How to Work Effectively With Web Developers

4 Tips on how to work effectively with Web Developers

What questions have you had about your web developers before starting a re-develop, re-construct or new construction project for your website? We all know that communication is key to a project as big and as important as developing a company website, but does it happen effectively up front? The purpose of this blog is to give you a heads up on how to easily work with web developers before starting a project. I will give you four tips on how to easily work with web developers.

Always start a project with strong communication.

    Since many but not all web developers, well are, web developers/introverted, use direct and efficient means of communication. Clarify with them, what the best, easiest, and fastest way to communicate with them is on a daily basis. Orion Group uses Basecamp to communicate between developer and client. It has been very good!
    Allow space for web developers to ask you questions. Many questions. The more questions they ask, the better they will understand what exactly you desire.

Let them be the professional.

    Most web developers really know what they are doing and should understand from previous communications what you as a client are looking for. Give them the space to show you what they can do. Don’t pester. If they don’t know what to do on a specific part of a project, they will figure it out. It’s their job and they love to learn more. Give them that space.
    Guide them with your vision, but not with execution of tasks. Concerning the layout and look of the website, allow them to work with the graphic designer. Provide website blueprints or design ideas for guidance.

There are certain things not to say to Web Developers, and they are similar to this:

Silhouette of Man with Megaphone yelling at woman

There are some things not to say to Web Developers.

“I’m on a really tight budget and need this done as inexpensively as possible.”

    Web developing is hard work! If you want a good website, you need to be able to pay. Web developers normally get paid by hour and have a minimum. Your project will be quoted to a specific time frame, but allow for a buffer due to learning and complications.

“I could probably figure this out myself…”

    Web developers went to school to dig as deep into web development as possible. There is a lot of “behind the scenes” work that happens on websites, that most of us non-developers have no idea how to deal with.

“It’s a bit boring.”

    Websites become very personal to the web developer, so be gentle if you think that its a bit boring. There is a lot more to the design of a website than just the looks. Changing one thing in the code can be very complicated. More things not to say to web developers.

Read more of what Web Developers Hate Hearing from Clients.

Get straight to the point!

    “Time is money,” quite literally, and they want to be as efficient as possible.

When working with web developers, it is really important to know these things and to consider how much work they need to get done too. Most likely a developer will not only have you as a client, but also have multiple other clients, so be patient.

Extra Tip: Don’t call a web developer a designer! They are two very different things.