Do you know how to order websites?
How to determine the functionality and choose a CMS? What to look for when contacting the studio? How to understand why one resource costs $500 and another $5000?
Thematic forums often discuss how performers work when creating commissioned web projects, customers’ behavior, and conflicts. Everyone does the same thing, and there is usually no mutual understanding between the developer and the client. As a result, many projects break deadlines, require more significant investment, and, as a result, their quality and economic effect of the launch are worse than expected. What to do?
What to do to order the website correctly
That’s right – it means to get what you want, at the right time and with sufficient quality of product and services.
1. State your goal
- What do you want to get?
- What audience is your product intended for?
- What do you want to achieve in a year or two?
- What tasks will you solve online, which – only in the offline part of the business? How can these measures change in the next year or two?
- What changes in the offered goods and services do you forecast?
- What web product management opportunities will you keep for the employees you hire for contractors?
The result of goal formulation should be the concept of the project, setting the task at the top level — it lai out in 5 minutes. On paper, it takes precisely one sheet. Do not try to write a multi-volume TOR. At the moment, it not require.
The main questions — who, when, what, and for what purposes will do with the development of the future web project.
2. Select the appropriate performers
- Adequate – means those who charge for their work. Estimate how many person-months it takes to produce the product you need, estimate the cost of paying one month for a qualified professional in your area, and add taxes, rent, communications, advertising, and a reasonable profit.
- Adequate – so they have a clear portfolio and focus on the market of web services. There should be at least one job in the portfolio that is similar in complexity to yours.
- Adequate – so they focus on those business tasks you plan to solve and express their views.
3. Sign a contract
If possible with a lawyer, the contract should read to draw the attention of developers to everything that you think is incomprehensible, redundant, incorrect, unwritten. No one will throw you on purpose, but it is essential that you and the developer equally understand all the vital details. Feel free to ask for important moments to be recorded.
Critical: timing, cost, technical support, and reuse of what will do for you. Cases of outright fraud are rare, but the rupture of relations due to misunderstandings is very common. The contract must specify: what, when, by whom, and for what money will do. In large contracts, each issue cover by the annex (amounts, technical specifications, schedule, sequence of interaction, responsible persons).
After all the correspondence, if the customer works with a freelancer, they should write a letter describing the work, deadlines, and payment and send it to him. He must answer: yes, everything is accurate. It will be a contract.
4. Prepare to contribute
The customer must do many, many things:
- transfer all materials available to you and necessary for the project in a form understandable to all. A stack of yellow paper or “Petya is in the warehouse. He will tell you everything” is not good. Respect the developer.
- do not place making your responsibility on the performer. The contractor is obliged to advise you, offer options, say nothing without hiding about the pros, cons, features, and consequences of actions (the better he does it – the higher his level), but you decide. Depending on the adopted model, you will either make the preliminary decision, “the contractor is responsible for everything, up to the percentage of profit” or you will consciously choose between Joomla and Drupal and the color of all banners. You must make decisions intentionally, with the confidence that you do not buy the cat in the bag, and be responsible for their choices.
5. Delegate authority
- developer. Do not try to control every step. Do not demand a daily report and do not ask, “why does it leave here so much?”. Do not try to check and make sure of the quality of each comma. The situation in web technologies is such that, in general, your problem will solve, but some specific instructions that seem natural and straightforward will be almost impossible to follow. After all, you chose professionals? So they do not fuss and do not charge the price, but say as-is: it is impossible to do, or it is better not to do. Trust the professionalism of your chosen people.
- to its employees. If your project is large, you will not work alone. You can have a deputy, a wife, a secretary, a photographer, a commodity expert, or a full-time designer. Decide in advance what you and only you will decide, and what – your colleagues. You can close all the decisions only to yourself, but then the quality will deteriorate, and the time – will increase. If you have given authority – try not to take them back. Do not terrorize the project with impulsive decisions.
6. Don’t forget to take a job and pay
The project often hangs at the “85% ready” stage but full of bugs, and everything climbs everywhere. Then the developers shout, the project manager is nervous, the customer is waiting with fear. If so, give people a week, they will do a lot.
If you occasionally see uncritical mistakes, errors, something that annoys you, but in principle, meets the objectives, goals, and common sense, be honest and generous, accept and pay for the work.
It is not the last time you have worked with these people, and the worst thing you can do is drag the reception to the last comma. First, next time you will be billed with a markup on the category of “wanker, + 100%”, and secondly, often, such “last bugs” do not matter but require an effort comparable to the whole project. Compromise.
What should the customer and the contractor not do?
Agree to the proposals in the style of “I understand. I’ll do tomorrow.” Option – “well, before the session for sure” and offers, the price of which is lower than the market average by more than two times. The chances of getting a low-quality product, with a threefold delay and an error on the main page, increase sharply. Free cheese – well, further in the text.
- Give 100% prepayment. Even in the presence of a contract and conscience, the executor of cowardice, laziness, and greed can leave you alone in a crisis with an unfinished project, offering to sue.
- Start without prepayment. People who are willing to start working without an advance either do not appreciate their work or trust you endlessly.
- Sign without reading. The consequences are apparent. The ‘90s are over. You will not threaten anyone, but for the processing of the adopted will have to pay, and twice – with money and lost time.
- To believe that the website is a panacea for all ills and a direct path to a million dollars. Any web project is nothing more than a tool. A special, specific, but tool. He will not replace you with a commodity expert, director, or logistics, with accounting. With proper goal setting and planning, he can save a lot of effort by taking on these characters’ routine and mechanical operations. You pay for it.
- Get the situation out of control. Always know who is responsible for each question. When creating a website, you will interact (possibly through intermediaries) with many services and organizations. You do not have to know the host administrator personally, but you need to know exactly who to ask. And let him know too. And rest assured that he knows what you know. And so on. The paradox is that people often require coordination of each pixel on the logo, even though they do not distinguish the domain from the provider. In the case of problems-overlays-bases are not ready. You must either understand the distribution of roles in the project yourself or have a trustee who oversees the situation. Let it be the same artist who makes the website, says responsibility, gives authority and pays for this work.
Both the customer and the developer are interested in the project. Let’s work in concert.