Before you add any “whistles and bells” on your next website project, there are a number of things that are important to stop and think about. The first thing to think about is what your goals are. While each project offers it’s own unique challenges, there are basically 4 goals that we think apply to every project we handle at Flip Studios. (While it may seem silly to define these goals, without clear goals, we won’t know if we are on the right track.)
The 4 Goals For Every Website Project
- Produce a quality finished product that meets the project goals
- Get the project done in an cost-effective way (spend where necessary)
- Complete the project in a reasonable timeline
- Maintain a good quality of life for all parties involved
In short, the 4 goals are: do it right, spend wisely, get it done quickly, and avoid reverting back to the fetal position every time you think of how the project is progressing.
Sound simple enough? Guess what, it’s not as easy to do to do in practice.
The 2 Questions Our Design Partners Instinctively Ask
Now that we know each of the 4 goals we are trying to achieve, we’ll see that the questions we instinctively ask are inadequate to meeting our goals. Time and again we see our design partners asking only 2 questions when it comes to developing a website solution.
- How much does it cost?
- How long will it take?
These are great questions, but the answers aren’t going to tell us if we are on the right track to achieving all of our goals. In fact, the most common complaint we hear from our design partners is about their previous website developers and the pain and suffering they had to endure to get the project completed. Why then do we focus so much on the cost and the timeline and completely over look the quality of life aspect?
We’re going to submit that it’s an issue of not anticipating the difficulties that may lie ahead and not knowing what questions to ask to address those.
The List of Questions You SHOULD Ask Your Website Development Team
So here it is! This list of questions will help you flesh out your next website project or feature.
- How much will the initial development cost be?
- Are there any licensing costs? Are they one-time fees or recurring fees?
- How long will it take to get the project done?
- Are there any maintenance needs that you can foresee?
- Have you handled this type of solution in the past? Is it likely that this solution could “break down” on us? Have you ever had this solution fail on you?
- Is there another solution that will still yield a quality finished product, but will save us money, time, or peace of mind?
Further tips:
- Your developer may not even realize they need to be thinking about all of these questions up front. Be patient with them as they explore the answers. Every developer has dealt with “nightmare” situations and it often boils down to one of the issues above not being addressed properly. Common developer headaches include: unforeseen maintenance, unreliable solutions breaking while on vacation, etc.
- A good site map helps everyone get on the same page.
- A happy developer generally correlates to a happy client. An unhappy developer generally correlates with an unhappy client. If your developer pushes back on an idea in the planning stages, find out why.
