Strategy
It's important to have a solid process in place to manage a web development project. While we have a process that served us well over the years, we expect to adapt to your needs and the requirements of your project.
After initial discussions and introductions, we try to establish what is needed, and how we fit in. Once we've all agreed we'd like to work together, a 'statement of intent' (and any NDA's you might have) are signed, so that we can confidently allocate time to investigate your project. Then we set you up with an account in our project management system, and exchange contact information so we can stay in touch.
Phase 1 - Planning
- Establish the specifications of the project
- Any platform decisions that are required are made here
- Break the specifications into a timeline with targets and goals. Costs are finalized at this point and agreements finalized. We require a deposit, depending on the size of the job.
- Establish the interface design in prototype form
- Any specific Search Engine Optimization goals are outlined so that we can work with them in mind.
Phase 2 - Development Round 1
- Interfaces created as soon as possible, we like to get to "Hello World" with the framework and interface as fast as possible
- We work methodically through the timeline prepared in step 1, with a focus on feature development and completion.
- As features are ready, we hand them off for testing as we move along.
- An established plan of interim reporting is followed.
- We respond to testing feedback as part of the development cycle, so bugs found in testing will be fixed quickly.
Phase 3 - Development Round 2
Often as a site takes shape new ideas for functionality emerge. We can either create a second round with the same steps as Phase 1, or leave this as a "V2" project after launch.
Phase 4 - Quality Assurance
Depending on the nature of the project, this is where final usability tests and tweaking take place, as well as final debugging and browser testing.
We'll ensure:
- That your site is secure, and that potential exploits have been locked down.
- The site works across all major browsers
- That your site meets appropriate accessibility checkpoints
- If your site is mobile-aware, we'll test on your target devices.
Phase 5 - Deployment
- We'll "soft-launch" to the staging server, and then to production, to make sure everything is working correctly.
- We can coordinate 'private betas' if required.
- A backup system is put in place, and the deployment method is documented.
After launch, we're here for you
Our hand-over package includes all source files, critical documentation, passwords, etc. Depending on your wishes, you can retain us for ongoing maintenance, or roll out upgrades in version, which we'd plan and budget for individually.
For many projects, we offer 30 days of free change requests, and will fix bugs free, for the life of the delivered code.