Entries Tagged 'Foundation' ↓

A good way to picture a project, is like a corporation. It is a “Thing” that doesn’t really exist, but is comprised of many real world things that do exist. The documents, code, and the people who produce it; bring life to something. All of this must come together to under the direction of a project manager, who guides the project through its “lifetime”. Projects are defined by:

• A budget of time
• A budget of money
• A certain amount of risk or uncertainty

In project management, the biggest concern is time and money. Money is yardstick by which time is being measured. The longer something takes, the more money it’s costing. This is where risk and uncertainty blow the budgets of most projects. Effective project management depends on an almost obsessive level of planning, to minimize risk. You need a well-designed plan for the project. A proper plan includes construction of a wireframe (business process), prototype (front-end), and architectural design (database field names). This level of detail, is to reduce the uncertainty and risk involved.

A project manager is concerned about:

• What are we going to do? - Taking into consideration the constraints of time, money, and resources; try and meet the requirements of a “wish list” set of goals or features the project is to include.
• What have we done? - Unless there is a plan for what will be done, it is impossible to gauge progress through benchmarks, or milestones, that have been reached.
• What did we do? - How much of the plan has been completed. This is where the obsessive part comes into play. There could be reams and reams of documentation involved. Not only for technical reasons, but maybe legal ones too? This documentation has to be created and maintained continually. The consequence, is a mad scramble when the project is “finished”. Because there is nothing to prove you’ve satisfied all the legal and customer requirements.

No matter how the technology changes, it’s sure to bring about inspiration and more ways to interact with tools, skills, and processes to undertake a project. The project manager uses these skills to produce repeated software project success.

Even when you start a business on a small scale, you still need to do everything in a professional manner. I’ve noticed that no-one understands this better than religious organizations. They have amazing websites. Really good graphic designs, standards compliant, something I didn’t expect at first, but makes complete sense now that I think about it. They are trying to embrace new technologies to get their message across.

I have seen situations where someone comes up with a number, then doubles or even triples it randomly to pad the rate for unforeseen circumstances. - Jeff Knooren

Most people just don’t understand that a website is YOUR way to get a message across. Ignoring really crucial details when they embarking on a new business, is obviously a disaterous mistake. The root cause, seems to be they wish to keep the costs low. If you plan everything in an orderly manner, shoestring budgets are the set up of your small business.

The Budget Client

Every client is on a budget, but some clients just seem that much tighter than the others. The budget client can be the result of doing a friend or relative a favor, or equally just a regular client who never has any cash.

The Good News:
Budget clients are happy when the work you do comes under budget. Though unfortunately this isn’t always the case because they don’t have much room to play with.

The Bad News:
It’s almost a given that any work you do for a budget client, will not be good enough to even mention that you worked on it. This makes them bad for business.

What to do:
Make sure your budget client realizes their projects are not first priority. Extra changes or revisions probably won’t be done, because it simply doesn’t make good business sense to work for the price they’re paying. Of course, this will probably make them aggressive, accept that they aren’t worth it and let them go. If you’re going to work cheap, at least work for non-profit organizations like churches.

You will loose many clients when bidding on projects as a freelance developer. For all the clients requesting “good communication” as a primary concern, they’re often not that good at it themselves. It’s not always your fault though, even when they try and make you think it is. My advice, is to not get discouraged and self doubt yourself. But also, don’t invest the time in giving them a piece of your mind. They probably won’t read it, just move on.

Technophobe clients will put your communication skills to the test. - Jeff Knooren

The lesson you should take away from that experience, is to decide if the next client is worth working for. It’s hard to turn away paying work. But it’s also not worth being treated with a little common courtesy. Something, that is unfortunately all to common on the internet. So, here are some behaviors to look for, and look out for when dealing with your next job.

Paranoid

This person has a background in the legal profession somehow, because they love Non- Disclosure Agreements. You wind up trying to straighten our points of terms and definitions, rather than doing your job.

The Good News:
Nothing will be overlooked. If you’re the kind of person who appreciates the details and covering all the bases, it might not be problematic to work with this person. As long as you don’t breach any part the contract, you should get paid.
They might also represent some government agency, and the pay scale is usually much higher than anything else out there.

The Bad News:
Often within the contracts are a whole list of grounds for the client dismissing you without payment. Grounds might be that you miss a deadline for whatever reason (even if the paranoid client is at fault). Also, a personalized legal agreement is very expensive if you need to retain the services of a lawyer to review their contract.

They are always on the lookout for evidence that they are being ripped off or overcharged. This requires additional administrative duties on your part to document IN WRITING every detail and minute of time being spent.

What to do:
It depends on how big the job really is. They often want specific details about mundane tasks, or want to follow up on irrelevant details. Such as, wanting wedding photos scanned in, and asking for previous experience with scanning, or previous job references. It might not be worth the effort.

Most companies have legal agreements because they want to protect themselves or sensitive projects, but the paranoid client gets paid to be protected, so you should quote more to cover your documentation costs.

You will loose many clients when bidding on projects as a freelance developer. For all the clients requesting “good communication” as a primary concern, they’re often not that good at it themselves. It’s not always your fault though, even when they try and make you think it is. My advice, is to not get discouraged and self doubt yourself. But also, don’t invest the time in giving them a piece of your mind. They probably won’t read it, just move on.

This person puts your communication skills to the test. They just don’t understand technology, so you’ll have to make lots of analogies to explain things. - Jeff Knooren

The lesson you should take away from that experience, is to decide if the next client is worth working for. It’s hard to turn away paying work. But it’s also not worth being treated with a little common courtesy. Something, that is unfortunately all to common on the internet. So, here are some behaviors to look for, and look out for when dealing with your next job.

Uninterested Client

The uninterested client doesn’t want anything to do with the website, and could careless about the minutia of why something doesn’t work, or the best ways to do things. When you ask them questions about their business, the responses are minimal and feels somewhat like you have to drag information out of them.

The Good News:
They will give you a lot of freedom in terms of design, and achieving the final result, as long as you don’t mire them down in the details of how you go about it. You also tend to get additional side projects that this person doesn’t want to deal with.

The Bad News:
The uninterested client will ask you to do many tasks outside of any formal agreement. Typically referred to as “scope creep” they pass anything they don’t want to deal with anything web related onto your plate. They make assumptions that these things should be done for free, because you have a “web contract” with them. Not realizing this should incur extra cost. This could be copywriting (when you’re a web designer) to printing brochures (when you’re a copywriter).

What to do:
It takes prodding to find out what this person is up to. Get used to calling or emailing repeatedly. A humorous tone helps, because an uninterested client isn’t trying to be rude. Mostly, it’s procrastination of doing something they don’t want to do. Explain that extra work is an opportunity to outsource to you, for a nominal fee of course.

If you manage to complete all the small projects, you will be known as someone who ‘takes care of business’. But be clear about costs, because they will probably not mention it otherwise. If you’re documenting all the work, in a format similar to this STATEMENT OF WORK. You will be constantly updating this document. At least you prove what you’ve done already, incase they forget.

You will loose many clients when bidding on projects as a freelance developer. For all the clients requesting “good communication” as a primary concern, they’re often not that good at it themselves. It’s not always your fault though, even when they try and make you think it is. My advice, is to not get discouraged and self doubt yourself. But also, don’t invest the time in giving them a piece of your mind. They probably won’t read it, just move on.

…in software development, design is undervalued. Often no user interface design is done, or it’s considered a formality. - Jeff Knooren

The lesson you should take away from that experience, is to decide if the next client is worth working for. It’s hard to turn away paying work. But it’s also not worth being treated with a little common courtesy. Something, that is unfortunately all to common on the internet. So, here are some behaviors to look for, and look out for when dealing with your next job.

Techno-phobe

This person puts your communication skills to the test. They just don’t understand technology, so you’ll have to make lots of analogies to explain things. Another troublesome characteristic, is they want you to fax them everything. Neat-o piece of technology, but there are 10 better ways to send documents today.

The Good News:
Pretty open to any suggestions you have. They will look to you as your technology guru. They will be simply amazed when you come up quick solution, to something that has been bothering them for months.

The Lows:
They have to be instructed on almost everything you do. Again, explaining what you’re doing is chock-full of analogies. A techno-phobes idea of how the website should work, is often the worst way to do it, and people don’t like being told their wrong.

They often don’t understand the context of technological terms. For example, you might have previously told them that ASP means Active Server Pages, but when referring to a business that does ASP; it means Added Service Provider.

What to do:
Make sure everything is in writing for them to reread at their leisure. I recommend creating something like this STATEMENT OF WORK. They won’t read it all in one sitting, but at least you can reference something so you don’t have to repeat yourself. They can look tidbits of information up, as they need it. However, plan on most things being discussed by phone and face-to-face meetings.

Trying to categorize the various people involved in designing websites is hard, because for every Graphic Artist that is hired, for sure those people need to fill other roles in their occupation. Roles are unclear, because traditional definitions continually evolve.

As technology gets more advanced, websites become harder to make as an individul, not easier. - Jeff Knooren

Evolving Capabilities

The blended media of print, presentation, and online delivery of… well, everything. How all this “everything” stuff comes together isn’t hard when examined under a microscope; HTML isn’t hard. Designing a User Interface Design isn’t hard. There is nothing about websites that anyone couldn’t learn… with enough time. In other words, it’s easy when you know how. All those easy skills build on each other, and eventually becomes so complex, you need a professional to do it. Modern principals of design, have changed traditional roles in the following way:

• Reduce the number of personnel - This may simply the process as each person “wears more hats.” Part of this is driven by faster methods. Part is due to a technology becoming obsolete, and new ones gaining favor.
• Create more complex skills - Each professional has an unlimited amount of information to keep up with, new skills to develop, background to search for, and processes to evolve. Everyone is overwhelmed in this industry, so understanding responsibility outside of their primary set of skills keeps people working smoothly.
• Compress project phases - The demand for faster and shorter time schedules. Although this is attractive to those needing sites quickly, such compression creates more errors, less quality control. Mistakes and duplicate efforts cost money, so there should be no excuse to have an approval and proofreading process.

Roles and Responsibilities

Of course, there are team members within each of these general groups that cross the borders of responsibility. Each project necessitates a different configuration of staffing. The possibilities of collaboration are infinite, the roles and responsibility are not.

Each group has defined functions, though some functions may overlap. An example is a Webmaster, traditionally though of as a production person, may have client facing responsibilities, or serves as a tech support role. All of these web activities, independent of size or number of people working on them, are handled by three groups:

• Client Group - Initiates communication between the development team, and the client.
• Creative Group - Creates the projects.
• Production Group - Get to the act of building what the first two have laid out.

Client Group

The client group is the person(s) needing to communicate requirements to the creative group, and deconstruct the communication in terms that both parties can understand. This group ultimately pays the bills.

• Client - Is the decision maker who provides direction and writes the checks. They could be a business owner, or even a committee of other professionals. They decide what deadlines need to be met. As such, they must provide any means to achieve what results are expected.
• Project Director - In some cases, this person must be familiar with the terminology of the client. Therefore, this is the person most likely to be deemed the “point of contact” or manager of the project.

Creative Group

The creative group is design capable, either outsource or in-house, that brings visual appeal to the project. Breaking the process of creative activities into definable chunks enables you to identify the right mix of people.

• Art Director - Manages the creative deliverables and supervises the quality of the entire design and production process. The Art Director is responsible for creativity and style.
• Project Manager - Keeps track of all the schedules, budgets, and communications. Easily accessible to oversee projects on a day-to-day basis. The Project Manager is responsible for keeping projects on time, and on budget.
• Researcher - Finds all relevant facts, background information, handles marketing research. The Researcher is responsible for gathering source materials.
• Designer - originates ideas and concepts, coordinates resources, and brings to life the production process of “what does it look like?” Typically, this person was several people, such as typesetter or production artist.
• Webmaster - Has an active role in making the site “do” what is proposed in the project. For example, if there is a store, they manage the shopping carts, install scripts, etc… It is here where the most conglomeration of job roles takes place.
• User Interface Designer - Constructs models of the site. There is a wireframe model, which shows how you get from page to page of a site. It has no graphics, and looks nothing like the final product. The prototype builds off the wireframe, but incorporates the look and feel from the other members of the creative group.
• Programmer - Works with Project Managers to make the site actually DO those crazy things that have been planned out and documented. They are also responsible for maintaining and optimizing their efforts.

Production Group

The production group provides the finishing aspects of the project. For the print industry, there is a more linear workflow. You can’t print a newspaper, until all the pages are laid out.

• Writer - generates the text for the written parts of the project. This could be help documentation, or copy. Their primary function is to proof-read, and provide another set of eyes to differences in language.
• Editor - evaluates the writing and adapts text to the design if necessary, and reviews proofs for typographical errors. The editor is responsible for developing content.
• Printer - advises on the output, and creates proofs, of any printed materials.

Summary

One must be prepared to be asked anything, or be ready to make anything with next phone call. It could be a tree, or an icon. - Jeff Knooren

This list of people and their responsibility is by no means complete. It is meant to give an overview to a process of creative design you might not have known existed. Lots of simple tasks, must come together, and this is what makes building websites such complicated process. Job duties can shift from person to person, but it is always subject to the clients approval.

Sometimes, web development is a no-win situation. Clients think they’re paying too much, Creative group doesn’t have the photos promised by the client, and Production doesn’t have the proofs from the Creative group. Good work has rarely come out of rushing products though a deadline, or having an adversarial relationship with a client. But it’s equally important for the client to be reasonable in their requests. Those that have a cooperative attitude can really help when problems arise. And all thought this creative process there will be problems on a daily basis.