The Work Process

In any sizable building process, it is very important to have a blueprint and a set of priorities to guide the process to the right destination, leading to both client and developer success. Having a developer with plenty of previous experience in dealing with these issues can make the difference between total chaos and feeling like the project is on the right track. This is why I've developed a work process that, when followed, will highly increase the chances of both the client's and builder's satisfaction level at the end of the project.

Styles and Standards

I have worked professionally on over 50 sizable web projects, and many other small maintenance and adjustment jobs during my 6-year career developing web sites and applications. During my experience freelancing as a web developer in Los Angeles (Hollywood, Santa Monica, Culver City, Burbank, Long Beach, Downtown, Beverly Hills, etc.), I have had the advantage over "steady-jobbers" of working with many different company teams over short time spans - maybe 10 or 12 in a year - with big teams, small teams, two-person teams, remote teams, and of course, solo - all mixed in with a dozen different project management styles and standards. I have had the chance to pick up the best of the best and to witness the absolute worst of the worst.

Observations

Of all of the teams that I have worked with in my career, those that put the necessary effort into a defined work process were always much happier and seemed more healthy walking around during the day - sometimes without realizing that their projects always being "on track" was partly responsible for their bliss. They also had repeat customers. Those that ignored any structure or discipline or that were "too busy" for detail, and whose actions were driven by emotion, were always late on everything, were reprimanded constantly, worried, and always worked in messy environments (physical, and otherwise). From my vantage point, I was able to discern key traits of the different operations that I'd keep, and traits that I would discard in my further development career. In most cases, both sets of people were always friendly and acted as if they had everything under control, so this is not a personal judgement. But there were clear winners of this game, due to the results they achieved. Renegade Multimedia is one of those winners.

Let's Go

I'll outline a process that is a mix of what I learned during my time in the field, emphasising good communication, a flexible module pattern, and clear goal determination.

The Process - Described

1. The Baseline: It's important to establish a baseline for what the project is going to be made of. Is it a Facebook widget that does function a, b and c? Is it a web site that has 6 tabs: a, b, c, d, e and f with one video player that does a, b and c on page c? Et cetera... The baseline will determine what work will have to go in to the project, how long it will take, and how much it will cost. I have invented a sample baseline for clients needing a web site. There are commonalities between what features most of my clients are requesting and what they are expecting, in the end. I call it the Renegade Basic Site, and I've packed it with everything that you need but without making any assumptions about your specialized needs - the baseline...

2. Expectations: The importance of the baseline is to form a set of expectations for the project - and, the importance of the expectations that are set is threefold:

   1. We both establish a "track" to stay on - a clear set of goals for us to accomplish,
   2. It allows me to estimate how long the project will take without surprises near the end - adding to satisfaction, and finally,
   3. Achievement of milestones will be broadcast to you when they are complete - letting you know where we are at in the process along the way.

3. Wireframes: All clients that I have worked with in the past have come to me, in the beginning, with some idea of what end result they are looking for upon completion of the project. If you have an idea, but are unsure of the details, no problem - we can start right there. However, it is going to be necessary to actually flesh out the details before construction is started. So, that's what wireframing is for! We can sit down together - either over the phone, over email, or over coffee - and work those details out in a few hours. I will draw up a sketch of the site and its functionality very specifically (either in pencil or with computer graphics), and then we can tweak the model from there.

   Once we are happy with the way things are looking, I'll estimate the time and cost, schedule it in, and send you an official Work Specification. It will also include the full terms and legal info that you will be interested in. Once you sign and date the form, the project will be rolling!

4. Changes and Add-Ons: Once we're underway and working on the project, there may be some additions that you'd like to make due to some last-minute inspiration. That's fine to do. I'll determine if the changes in question are vital to the architecture that we decided upon, or if they can be treated as an add-on. If the change is deep enough to be an architectural change (such as HTML-to-Flash, a complex new feature, or art theme change), I'll re-draw the wireframe, including the changes and we'll proceed as before. Otherwise, if the change is determined to be an add-on (such as a Video Player or Photo Gallery), we can draw up a new draft once we've completed the core project. This is no problem - it is often that a last-minute add-on turns out to be one of the coolest things about the project.

5. Estimating Projects: Renegade's estimation process is based on experience and market rate combined. The hours involved in building each subset of the work can be estimated by referring back to logs and previous projects to calculate the total time needed to sucessfully complete the subset. The fee scale is weighted over an hourly rate. Depending on the difficulty of the subset of work in question, the expenses incurred, or the expected troubleshooting, the modifier is weighted heavier or lighter, and then applied to the hourly rate. From there, the total is calculated, and a fee is evaluated.

6. Payment: Payment is not due until the project is complete. By project, I mean as defined by any current Work Specification. However, on projects that last more than a month or so, 50% may be due at some pre-determined milestone that I'll deliver. The Work Spec will specify everything you'll need to know, before we start.

7. Summary: This process is focused towards delivering the right stuff - on time. I'll need you to help me put your vision into words, and I'll execute the project to the best of my ability. During our sessions, we will come up with how your your project should look, fell, and act. You don't need to get into technical details, but only tell me what you need to happen - and it will be done. First, I'll draw up a wireframe that we'll deliberate over. We'll get the right idea, and then, with your permission, we'll pull the trigger. I'll inform you of all of the major milestones accomplished along our pre-determined path, as we go. Near the end of the project, we'll settle, and then you can decide to go live with it, or continue on to another set of add-ons or upgrades. Please visit the Services section to see all of the beautiful things you can do to enhance your site!