Planning and Communication: No Laughing Matter!

We come across funny articles sometimes, including this recent one: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell

From a web designer point of view, these anecdotal stories are very amusing; the sad part is that they are often true.  We try to take more from these stories than just the amusement factor – like how we can improve the process for our customers.  Several of the scenarios in this article are situations that could have been avoided with better planning and communication.

Focus on Planning!

Plan for all relevant parties to be involved in the beginning stages of the project.  This eliminates new feedback and functionality requests in the middle (or the end) of the project, when time is already a constraint.

Focus on Communication!

Nothing is more important than communication with your client. How can you deliver the product (or service) they truly want and need unless you can come to a shared meaning of how the end result should appear?  Communication from beginning through the end of the project will help to smooth out the little bumps along the way and keep the client feeling involved and informed.  If you only have one meeting at the beginning of the project and then expect to receive your dream results at the end of the timeline, you are asking for problems.

Instead, keep the client involved and ask them about milestones along the way, so that you aren’t working on a design that they don’t actually want – which saves both the client and the designer from stress like that seen in the article.

We agree it’s funny in an article – but no laughing matter in real life!