Set unrealistic deadlines! Don’t define your intended audience! Refuse to make decisions! Many of the ways you can mess up your new website or redesign are identical to the ways people fumble any endeavor.
After years of working with a diverse range of organizations and campaigns we’re here to enthusiastically report on the classic mistakes even the best organizers and communicators make when overseeing major website development (or redevelopment). We’ll hold your sweaty, fearful hand as we walk you through the entire life cycle of website development, ensuring that the end result is as expensive and ineffective as possible.
How to ensure your web project is a complete failure
1. How to Ensure Your Web Project
is a
Complete and Total Failure
brought to you by
Aaron Welch
and
2. Warning: the following presentation is ironic
It is intended to help you avoid repeating the mistakes that we
have seen clients make over the years. Obviously, vendors
are also on the hook for making mistakes and doing things
that put projects at risk. Hopefully this presentation will help
clients be better clients while we all strive to be better vendors
on our end.
How to ensure your web project is a complete
and total failure
Aaron Welch – welch@advomatic.com
3. Section 1: Deadlines
Rule #1: Set your launch date before determining
scope, budget or production schedule
(bonus! Plan and announce a high profile event that coincides
with this date - a gala for example, anything that will be sure
to embarrass you and waste a lot of money if the launch slips)
How to ensure your web project is a complete
and total failure
Aaron Welch – welch@advomatic.com
4. Section 1: Deadlines
Rule #2: Start late. For example, for a 6-8 month
project timeline, don't start looking for a vendor
until a few months out from launch
(Be sure to lead with this information, vendors *love* working
under pressure and will generally give you a price break.)
How to ensure your web project is a complete
and total failure
Aaron Welch – welch@advomatic.com
5. Section 1: Deadlines
Rule #3: Once you've set the launch date and any
other important milestones related to the project,
DO NOT COMMUNICATE THEM TO OTHERS!
(Wait until a week or so beforehand and then send an all-
caps email to everyone working on the project about the
looming deadline, sure to make heads explode. Perfect!)
How to ensure your web project is a complete
and total failure
Aaron Welch – welch@advomatic.com
6. Section 1: Deadlines
Rule #4: If all else fails, move the launch deadline
in the last few weeks of a project.
(If the vendor points out something in your agreement to the
contrary, tell them you remember discussing this early on on
a phone call and are not sure why they don't remember.)
How to ensure your web project is a complete
and total failure
Aaron Welch – welch@advomatic.com
7. Section 2: The Budget
Rule #1: Do not get help doing requirements
gathering to get a budget range. Instead, guess!
(Even better, do all the technical planning yourself, decide
how much it is worth, then send out an RFP with a fixed cost.)
How to ensure your web project is a complete
and total failure
Aaron Welch – welch@advomatic.com
8. Section 2: The Budget
Rule #2: Lowest bidder wins. Always.
(Seriously, all vendors basically outsource to India anyhow.)
How to ensure your web project is a complete
and total failure
Aaron Welch – welch@advomatic.com
9. Section 2: The Budget
Rule #3: DO NOT SHARE YOUR BUDGET
(If vendors know how much you have to spend, then they'll be
able to make recommendations that fit that range!)
How to ensure your web project is a complete
and total failure
Aaron Welch – welch@advomatic.com
10. Section 2: The Budget
Rule #4: Do not set aside a budget for additional
features, post-launch support, or training.
(These services should always be included, but not explicitly
outlined in any contract. Vendors assume this is part of any
scope of work, it's like tipping – rude to discuss outright.)
How to ensure your web project is a complete
and total failure
Aaron Welch – welch@advomatic.com
11. Section 2: The Budget
Rule #5: Hosting is cheap, the cheaper the better!
($30/mo is more than enough for pretty much any site.
Bonus: just ignore hosting until a few days before launch!)
How to ensure your web project is a complete
and total failure
Aaron Welch – welch@advomatic.com
12. Section 3: Project Management
Rule #1: Do not select a project lead internally
(Even better, select one who has no experience running
similar projects. Bonus: ensure they have another, totally
unrelated full-time job – this project should be a side thing)
How to ensure your web project is a complete
and total failure
Aaron Welch – welch@advomatic.com
13. Section 3: Project Management
Rule #2: Do not get sign-off from internal
stakeholders as decisions are made
(They are super busy, just show them everything at the end
when it's all done and get feedback then.)
How to ensure your web project is a complete
and total failure
Aaron Welch – welch@advomatic.com
14. Section 3: Project Management
Rule #3: Rely on your vendor to handle internal
communications and decision making
(That's why you are paying for all that “project management”
time, which is sort of b.s. anyway. Get your money's worth!)
How to ensure your web project is a complete
and total failure
Aaron Welch – welch@advomatic.com
15. Section 3: Project Management
Rule #4: Do not read anything
(Contracts, technical plans, meeting minutes – all busy work
designed to pass the buck along to you, don't stand for it!)
How to ensure your web project is a complete
and total failure
Aaron Welch – welch@advomatic.com
16. Section 4: Vendor Relations
Rule #1: Pay late and demand the unreasonable
(See how long it takes your vendor to bring up the invoices
that are due, and when they do ask about pushing the project
team to work weekends and evenings – just see if they will!)
How to ensure your web project is a complete
and total failure
Aaron Welch – welch@advomatic.com
17. Section 4: Vendor Relations
Rule #2: Talk about your ex
(Any time you can work into the conversation how much
cheaper and/or better the other vendors you talked to were
will ensure the one you have works hard to keep you happy!)
How to ensure your web project is a complete
and total failure
Aaron Welch – welch@advomatic.com
18. Section 4: Vendor Relations
Rule #3: Divide and conquer
(Play team members and management against each other by
sending email directly to them and not keeping everyone on
the team in the loop. Eventually, you will get free work out of it
as they eat each other alive!)
How to ensure your web project is a complete
and total failure
Aaron Welch – welch@advomatic.com
19. Section 4: Vendor Relations
Rule #4: Communications
(Do not read any email, there will be too many, and they are
too technical anyway. If you need an update, send an ALL
CAPS EMAIL TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK)
How to ensure your web project is a complete
and total failure
Aaron Welch – welch@advomatic.com
20. Comments or Questions?
Yay! There is:
www.advomatic.com
twitter.com/advomatic
How to ensure your web project is a complete
and total failure
Aaron Welch – welch@advomatic.com
Editor's Notes
Disclaimer – this presentation is meant to poke fun of the things that we have seen clients do over the years that seem to boggle the mind, and appear almost meant to intentionally throw their projects off track. Obviously, vendors are just as on the hook for making mistakes and doing things that put projects at risk, but hopefully this will help clients be better clients while we strive to be better vendors on our end.
Many projects, despite the best efforts of the stakeholders, vendors and various parties involved manage to eventually get off the ground. To be a complete and total failure requires dedication, and following some simple rules that will ensure utter disaster. All of these things have happened at one point or another on various projects over the years at Advomatic. Hopefully by sharing these stories with you, they will help ensure that your web project is a complete and total failure also.
A lot of time this is not the reality, and orgs don't have the resources internally for this – regardless, they should be realistic about the time and energy required on their end to make the project a success