The Washup on our Code

Today we met with a new webdesigner who had looked briefly at the code from our site. Long story short not so good yet could be worse. We are having 2 people give their thoughts as we  need to decide are we starting from scratch or can we move foreward. This will be the decision that needs to be made this week. Things we have learnt:

• When you move webdesigners halfway through a project there is only a very small difference in starting from scratch again and  moving forward with the existing site after the new designers have spent time getting up to speed.
• Having someone look at your code if there are delays and staff changes during you process – so if you are going to have to move you will be able to do it sooner rather than later and this will save you dollars. Make no mistake these might be big dollars

A Fresh Start

So we have closed out one chapter and start another. Today our placecard went up calling for preregistrations ( again) while we upgrade our site. We were a bit smarter this time because we have a competition running and you have to preregister and post your profile to be eligable to win. Last time we had hundreds of preregistrations which we couldn’t convert for many reasons. We learnt that just because it is free doesn’t mean peolple will do it – they still need as many incentives as possible. Our first of many is to offer this cold hard cash. the  place card is up and the following challenges presented themselves :

• Small drama we couldn’t register using the placecard… frantic call and yes that was fixed.
• Went back to check an hour or so later and now getting a differeng error message… frantic email and phone call ( it was 6 in the evening) and fixed again. 
• No emails were coming through to us when people registered more frantic emailing and then assurances not to worry they will collate them and have copies in case there are any problems
• Lastly we had a bit of a complex thing going on so we would have two different sites running and let all our site members know the new URL that would hold their details. We check the site ( which was there at lunchtime!!) and it is gone… Domain delegation gone wrong – so we can’t hurry it but we have fixed this too.

So a few teething problems with the placecard but we a have a few weeks breathing space. Things we learnt:

• Have one contact at your webdesigner and make sure you send all communications to them. It you have to go to someone different at least cc the lead person.
• Before any delegations happen just confirm with the “technical”person who is doing them exactly what they understand is required. You can never ask too many questions.
• You can do delegations yourself if you get the server addresses if you are more comfortable with this
• Remember delegations take time and always count on this being longer rather than shorter you will then be pleasently suprised

So we take a deep breath as start again.

Out with the old

Today we closed out our dealing with our  first webdesigners. My business partner had the unenviable task of going in for the final handover. The hardest thing was having to see and speak to all the people that had been working so hard on the site for the past months. We had an independant web designer ( someone we knew) come in and make sure that we were given everything that someone would need to pick up the site and after we had this and the letter assigning copyright for all the branding they had done for us we handed over our bank check. Here are some of the  things that we have learnt:

• Things sometimes go wrong and you should think about this if you are having – mates or friends working on projects
• When you sign your contact make sure they are very clear what IP you will own at the end of the process our sticking points were :
  •  Who owned the uncompiled code which you have to have for someone to pick up work on your site
  • You need the compiled and uncompiled code if you have to get someone to step in
  • Clarify the fixed fee arrangements make sure they are fixed fee and not just estimates and that you can refer to a detailed ( as detailed as possible) scoping document to be clear what is included on the scope of the project. There will always be debate on this. Some webdesigners will charge you $1000 or so to draft the detailed scoping document  before they quote which we think would be well spent. Particularly if you agree with then that you will own the scopingcdocument. You can then use this to get get a few quotes from different designers.
  • Ensure the approval process for incurring costs relating to maintenace and change requests. We suggest that you consider instructing them in writing if you have not expressly approved additional costs for anything before they do it it is at their cost. Also be expressly approved we mean an email from them saying we need to spend this much time to do this and it is out of scope and we won’t do it until you agree and you then say yes or no. It seems simple yet could save you alot of headaches.
• It might be a good idea to have someone independent to have a look at you code as you go along ( particularly of there are delays and staff changes) so you know it is maintaining it’s integrity. This will also be a good indication of the webdevelopers ability which lets face it if you aren’t technical you can’t do

So here we are 6 months in and seemingly back to square one and well out of pocket ….. it is all a little disappointing and was a tough day all round.

A break from it all

For Saturday and also for Sunday a complete break was taken by all as the new and final Harry Potter book the Deathly Hallows become a focus. Two days and it was completely finished. Now I just need to reread it a bit more slowly to find all those little clues that were missed during the frantic few days of trying to get to the end before someone told me the ending. Even people with their own business need a few days off here and there

How Could this Happen

Today we met with two new webdevelopers and when we came out at the end of the day we both felt sick. On face value we seemed to have been taken advantage of. We couldn’t understand how 2 professional women could have got into this predicament. Things we learnt

• The majority of the frustrations we had found could have been prevented with a good content management system.  All webdesigners seem to have one and provide access to this as soon as the site development starts for you to load up your content and manage it .
• We were paying way too much and the timeframe had been way too long
• Our site should have been an 8 week and 25K project like was budgeted
• The site we currently had  with no ability to edit content and access to the backend was completely unacceptable ( people actually laughed at our situation – we take comfort they were laughing with us and not at us)

We have now had confirmed what we had thought for a few months – all was not well and we have not been unrealistic in our requests or timing.. so we need to start negotiating our way out what would seem to be a really big mess. At the end of the day we just couldn’t believe that this was happening to us…. surely this only happens to other people

Looking for New Web Designers

We have realised today that we need to meet with some other webdesigners to consider moving our site to someone else to get done. We can’t delay it any further. We googled webdesigners in our city and  spent a few hours looking at their websites and the work that they has completed previously. We spoke to five and of these only three could work in our space. We arranged meetings with  two of them. One of which had completed a website that was very similar ( in a scary way) to what we wanted. We sent them our scoping documents and set some meeting date for the next week.  Things we learnt:

• Meet with a few webdesigners at least 3 or 4
• Check what work they have done that is similar
• Make sure you will be able to manage as much as possible on your site including content and site member details etc
• How much will they be custom building and what systems do they have they will be using
• Who owns the IP for their systems and what happens if you need to move the site
• What happens if they close their business  how are you covered.

Time Means Money

We are now only days away from the launck of the second phase of our website – months overdue yet soon our hunderds of preregistered candidates will be able to put their profile on the site. With the next phases to follow quickly. I caught up with the webdesigners to go over the fees quickly. They had spent a lot more time than expected so we agreed that they would re quote for the next few phases ( generous I thought considering that we had a fixed fee quote). Then a very nasty shock – would we also consider paying alot more for this phase. It was very lucky I was sitting down. As I was off on a weeks holiday in a few days and we had yet to have a site that worked I chose to keep and open mind until firstly the site was up and secondly the phases were requoted.

 Things we learnt

• Fixed Fee – you still need to keep on top of the spend. It is better to know  as soon as there is a problem not when it is enormous and too late
• There comes a time when you say it is near enough put it up
• The last few days can be a bit stressful – it is probably best not too be miles away on holiday when it happens – yet sometime these things can’t be helped.

Merchant Accounts

Our domain names were not held in the name of our trading entity – we had to transfer them into this name before the bank would let us approve a merchant account.

Thins we learnt

• Administrative fees are costly if you are moving your domain names around etc. Get your advice on how you are going to structure your business etc before you start. This could easily save you hundreds of dollars. If you have to then grab your domain names, yet if you can, wait and get them in the right name the first time.
• Banks want to see your site before they approve your merchant account and it can take a week or so for them to do this. ( There is a lot of paperwork to complete well before this.)  Consider offering your products free for a few weeks so that delays in the Merchant are not an issue
• There is a lot of difference between the fees that different  banks charge for example set up fees of between $80 and $500. Also look at transaction fees and  early terminations fees. Get all their details and if one can actually give you someone in your city who visits you and will be your contact it will make it so much easier than doing everything by remote.

oops

Today we went to google our name and click on the link to our gum tree ads and shock horror when you clicked on them it said they had been removed. This was not good and reasons given included possible contrevention of the community posting conditions. Sure enough on inspection of these we saw our problem. You were not allowed to post a link to your site – oops we had included that in all of our ads. (I was secretly glad that these postings had my co founder as the contact email address – if they were going to get anyone for breaking the rules it would be her).  Feeling very guilty we resolved to stay away from Gumtree.

Things we learnt

• Read the online community rules before you  use them it is the right thing to do
• No one came to get us after our honest mistake
• Expect people exploit sites, whether innocently like ourselves or intentionally and make sure you take this point of veiw into account when looking at the functionality of your site.

Still Preregistering

Another week , another deadline goes by. Our plan was too preregister for a few weeks until the site was up and running. It now looks like that might be a few months. In our meeting last week with the web designers we were on track to put the site up within the week.  Now due to some technical problems and one day before d day we are told things are  a few weeks way. How frustrating and that is a very polite way of putting it.

Things we have learnt

• Deadlines are set to be missed
•  A days work can run into two weeks easily
• Don’t advertise until your site is up and running ( another months advertising down the drain)

www.yourparttimeworkforce.com.au