Incorporating Project Management Tasks into Your Project Estimate
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Incorporating Project Management Tasks into Your Project Estimate

Someone asked me recently what percentage of time (and pricing) should be allocated to ongoing project management tasks when devising a website development estimate. This is a tough question to answer for two reasons: Not all project management tasks can be planned The frequency you plan to carry them out has a bearing For example,…

What You Call Yourself Matters – Developer or Designer or Neither

What You Call Yourself Matters – Developer or Designer or Neither

As professionals, we are often pigeonholed into using common terms to describe what we do. However, these terms don’t always reflect the breadth and depth of our services. This becomes particularly relevant when dealing with clients, who might not have a clear understanding of the jargon within our industry. Whether it’s “freelancer,” “developer,” or “designer,”…

Everything’s a Project and Everybody is a Project Manager
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Everything’s a Project and Everybody is a Project Manager

Many people think if they are a solo provider, that they don’t have a team. This is wrong for 2 reasons. First, you always have a team because it’s you and the client. And secondly, it’s really more about roles than it is about people because you’re filling multiple roles on your project, whether you realize it or not. And by sharing that with the client in a non-confrontive way, you give them an understanding of everything that’s involved in building a website, and they tend to respect the work that you do a little more.

Setting Client Expectations About Project Problems

Setting Client Expectations About Project Problems

I’ve got bad news— Your project is probably going to have one, or several, problems.  To be fair, this almost always happens. No matter how well or how far you, your team, and your clients have planned in advance, and how well you’ve broken down each process of site development, you’re very likely to hit…

Who IS the Designer, Anyway? Setting Client Expectations About Design

Who IS the Designer, Anyway? Setting Client Expectations About Design

There’s a little bit of artist inside all of us—but when it comes to developing a successful site design, your client is going to have to shut their inner artist up, and you’re going to have to (politely) make them. Designing a website is all about coming to a consensus on site aesthetics between you…