Website Project Discovery and Scoping
Category: General
Published: 16/05/2016
The value of Project Scoping
Properly scoping a project during the pre-sales phase greatly increases the success of any Website project and it’s Return on Investment for the client. All Website projects need to be clearly defined by the client and fully understood by the vendor with a clear vision of the required goals from the outset.
Scoping (or Discovery) has traditionally been the responsibility of the client once they identify the business need for new website functionality. This may be a better website design, better Search Engine Optimisation, enhanced User Experience (Goal and Flow) or the addition of new features such as eCommerce. The client should take time to understand all parts of the project and what needs to be identified, designed and delivered by both internal staff and their chosen external Digital Agency to produce a successful outcome.
Problems with one-sided Scoping
The issue with this approach is that it often leads to problems, as the client will not have the insight that a Digital Agency can bring to the scoping process. In more recent times, particularly as Web technology is so fast moving, it is now considered an essential part of the process to include the Digital Agency during the scoping phase as they bring technical insights, practical frameworks and working experience into the equation. This results in a firmer specifications, keeping the project realistic and providing a tighter ROI.
Benefits of involving the vendor
Having the project scoped by involving an expert in website design from the start gives the project a far greater chance of success. They will be highly experienced and will already be aware of the pitfalls or problems a website project can face. As a result, any hidden problems and barriers to delivery are identified and exposed very early on rather than weeks or months into the project, or worse, when the website goes live and doesn’t produce expected results.
Steps to Project Success
To avoid this the project team should include key people (Stakeholders) from both client and the vendor who take the time to have a meeting of minds to discuss and agree all elements of the project to ensure a successful outcome.
A pre-sales scoping exercise, properly implemented, will set your project up to succeed.
By Big Red
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