate and technical articles that will aid you in your pursuit of continuing education.

What started as a dream is now reality. Design World is committed to helping you design products better, faster and under budget. We will continue to raise the bar and set new standards for meeting your information needs. We cherish your feedback and input on how we can improve and will continue to respond to your coaching along the way. DW

Willing to work harder,
Scott McCafferty
Co-Founder
smccafferty@designworldonline.com