Our Development Process Methodology

I have put together this document to help my potential clients and employers understand my typical approach to dealing with a project. I have found through experience of building both static and dynamic sites over the past few years that following these steps assures a greater chance of overall project success.

The One Liner

Writing a plan for a web site is much like writing a business plan. The One Liner is the mission statement of the project. It is important that my clients be able to elaborate in a single sentence (or very short paragraph) the point of their project.

Brainstorming

During a brainstorming session, we discuss the mission statement, the goals of the project, and all possible tangents that could possibly be involved in reaching those goals.

Wish List

After a brainstorming session, I draft a list of top-level features. We then prioritize the features and, if necessary, divide them out into phases. Phasing a project provides you with the opportunity to budget your project over a longer period of time.

Pairing Down

This is a reality check step where I come up with some very rough estimates to make sure you understand the time involved in taking on the project. I discuss which features take up the most time, which features are mission critical, and which, if any, bells and whistles can be removed without a significant impact upon the overall goals of the project.

Written Specifications

Functional specifications MUST be created prior to beginning any work at all. To use the analogy of building a house, you would never build a house without a blueprint, nor should you ever build a site without a plan. Specifications are time consuming, and therefore must be paid for by the client. Based upon the information I have collected in meetings with you up to this point, I can assess approximately how long the specifications will take to develop and agree to a fixed bid for the development of the specifications. The process of documenting continues until you are satisfied that the written specification matches your present needs exactly. Once you agree that the specification is correct, I then provide you with an exact bid for the project. I will also create a project schedule detailing the tasks involved in the project.

Screenflows

I create a series of non-functional screen flows that represent the functional specification. The purpose of this exercise is to work out any last minute misunderstandings of the specifications prior to beginning any programming or graphics work on the site. It is vital to the success of the project to make sure you understand what you will be receiving. This phase also gives you the opportunity to actually see the work before it has begun.

Functional Structure

Once you have signed off on the screen flows, I then create the functional skeleton of the application. There are no graphics introduced into the application until this phase is complete and you have signed off on the functionality of the site. The look and feel, layout, graphics, etc. can be created simultaneously and separately during this phase, but they will not be integrated into the functionality until they are complete and you have signed off on them.

The Façade

Once you have signed off on both the functional structure and the look and feel aspects of the site, I then integrate the two together to create a complete site.

Final Review / Bug Fixing

During the debugging phase, I develop a plan to test the site against all aspects of the functional specification. You will also be responsible for testing and will then sign a final document indicating that the site is complete according to your expectations. I will correct any problems that are associated with functionality specifically noted in the specifications. I would also notify you of any changes which are beyond the scope of work, what impact those changes would have upon the system, and approximately how much additional time would be required to incorporate those changes. It is important to remember that changes are something we both want to avoid. I will generally recommend that changes should occur within a second work phase rather than causing a delay in launch to incorporate the changes. However, you are the client and I respect your wishes.

Open House

The site is moved to its final location, tested again, and deployed.