[UPHPU] top three challenges?

[Mac Newbold]

Yesterday at 10:39am, Daniel C. said:

> I'm doing a research project involving web development companies in
> Utah.  If you work in web development professionally, and especially
> (Mac) if you're a manager at a web development shop, could you take a
> minute and tell me what your company's top three challenges are?  The
> more specific the better.

It's hard to pick just three, as there are probably about 10 problems 
where any one of the 10 in a serious enough degree could put you in 
serious danger of going out of business.

I don't know that these are really in order, but some that come to mind, 
especially after others have mentioned them:

A. Defining, documenting, and communicating the scope/plan for the project 
among the client and developers.
(I could elaborate on this all day if you want - it's partly about making 
sure you get paid fairly and that the client feels protected and is 
happy, and partly about making sure everyone has the same destination and 
route in mind, and preventing changes in the plan as you go along. If the 
plan does need to change, the compensation and timeline need to be 
reevaluated as well. It is challenging to document in a way that clients 
and developers both understand and yet provides enough technical detail 
that the devs know exactly what ought to be done.)

B. Having the right type and amount of work for each person to do at the 
right time.
(If the person/people selling work are the same as those doing part of 
that work, it can lead to a nasty roller coaster. Always make sure that 
someone is still selling your work, even when you're slammed busy, or 
you'll have a dry spot where you'll do nothing but sell, then end up 
slamemd again.)

C. Consistently high-quality results
(Predictability and high quality are huge factors in keeping clients 
happy.)

D. Win-win pricing
(Prices that are a win for you and a loss for your client aren't any more 
sustainable than prices that are a win for your client and a loss for you. 
But it isn't always that easy to find the happy medium.)

E. Building and maintaining a network of happy clients
(Getting repeat work is a lot easier usually than getting new clients, and 
happy clients will spread the word around if you use them right. Referrals 
are awesome, like a lead plus a testimonial in one, and can often nearly 
sell the job for you before you even talk to them. But if you're not 
careful you can dump poison in your well...)

F. Managing deadlines to get everything done on time, despite the 
unexpected complications that can often get in the way. (Picking the right 
deadlines to promise to a client is also highly important, and adding 
the right amount of padding to account for the unexpected. Avoiding 
cascading lateness is a huge thing, since a delay in one project can 
throw off your whole schedule.)

I'm sure there are others, but that's all that comes to mind right now... 
I hope that helps some.

Mac

--
Mac Newbold			Code Greene, LLC
CTO/Chief Technical Officer	44 Exchange Place
Office:	801-582-0148		Salt Lake City, UT  84111
Cell:	801-694-6334		www.codegreene.com