The Development Safety Net: Protecting your Budget, Product and Integrity

Everyone wants the same result from the new media development process: a product that does what it is meant to do, delivered on time and on budget. Simple needs, yet the process goes wrong more often than anyone would like to admit. The result is the current crisis of confidence that may set back the pace of innovation (and our national economy) for years. The failure of dozens of dot com businesses is distracting attention from the real problems being experienced in this phase of the digital revolution. What needs to be resolved immediately is the crisis of confidence that was created by development shops that work outside their realm of expertise. A Brief History of the PresentThe current climate was created by increased competition in the development sector. As traditional advertising agencies created interactive divisions, upstart New Media and Internet shops found that they had to provide the same level of support in terms of account management, industry specialists and customer service. These demands, added to the customer education component that has always been a time-intensive part of the development business, created a service infrastructure that was not only tremendously costly, but led to a rigid communications structure between programmers, designers and their clients. As a result, two factors emerged that raised the cost of new media development exponentially. The first was the rise in the number of per-project meetings, and the second was the development of "consulting services" arms inside development shops. Moving On Now that those times are over, it’s time for fee-for-service development companies to move back into programming and design, and for clients to protect themselves by building their own safety net for the development process. 1. Invest in Research & PlanningBefore you begin the development process, articulate the need the proposed product responds to and back this up with facts. Not only does this help you understand the processes you must automate for your customers, but it determines how your customers see their relationship with your product. 2. Define Your Own ObjectivesResearch will confirm, challenge or help clarify your initial assumptions. Before you build any product, look at the research results and determine how your company’s mission and core offerings are affected by this knowledge. Only your knowledge of your business and your customers can determine your objectives. New Media is a tool used to support those business objectives. How you leverage the tools to save time and money is dependent on your ability to articulate your processes. 3. Hire an AdvocateIf your objectives demand innovation, you need access to experts who will act in the best interests of you and your objectives. An independent advocate can act as a special advisor for vendor selection, bid review and day-to-day trouble-shooting. This person or team can give you an overview of the development shops’ strengths and weaknesses, feedback on existing applications of the technology you want to use, and insight into the common delays in the development process. Finally, your advocate should help you determine a fair development and maintenance budget. Unlike a consultant from the development shop, the independent consultant has no vested interest in driving up production costs. 4. Make Your Material AvailableIn your research and planning phase, all documents and materials that can be re-purposed should have been gathered. During this phase, choose the appropriate documents to be made available to the independent advocate and the development team. Having documents such as business plans and press releases available for review enables the team to move forward rather than wasting valuable time reinventing the wheel or missing the mark. 5. Maintain Independent QATesting and quality assurance takes place during the last phase of project development. As pressure to meet benchmarks and timelines increases throughout the lifespan of the project, the time available for QA is the easiest cut to make. In addition, most companies have a dominant style that their QA staff quickly becomes accustomed to, increasing the risk of missing errors and bugs. Maintaining an independent QA agency to have a final look at the product before it is released helps to ensure that nothing is missed. These 5 safety net components take the ownership of protective measures back from the developer and puts the pressure back on the client. While this is bound to be a controversial move, it is ultimately up to New Media clients to protect their budgets, products and integrity. Kate Baggott is a Toronto-based technology writer and Senior Interactive Specialist for interactive brand solutions firm Delvinia. The statements and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author.

The Development Safety Net: Protecting your Budget, Product and Integrity

Broadcast | August 23, 2001

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