Last week, I spoke about the process and what is included in our Discovery Document. When building a site, having all the content upfront is crucial to a cohesive brand. Hitting the completion deadlines is just as important, so I thought this week it would be a good idea to speak about the web design timeline.
What are the Deadlines and Timelines for?
Holidays and Events
Many types of businesses have “hot” quarters; times of the year when their business soars. Subsequently, there are “cool” quarters. The fourth quarter is “hot” for sales of toys and games. June through August are “hot” travel months in the northern hemisphere. The first and third quarter is when tax accountants are in high demand. Website design timelines should be set to be completed and tested in plenty of time to prepare for these temperature fluctuations, as they vary from 5-10 weeks and up, depending on the complexity of the site. If you want to be ready for the winter holiday season, get your site in the development pipeline in early summer. Inevitable issues can arise, and you don’t want to be caught with an unfinished site just when Grandma wants to purchase that special toy for Christmas. For Accountants, late spring after the April deadline is the best time to get started on a new website.
Changing Trends
Design trends change quickly when it comes to websites. 360WD tries to create visual design layouts and colors to last, but features, transitions and search optimization features change and get better every few months. The sooner you can get your site launched, the more current it will be. Prepare your content in the weeks and months leading up to the start of production so the launch is on time.
Dominoes
When the website contract is signed, it sets up a series of process phases similar to dominoes. These phases are standing in a row waiting for the previous phase to tap and push the motion forward. If one part of production stops, a domino can shift or fall to the side. Then when it is time to move again, someone will need to go back in and assess the situation, and set the dominoes back into place, and back into motion. This all costs time and money for the reset, which is not built into the original contract.
Keeping Order
We all have a job to do. While programmers are building code for requested features, the designer is working on the next level of layout and flow. The content writer should be completing their job as the site goes into the Live production phase. It is like a symphony. If the trombone doesn’t hit their notes on time, it can throw the whole group off.
Project Bunching
As web developers, we create timelines based upon other projects in the pipeline. If a client is late with a review or content, projects start bunching. The team at 360 WEB DESIGNS wants to give each customer and new site design the time and attention it deserves for a high quality product. Bunching causes the team to be stretched thinner across all areas. To keep quality and the flow working well, the project that is “off” the timeline, may be required to pay a dropped deadline fee to keep it in the queue, since extra employees may have to be brought in to complete the out of order project.
Reset, Restart or Dropped Deadline Fee
Most web companies charge a fee if the ball gets dropped. For all the reasons above the Dropped Deadline Fee is to pay for the cost of reviewing and restarting projects that fall off the timeline. Since there are a number of production sites going on at once, it takes time for employees to go back and re-familiarize themselves with a stalled project. A project becomes “stalled” within a week of timelines not being met. This is time that was not budgeted into the contract.
Best Advice
The best advice I can give is if you are writing your own content, or gathering your own photos and images, start this either months ahead of the web timeline, or immediately after signing the contract. Prepare, prepare, prepare.
