It‘s amazing how many things can go wrong during the course of a web project if you don’t have a good team in control. Here, we focus on five problems which any project can encounter, and explore how – in our experience – they can be avoided or solved.
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Poor Communication
It is vital to establish a good line of communication between yourself and the development team as soon as possible. Poor communication can lead to misunderstandings and slow the progress of your web project considerably.
SOLUTION: Try to ensure that there is an assigned project manager within the development team you are working with. You should also appoint a dedicated person within your own company as a point of contact for the development team.
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Requirements Not Met
At the end of a project, it is all too common for clients to be presented with a product which is very different from what they had envisioned at the beginning.
SOLUTION: Have regular meetings with your development team and request demonstrations of the progress they have made as you move forward with the web project.
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Undefined Priorities
When priorities become muddled, projects can drag on for long after the target deadline, with no end in sight. This confusion is often caused by the introduction of more and more requirements to the brief as the project progresses.
SOLUTION: Be clear about your priorities. It is far more efficient to launch the product and then tailor further adjustments to specific user feedback than to delay the launch date indefinitely while making changes based on guesswork.
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Inadequate Testing
Testing is usually the first corner to be cut when the budget is tight. However, it is a risky step which rarely pays off: inadequate testing can leave the web project vulnerable to many bugs, which in turn will slow down the project and result in greater costs in the long run.
SOLUTION: Ask for automated testing as part of the development process, especially if the web project is complex. It is also good to have someone within your company manually testing the project throughout the duration, helping to identify bugs as early as possible.
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Warning Signs
If you think that something might be wrong, the likelihood is that you’re right. Trust your instincts!
SOLUTION: As soon as you notice warning signs such as slow progress or poor quality work, get to work addressing the issues so that they don’t end up snowballing. The best way to keep your project going along the right tracks is to fix problems as soon as they start to occur.
