I know, it has been a while, but I have been busy. Right now, I am waiting for my client to finish something so I can get back to work.
This brings me to the subject of clients. How can prospective clients do a better job of having a successful project.
First, they need to know what they want. I have seen so many times an RFP (request for proposal) that states the job as “Create a Web Page”. What does this mean? I have no idea. It could be a single page or it could be a complete site of ten or more pages.
If a buyer doesn’t know what they want, they either need to figure it out so they can specify it to the prospective consultants or they should spend a little money and hire someone to figure this out. They need to know how many pages, have a site flow (what page goes to what page), an idea of the technology they want to use such as static HTML or some type of server side scripting, and if they need a database and how is it structured.
They need to understand that this will cost some money so a reasonable budget should be alloted. I would figure that it could take a week or two for this effort and that it would cost up to $4000.00. That’s right, $4000.00 US. It may cost less but this is the most important step in the porject. Without a good specification and project plan, the rest is just wasted money. If you decide to tackle this step yourself, be prepared to pay $500.00 to $1000.00 to have a consultant verify your plan and make recommendations on how to improve it.
Second, break up the project implementation into manageable pieces. Ask yourself, what is the minimum that I need to implement to get started. This might be as simple as the home page and the site template. This part can be done quite quickly. If you decide to use a CMS (content management system) for the basis of your project, that will require a specific skill site but it may be worth it in the long run in that later phases of the project will proceed more quickly and with less effort. The drawback of a CMS is that you may be required to do more customization to create the final application.
Third, reuse, reuse, reuse. There are a lot of solutions out there that have already been developed. If you don’t know how to select the appropriate packages, a consultant can help you find packages that will provide some of the functionality that you require. I can guarentee that these packages will have to be customized and the ease of customization should be a consideration when selecting a package. Customizing a package is a lot easier than building a new package from scratch.
Fourth, the cheapest price is not necessarily the lowest cost. This is one of the reasons that you want to implement the project in phases. This will give you a chance to evaluate the quality of the consultant. If the consultant doesn’t come up to your expectations, hire a new consultant to fix what the first consultant did. You may also want to have the consultant the you used for the specification evaluate the code that was written. It may look right in the browser, but if it is not implemented in a clear and efficient manner, you may have problems with later phases.
Consider the effect of time zones on the implementation of a project. You may be able to find a really inexpensive consultant half way around the world, but communication with these people can cause problems. Email is a great form of communication, but the time lag between question and answer can cause delays in the implementation. There may also be language problems. It may be well worth the $25-$50 per hour that you would spend for a good local (as in the same timezone) consultant as opposed to the $10-$15 per hour for one halfway around the world. This effect can be lessened by a good specification and the hiring of a reliable and capable consultant but be prepared to throw they’re work out if it doesn’t come up to the standards I have layed out here.
One of the most important item that the consultant has to provide is well covumented code. If the web site is being implemented in php or java, the documentation must be flagged for phpdoc or javadoc. It must also be understandable.
Fifth, test the web site. Do allocate time for debugging and testing of the web site. This phase can be as much as half of the project if not more. The creation of a test plan the will help this phase go smoothly and efficiently. This is another task for your initial consultant. The test plan must be complete and specify checks for error conitions as well as proper functioning. The worst thing your users can see is a blank page when they try to load your web site. I have seen it too many times.
Make sure the site operates properly with error display on. Php allows some of the error messages to be turned off. Just because the error isn’t displayed doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.
So, to summarize:
- Know what you want and what technologies you will use to implement it. Prepare a design document.
- Break up the project into phases.
- Use existing packages that fill your needs but be ready to customize them.
- The cheapest proposal is not neccessarily the lowest cost.
- Test and Test again.