Closing keynote given at Render conference, March 2017. http://2017.render-conf.com As creators of the web, our teams aim to understand challenges, opportunities and requirements, and translate these into technical solutions to build. But what happens when we start looking beyond this, using the website itself as a starting point rather than as the end of our journey? Websites are often a great barometer for wider underlying issues, and by exploring common problems and root causes we can seek to spark fundamental change that can ultimately feed back into our longer-term success. Using a set of practical examples and case studies we’ll pull at some potential threads of failure, looking at how to create more sustainably for the future.

1. Websites are a symptom,
not the cause
RENDER CONFERENCE. MARCH 2017
Sally Jenkinson @sjenkinson

2. Hello!
@sjenkinson

4. “HealthCare.gov, the $630 million online
insurance marketplace, was a disaster after it
went live…”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/us/politics/inside-the-race-to-rescue-a-health-site-and-obama.html
New York Times

5. “The rollout of Healthcare.gov in 2013 under
former President Barack Obama, to name a related
example, was a disaster.”
https://newrepublic.com/article/141203/trumpcare-already-dead
New Republic

6. “Even Obamacare supporters had their faith
shaken by Obama’s broken promises about
keeping existing plans, premiums declining by
$2,500, and the disastrous website roll-out.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/01/is-obamacare-just-a-branding-problem/512936/
The Atlantic

7. “The first step is to get rid of Obamacare, which
was a total disaster," Gianti said. "It was designed
to fail, and taxpayers had to waste money on that
failed healthcare.gov website.”
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/trump-inauguration-attendees-cheer-failed-socialist-experiment
TPM

8. When websites
have problems,
people
remember.

9. When your website project
becomes synonymous with failure

11. “Bad impressions and bad stereotypes
are quicker to form and more
resistant to disconfirmation
than good ones.”
Roy F. Baumeister, Ellen Bratslavsky, Catrin Finkenauer, Kathleen D. Vohs
BAD IS STRONGER THAN GOOD

12. Turn this focus to your advantage

13. Don’t just make websites.
Use websites to point you in the direction
of everything that could be better.
Use web technologies to start thinking
outside of limited approaches.

14. Identifying issues01
02
03
04
Why do any problems exist?
How can we apply our web thinking elsewhere?
How do we make things better?

15. Identifying issues
1Uncovering everything that could be better

20. Technical discovery

21. There are
so many
factors to
consider on
any project
recordssoundthesame.com/wp-content/
uploads/2013/04/startingpoints-FINAL.pdf

22. Digital transformation

23. Using a website as a lens

24. “The system that got implemented was
far too inflexible, so we’ve had to either
stay be limited by it or come up with
workarounds.”

25. “We have to go back to our agency’s
developers for every little change. This
is expensive and takes forever.”

26. “The site launched, but it’s incredibly
slow compared to our old one and
people are starting to complain.”

27. “We’re not sure why but our analytics
have shown that we’ve lost 80% of our
traffic since the launch.”

28. Extending expert reviews

30. Performance Accessibility Code review
Responsive
approach
Third party
integrations
Analytics
General
attention to
detail
Extending expert reviews
Usability SEO Content

31. Responsive approach

32. Third party integrations

33. General attention to detail

34. Performance Accessibility Code review
Responsive
approach
Third party
integrations
Analytics
General
attention to
detail
Extending expert reviews
Usability SEO Content

35. gist.github.com/greywillfade/20f48ba67d799784040e

38. Everyone is different

41. Why do any problems exist?
2Understanding root causes

42. Root cause analysis

43. Sakichi Toyoda
and The 5 Whys

45. Fishbone/
Ishikawa diagram
Visualise cause and effect

46. People, processes, technology, &
strategy

47. People

48. Technology

49. Strategy

51. Process

54. 3How can we apply our web thinking elsewhere?
Using digital to transform more widely

55. Root causes
to make sites
better
Web thinking
to make other
things better

56. Web thinking
to make other
things better
Root causes
to make sites
better

57. Being more proactive

59. “The sooner we can order parts, the
sooner they come in, the sooner we’ll
see a performance increase”

60. 1. Help the team to have a faster car, through more efficient
processes.
2. Save time and money.
3. Provide staff with better tools and processes, removing
frustrations (and helping them to get home on time!)
4. Be more sustainable into the future.
5. Better use technology to gain advantages on other teams.

61. 1. Help the team to have a faster website, through more efficient
processes.
2. Save time and money.
3. Provide staff with better tools and processes, removing
frustrations (and helping them to get home on time!)
4. Be more sustainable into the future.
5. Better use technology to gain advantages on competitors.

65. Use the web and digital principles to
bring benefits to the wider business.

66. Building for the future 🚀

68. Making change happen4How do we make things better?

69. Communicate
improvements
Standards and
principles
Teach, don’t
just do
Get the right
team
Stay open

72. Give people an easy way to
understand why something matters.

73. Communicate
improvements
Standards and
principles
Teach, don’t
just do
Get the right
team
Stay open

77. Communicate
improvements
Standards and
principles
Teach, don’t
just do
Get the right
team
Stay open

78. Communicate
improvements
Standards and
principles
Teach, don’t
just do
Get the right
team
Stay open

79. Communicate
improvements
Standards and
principles
Teach, don’t
just do
Get the right
team
Stay open

80. ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/free-faster

81. Identifying issues
Why do any problems exist?
How can we apply our web thinking elsewhere?
How do we make things better?

82. Credits:
flickr.com/photos/ideonexus/3776943478
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lenteconv_3.svg
Kepler 16-b courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech
Sally Jenkinson
@sjenkinson
sally@recordssoundthesame.com
recordssoundthesame.com
sallyjenkinson.co.uk
Thank you!