Knowmad Blog

Over the course of growing Knowmad Technologies from a freelance programming business into a full-service Web agency, I’ve learned a few things along the way (sometimes by the school of hard knocks). For instance, there was the pivotal learning moment in realizing that we not only needed to be good at designing & building Websites but also good at discovering and capturing business goals & objectives.

This particular engagement was to streamline information from multiple sites as well as to replace an old, custom-built Website with a more reliable, user-friendly content management system. After a protracted development cycle due to more custom programming than we had anticipated (inadequate planning) as well as several change requests resulting from unanticipated features (inadequate planning), we learned upon delivery of the Website that the primary goal of this project was to increase online sales (inadequate planning).

As a result, we had built a solution that met the stated needs of improving the Website design to make finding services and checking out much more user-friendly. However, had we known about the client’s business goals, we could have made strategic suggestions, such as Internet marketing or design elements that support their goals, to further improve the effectiveness of their Website. At the very least, we could have created better rapport by understanding the critical success factors that were driving our client’s need to engage our services.

In looking back on other engagements, we have found that the requirement to build a “new website” is often a presenting problem to a much larger issue. As Gerry McGovern writes in his article “Web manager: Top tasks versus tiny tasks”:

“A classic web redesign is like taking a raving alcoholic and sending them to rehab for a month. They come out looking clean and redesigned.  However, the underlying problems have not been addressed so six months later you’re back in the same mess.”

Whether you are working with internal staff, freelancers or an agency, the more you can share with your Web team, the more effective they can be in making your Web presence into a successful component of your business strategy. This starts with sharing your business goals and objectives. Again, McGovern sums this up nicely in his article “Web teams need constant feedback”:

“The Web is so important today. And yet many of the web teams I deal with are way down the management hierarchy. That needs to change because the reality is that the Web is central to the present and future success of most organizations.”

What are you doing to improve the effectiveness of your Web team?

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