The Importance of Structure When Dealing With Clients

Web design and development has a reputation for being a relaxed place where offices have basketball hoops and everyone goes to work in shorts. While that may be the case in some places, it doesn’t make us any less professional. We may have an approachable attitude to our customers, but that’s because we want to make them happy, not because we’re too cool for school.

So it surprises clients sometimes when we lay out the structure necessary for running a web design project for them. There is a definite project management approach to web design, there has to be. There are a lot of stages to the process and often many stakeholders. Add to that the interaction we like to have with our clients, and you have a whole host of things that can delay, annoy, frustrate and agonize the people involved.

Having a defined structure makes us look good. More importantly, it allows us to manage projects efficiently and professionally. We deliver, all the time because we structure our process in such a way as to always know where each one is.

We have regular schedule updates and budget reviews with clients. This keeps them in the loop and alerts them early to any problems or delays. Sometimes the proverbial happens, there may be a code problem, a design issue, or something completely random. Letting the client know nice and early takes the sting out of it, and keeps them informed.

We view the client as one of the team. They aren’t the enemy, they aren’t the unseen voice on the phone demanding things. They are one of us, they have met us, drank coffee with us and chatted to us. We work with them, not for them. It’s a small thing, but it makes a lot of difference.

We like it because we can talk freely to the client and be honest with them. The client likes it because they always know what’s going on, where we are and we’re honest with them.

A solid structure also allows us to deal with larger organizations. Often there can be multiple stakeholders each with something to say. Having a scheduled time and place for them to do that prevents them interrupting us the rest of the time. As harsh as this may sound, it’s essential to keep things on track.

There is often an element of slippage on any project. Sometimes it’s us, but more often it’s the client. Having this structure ensures everyone is up to date, knows the reasons for the slippage, and what we’re doing about it.

Structuring a web design project is a lot of work, but it greases the wheels on larger projects. It allows us to keep control, keep on target, and deliver what we promised. It keeps the client in the loop, makes them one of us and ensures they get what they want, when they want. In the end, that’s all that counts.