ORANGECOAT.COM / WORK / PROCESS
Process
Consulting 1
Thinking critically about your goals.
- Strategic analyses
- New perspectives
- Usability evaluation(s)
- Ideas and suggestions
Planning 2
Where is the project going? How are we going to get there?
- Define missions
- Set objectives and tasks
- Flowcharts and diagramming
- Delegate responsibilities
Design 3
Create and organize information for the web.
- Logos, names, messages
- Prototypes, wireframes, storyboards
- Web interfaces
- Art
- Words
- Photography
Development 4
To prepare a great web application, you need some secret sauce.
- The main ingredients are logic, know-how, patience and attention to detail
- Supplement with PHP, XHTML, CSS and JS
- If you have data, add to MYSQL
- Sprinkle some Flash and AJAX to taste
Testing 5
Does it work like we intended? Do other people find it useful? Can we make it better?
- Basic taste test. Do we like it?
- Usability evaluations. Do other people like it?
- Advanced testing (eye tracking, heat maps, real science). Measure how people interact with it.
Deployment 6
Does it taste good?
- Release. Launch. Go live.
- Announce. Promote. Monitor.
- Celebrate with a toast!
Support 7
Then what?
- 90-day review to take a look at progress, successes, failures and future enhancements
- A retainer is an option if the project is complex and indefinite in scope
- Often, the client makes updates to their site, but many times a support and maintenance contract is needed to cover incidents
Other 8
Desserts and after dinner mints.
- Blogging
- Email newsletters
- Statistical analyses
- SEO
- Remember to tip the wait staff