Ockham Design Network

À La Carte Development

Creating a website requires four people:

• Someone who can figure out how to solve your problem and present a solution
• Someone who can create a design to implement that solution
• Someone who can code the design
• Someone who can manage the entire process

It's rare that you can find one person to do all four. If you use a boutique company, they have least one person for each of the four jobs. If you hire from a one-man shop, that person can do one or more of those jobs and then they'll most likely contract out for the skills they don't have.

The problem with both of these scenarios is that the client has little input on who does each of those jobs and the cost associated with getting each part done. This is where à la carte development comes in.

The site architect

What this person gives you: A written plan that lays out your problem, the solution, options in implementing that solutions and associated costs so the client has enough information to make an informed decisions on how to proceed.

The architect is a problem solver. They ask the right questions to figure out the real issues. They use their experience to develop a solution that will resolve those issues.

The site architect is usually the lead designer in a boutique or the information architect in a large firm. Problem solvers do three major things:

• Content development: they help you figure out what content needs to be on your site
• Information architecture: they organize the content to it's easy to use
• Resource planning: they figure out which resources need to be used to implement the solution

The designer

What this person gives you: Your design (mostly likely in Photoshop format) so you can turn it over to a coder.

The web designer is the person who takes the site map and the content strategy that your problem solver has layed out and creates a design that will best communicate that content to the viewer.

Web designers present information visually. They help develop or maintain brand. They make it easier for visitors to digest your message visually.

They are also the people who make your site look pretty.

The coder

What this person gives you: Your site as clickable HTML and CSS files.

The coder takes the design which usually come in Photoshop and Illustrator format and codes it into a clickable site.

Most designers aren't coders like most architects aren't building contractors.

Coders specialize in making sure that the design you worked out with your designers looks the same in all the major browsers. Also, many coders can implement basic javascript "features", i.e. mouseovers, calendars and other minor programming to implement that bells and whistles that clients want.

The manager

What this person gives you: A timetable for completion and progress reports.

Someone has to deal with the contracts, timelines and deliverables. Clients pay for web sites, not the headaches that come from getting the web site delivered on time and on budget.

That someone whas to have experience in both design and development to manage both parts. They understand how long the process takes and can schedule appropriately. Also, managers have great communication skills to deal with issues as they arise.

The manager acts as the single point of contact for insuring deliverables are met from the client to contractor and from the contractor to the client.

Buying just what you need

Sometimes you just want a basic site with information so you only need a designer and a coder.

Maybe your site will be an integral part of how you do business and you need a complete plan that can be implemented in phases as you get more capital and you'll need a detailed plan for you site.

The people I have listed are categorizes by the roles that can play in helping you create your site. Look through the bios and hire the people that best fill the roles you need.