Planning and producing web apps – don’t be your own worst enemy

April 2nd, 2009   Posted by charles in Business, Tutorials

We published this as a whitepaper a while back, but feel it still has the power to benefit any organization involved with planning and producing a web development initiative.

Perhaps the most costly and painful experience for any company initiating a new web project are the planning and launching phases. In the case of planning, different departments within the company (too many in some cases) are invited to early conceptual and business objective meetings. Each person has a different perspective. Each person has a different level of expertise. Personal and professional agendas get in the way, too. Draft after draft, plan after plan go by the wayside with no agreement. After several months, it is likely the company still has no consensus blueprint and no vendor. The new web application seems farther away than ever.

It doesn’t have to be this way. But it often is.

Here we’ll explore some simple ways your organization can avoid the problems in the example above. Effective planning means more than generating flowcharts, analyzing market space, and generating a budget. It means managing people – your people. Maximize the contributions of each of your internal team members by first laying some easy-to-follow ground rules.

Identify team members and build chemistry

Deliberately set out to name each person who will sit in your planning phase meetings. Map out which department they come from and what their level of expertise is. It is not helpful to have a team member resist an aspect of the plan and then admit two weeks later that ‘he didn’t really understand that part of it.’

Avoid changing team members midway through the project also. Just like a good basketball coach doesn’t like to change his lineup midway through a season, you should emphasize continuity and team work over individual styles or department agendas.

Champion the cause

One of the biggest obstacles facing most web site projects is the lack of accessibility to the person in charge. Plans that took weeks or months to bring to fruition can be tossed onto the junk heap by a decision-maker who was not part of the formation process.

Not long ago, a very large company based in Colorado began planning and development for its six-figure web site. A team was identified, a vendor / consultant hired (us), and work was begun. Eight weeks later, with the architecture complete, the interface design complete, and HTML production 90% finished, the entire site was displayed to the real decision-maker in the company – the CEO. After only a few moments of contemplation, he vetoed everything that his employees and subcontractors had already completed – at great cost. The site’s color scheme, he argued, had to be identical to the colors of a local football team. Eventually, the site was completed, but not without unnecessary financial and emotional strain for everyone involved.

The problem was that the decision maker in the company was too busy to get involved, yet he maintained final authority over the project. Inevitably communication broke down between him and his team. Each decision they made, he undid a month later.

A better way is for the decision maker to champion the cause of the new site. He/She should be involved in the formation process of the site’s architecture, branding and functionality. They should always articulate their vision for the site to all members of the team. They should be attentive to team members’ feedback. They should know their vendor and make expectations very clear. If none of this is possible given one’s busy schedule, then it is imperative to give authority to someone else. Couple that authority with accountability and you have successfully delegated management of the project.

Structure the working relationship

Another great way to avoid internal disputes during web application planning and development is to structure the working relationship between departments and individuals. Too often in the past, departments have come to loggerheads over the direction of a project. Then, the decision maker for the group allows one department to trump the other. His/Her first thought is, ‘I did the right thing. We’re back on the highway.’ The truth is, you may be back on the highway, but you’re leaving key people behind at the rest stop.

Instead, work only on consensus. This can difficult at times, but in the long run it saves money, time and frustration. Schedule regular review and needs sessions with regard to the development project. Give each department time to report on their activity within the project and ask any questions. Then identify the list of items that require a decision for that meeting. Each item should require a vote before adjournment. In other words, get quick, concrete sign-offs to every part of your project from all involved departments. This allows for a smooth work flow from one phase of the project to the next. Better, it gets every department down on the record regarding past decisions. That makes back-tracking (one of a web site’s most fatal afflictions) nearly impossible.

Hire an expert

Building a web application that serves the technological and business needs of an organization is a lot harder than people think. Many employees will volunteer to head up things, or construct things, they are not prepared for. It is always true that bringing in an experienced consultant / developer is the fastest, cheapest and best way to build a web site, it is especially so if you determine that no one in your company is very experienced at that sort of thing.

An outside consultant / developer can effectively listen to each department’s needs and concerns and translate them into a plan that wins consensus. He/She can serve as judge and jury when internal teams clash, reasoning with them over larger goals and proven methods for reaching them. He/She imparts good work habits and productive thought processes to the previously inexperienced team. Apart from all this, he/she frees you up to focus on other important things.

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Perhaps you have served on the cobbled committees of a company or organization that put together a complex web project recently. We’d love to hear about your experience and your ideas about how to improve the process!

Last 5 posts by charles

2 Responses to “Planning and producing web apps – don’t be your own worst enemy”

  1. NIKITAKTAK  February 23rd, 2010

    Good design blog. Author fellow, will be your constant visitor. I learned many interesting thanks.

  2. Lena O  February 23rd, 2010

    This is a nice design. Where did you get the theme from? I’m looking for a similar design for my blog.

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