The On Time On Budget Website

Meeting Deadlines as a Tech Company

We’re a tech company, but we have to admit that there is a grain of truth in the stereotype that tech companies don’t meet deadlines.

Except us.

We
take pride in delivering on time and on budget. Yesterday, we delivered
a site just when we said we would, and there’s a feeling of
satisfaction for us in that, as well as for the client.

For the
client, there can be more to it than mere satisfaction. Sometimes there
are expectations about a project’s launch date, deals riding on enhanced
functionality, or promises made on your side. We want you to have your
tech projects when you expect them.

Now, let’s look at why we
say there’s a “grain of truth” in that old stereotype. The fact is that
clients have a lot of control over whether their site is completed on
time. Here’s what you can do to expedite your project:

• Make decisions. We’re not going to rush you, but you should know
  that every day you wait to run an idea past another committee or to hear
  back from someone else can be another day of delay for your website. Not always — we do our best to dovetail work and get things done while we’re waiting, but some actions have to wait on the decisions you make.
• Provide the materials needed. It’s not like we have to wait for a
  load of bricks to be delivered, but often one thing depends on another.
  We can’t work with colors before we have the photos from you. We can’t
  organize your tables till we have the information to be organized. We can’t build your app till we have the data required for the build.
• Recognize the limits of the project. We call it “scope creep” when the features of a project become a moving target.
  Yet it is in the nature of web development that new ideas and
  possibilities spring up all the time in the fertile minds of the
  creative people involved. The solution is to identify additional
  features that are beyond the scope of the project and put them on the
  calendar for the future — after the deadline for the project as
  originally described.

Part of Oyova’s system for meeting deadlines is our discovery
process. We start with a list of the desired features and spend the
needed time defining the project completely. That way, things don’t
surprise us.

That way, we won’t surprise you. Except in a good way.