With Web Development, Be Like A Boy Scout

Be prepared. Before you commit to a new site, the hours and anguish of development, pain and fun, set yourself up for success by creating a list of goals; functionality, time and money. Understand your vision clearly so that when you bring in others they can easily read what you are planning. Be flexible to others, and yourself.
I bring this up because over the weekend a friend called me with a new site he is creating and the simple “blog, river of news, contact forms”, within 2 emails, became increasingly more muddled and complex. Move back to square one, I recommended. Understand the base needs. Build a strong foundation and the rest of the house will stand tall.
Ah, all that sounds really nice, didn’t it?
Truth is it can be more like a battle in that every plan is laid out perfectly, then thrown out the window when the first bullet is fired. The best advice I could give my friend is to get exact instructions from their client, in writing. That way when the client states they want something else you have a basis for charging what you already did.

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