Comments on: Web design business mistakes: Establishing clear practices

By: Lessons learned the hard way in project management | pmStudent

Lessons learned the hard way in project management | pmStudent — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:32:54 +0000

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By: » Three Reasons Why Not To Sign Non Disclosure Agreements | Devmarks

» Three Reasons Why Not To Sign Non Disclosure Agreements | Devmarks — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:36:42 +0000

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By: Devmarks | jjriv

Devmarks | jjriv — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:03:16 +0000

[...] Web design business mistakes: Establishing clear practices 06.03.09 | Speak | [...]

By: David Brunelle

David Brunelle — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:19:44 +0000

Thanks John – I’ve actually downloaded the maintenance contract. It’s good stuff. I think what I’m looking for are better examples of scope documents. I’ve run in to problems in the following areas:

- If I indicate “search” capabilities in a scope document, some clients can have expectations about how search should function and perform that may not be realistic. How much detail do you go in to about specific features? How do you find the balance between too much detail vs being too vague.

- How do you define, in your scope documents, when a project is “complete” and how do you balance being assertive vs. being adversarial when it comes to handling items that are “out of scope”?

- How do you protect yourself from delays caused by the client or, even worse, an incorrect assumption being made in the estimation process?

All pretty bit questions I’ve been struggling with lately. All the more reason to work on a time and materials basis I guess!

By: John Reeve

John Reeve — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:18:25 +0000

David,

Take a look at our maintenance contract template that we released a few weeks ago. There should be some good legalese you can use.

http://www.myintervals.com/blog/2009/02/10/steal-this-web-design-and-development-time-and-materials-maintenance-contract-template/

By: David Brunelle

David Brunelle — Sun, 31 May 2009 21:16:59 +0000

Timely post. I’ve found myself having a really hard time dealing with client delays lately. Luckily, I haven’t had any clients withhold payment. However, if a client delays a project it’s almost a as good as withholding payment. I’m trying to find a good way of dealing with this.

Do you have any intention of releasing templates during this series? I’m always interested in seeing what other people’s SOW’s look like. Sometimes I feel as though I’m giving too much detail. Sometimes not enough. Looking for that sweet spot.

By: John Reeve

John Reeve — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:40:54 +0000

Very good points. But I would advise against hosting your own projects. The responsibility of maintaining servers and/or hosting payment plans for your clients can be overwhelming and distract you from doing the actual work of web design and development.

By: h3

h3 — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:07:20 +0000

1) Host your projects, so if they don’t pay you can always pull the plug.
2) Ask to be paid in two or three payments, one *before* starting the project, one at mid-project and a last *before* deploying the project. So even if they disappear, you wont lose everything.
3) You shouldn’t don’t sell a software or website, you sell your time. You make a proposition that fits their needs and budget, you say that’s around Y hours, which means around Y price. Inform them that any changes to the initial specification directly impact the final price. Keep your client updated continuously on how much hours there’s left. That’s great for shutting up micro-managers because they see the budget sinking as their delirium kicks in.

The last thing you want is to sell a website/software because as the project progress the client will always try to redefine what that website/software is supposed to be.

Your worst enemies are micro-managers and committees. They will suck the profitability out of your business faster than crackhore in need for a fix.

By: Web design business mistakes: Establishing clear practices | Project management and time tracking blog for web designers and small business :: the Intervals Blog by Pelago

Thu, 28 May 2009 17:38:03 +0000

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By: design:related - Web design business mistakes: Establishing clear practices

design:related - Web design business mistakes: Establishing clear practices — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:33:05 +0000

[...] Web design business mistakes: Establishing clear practices Source: http://www.myintervals.com| Tags: Interactive Design Business [...]

By: Design / Upcoming

Design / Upcoming — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:09:08 +0000

[...] Web design business mistakes: Establishing clear practices myintervals.com — The prerequisite for any client project should be to have a clear and open line of communication and established guidelines.More… (Design) 0 Comments Share [...]