Transparency, clarity, and open communication are at the centre of how we work.
How do we do this?
From our initial conversations together, through the design and build of your site or social media plan, we use tools and approaches that are open, accessible, and available to you.
We use a five stage process to gather your requirements, design and build your website, and get it live and available for the world to see. We break down the five stages into individual tasks and even have checklists we work through. This staged approach means we can have regular Stop / Go checkpoints and ensure we remain on track to deliver what you need. There’s more details about the five stage development cycle below.
We also employ a twist on the 3 Amigos development approach. This is a an approach to the design and process that uses three perspectives to ensure your web site is effective, efficiently built, and meets all of your needs. It puts you at the centre of the design, and also has an advocate from 3 Amigos to challenge the designer on your behalf. That’s right – we have someone on our team challenging us to ensure we deliver the best solution for you! We’ve added more detail about this below.
When we say we’re open and accessible, we really mean it. We’ll give you access to our main project tracker tool – Trello. You’ll not only be able to see what we’re doing and exactly how your project is progressing, you’ll even be able to see what we’re saying to each other (and that’s not always pretty) – so you can feel confident that we are doing what we say, are getting involved in your brand, and most importantly – making progress.
You can even join in on the conversations we are having!
Our five-stage design and development cycle
This a high-level breakdown of what happens in each of the five stages. This approach means we can be flexible to your specific needs and can add tasks where needed.
Remember that we open our project management tracker to you so you’ll see exactly what tasks are complete, what we’re working on, and what is coming down the line. You’ll be able to add comments to any of the individual task cards so can fully immerse yourself in the design and development, or simply dip in to check on progress and maintain your confidence in us.
1. Initial meeting stage
- Meet and greet
- Initial requirements gathering
- Project Initiation Document created
2. Design stage
- Collaboration tools set up (Trello, Dropbox, Skype, Microsoft Teams, even FaceTime.)
- Web site structure agreed (number of pages, menu structure)
- Copy for the pages agreed (dates for delivery if you are writing or sourcing the copy)
- Site wireframe built
3. Build stage
- Initial build developed and showcased
- Copy and images incorporated into the site
- Client reviews and amendments incorporated
- Internal site functional and user testing performed
4. Sign off and go-live stage
- Final review (high-fives all round) and client sign off
- Site uploaded and go-live launch communicated to client
5. Ongoing maintenance and servicing stage
- Agreed ongoing support kicks in:
- Site backups
- Security sweeps
- 24/7 monitoring
- Site administration
- Agreed updates
- Social media management and/or social media training
- Full handover pack provided at end of managed service period
The 3 Amigos Approach
3 Amigos is a software development approach in which each piece of work is examined from three perspectives:
- The Business
The question they ask: What problem are we trying to solve? - The Development team
The question they ask: How might we build a solution to solve that problem? - Testing
The question they ask: What about this, what could possibly happen?
Our spin on the 3 Amigos approach
We follow a similar approach, but have tweaked it to best serve our, and more importantly – your – own specific needs.
Our slant on 3 Amigos:
- You
You provide us with the problem you are trying to solve, such as gain an online presence, and details such as what you want the website to look like and how it should perform. - Your 3 Amigos Designer
Your 3 Amigos designer runs the project with you to design and build your web site. You tell them what you want and it’s their job to make it happen (or work hard to talk you out of it if it’s too crazy!). - Your 3 Amigos Advocate
Your advocate acts as the testing perspective and challenges the designer on your behalf. Their role is to ensure that the design and site are built in the most efficient, effective way and ensures that your needs are being fully met.
This is a proven approach used in some of the world’s most cutting edge sofware development houses.
Want to know more?
Check out the 3 Amigos definition on the Agile Alliance website.
Our open project management and tracking
We use an online tool called Trello to manage the tasks and progress our projects.
Trello is a project management tool that enables us to schedule tasks, see what’s to be done, what’s in progress, and what we’ve got over the line! You can install Trello on your mobile phone or access it on your own computer. We’ll give you a bit of training and you’ll be able to see our progress and even upload images and join in on our conversations as we complete the tasks listed.
We have separate boards depending on the project but this screenshot gives a flavour of the level of detail we go to.
This is our basic web design project template. There will be many more tasks added as we capture your requirements and get into the nitty-gritty of us working together.
Each of the small cards can be dragged into the different columns – you’ll see them go into the column titled Work In Progress, and then into Complete!
Here’s an example of the comments on a single card. You will have full access and can add your thoughts onto any discussion we have.
The other tools we use
- Dropbox
Dropbox is an online file-sharing system that enables you to send us photographs, videos, documents, and other resources safely. We’ll set this up for you and show you how to use it. - Microsoft Office
We use good old Microsoft office tools such as Word and Excel to write your copy and send you snippets. We try to make the whole process as easy as possible from start to go-live! - Skype, Teams, FaceTime
For those of you who like a video catch-up we use a variety of video calls and can even screen share so that you can see what we’re up to while you’re on-the-go.