Before you begin: assessing your web idea

January 2nd, 2008

It’s not uncommon that clients who approach me needing a web site or application have no idea what’s involved in creating their particular project. This can often to lead to a bit of embarrassment on behalf of the client because he or she may not want to show a lack of technical knowledge (for fear of looking stupid).

It’s really important to get past that hang up because proper assessment of a project ensures that it’s lifespan will run smoothly. This saves the client money, and the programmer a lot of extra hours of unneeded coding.

When it comes to site development, almost anything is possible from the outset in terms of functionality and technology; however, the more you devote yourself to a particular path when developing the site, the more stringent the parametres become. This is intensified even more when budgets are taken into consideration.

Not to get to philosophical, but it’s kind of like life itself. When you are 20, single, and fresh out of high school, life’s paths are virtually unlimited. You could go to college, or travel, or start your own business. You could party, or get into a relationship, or stay single, or be in many relationships! Essentially, if you choose a particular path and don’t like it, it’s fairly easy to change gears again at 24.  But the older you get and the more you devote yourself to a particular path, then the harder it becomes to undo what you have done. It’s not impossible (though in fact some things actually are impossible by that point), but it is definitely a lot more difficult.

Site development always has a project life span. The more you devote to particular method of building the site, and the farther along you go in the project, the more difficult it becomes to make major structural changes late in the game without hours and hours of programming and designing, or just starting from scratch altogether. Later in the project, you may have less options regarding what the site can do technically or in its functionality. Asking your developer what is or is not possible at that stage never hurts either.

Essentially, this is where project assessment becomes vital. If you and your developer plan correctly and have a clear idea of what the site is to do in the beginning stages, you can really minimize this particular type of stress, which usually surfaces after the midway point of the project.

Entry Filed under: Project Management, Site Development