Speak the Web - Liverpool 24.07.13

Finding the joy
through better project workﬂow
By Kirsty Burgoine
twitter.com/kirstyburgoine
Photo Credit: GoGoRainbow
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/gogorainbow/2551497701/
Sunday, 11 August 13
Lets face it when we design / build websites in any capacity what we are aiming for is the joy at the end. The knowing that
you've done a good job. The website is looking great, the client is happy, feedback is good and we get to go off and skip in
fields of daisy's (or whatever you do to celebrate a job well done).
Thats living the dream!
I'd like to talk to you this evening a little about finding the right workflow for you so that you get feel the joy.

Who am I?

New Years Eve 2012
This is me:

Birmingham ComicCon 2013
And so is this:
And if you haven't guessed from this I'm also a bit of geek:

Kirsty Burgoine
Web developer / designer
• www.kirstyburgoine.co.uk
• info@kirstyburgoine.co.uk
• twitter.com/kirstyburgoine
Organiser of Shropgeek
• Monthly socials
• Rebellion - mini conferences
• (R)Evolution conference
But most people know me as this:

27th, September 2013
2013.shropgeek-revolution.co.uk
I started off working in a marketing job which I wished was as cool as this:

I wish my job had been this cool ...
but was actually more like this:

Photo Credit: JM Rocher
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/jmrocher2001/481006679/
I was bored

so I learnt how to code and became a PHP developer building bespoke e-commerce solutions.
Turns out I'm a bit of control freak

“These are not the droids
you are looking for”
and wanted the freedom to pick the projects I wanted to work on so I went freelance.

I now run my own business specialising in building WordPress websites

?
And that should have been my happy ending there and then right? Well yes and no. when I set up on my own,
learning how to manage all of the other stuff was really difficult

no joy :( Photo Credit: thepretenda
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/thepretenda/111192551/
Even though I knew I would now have to do all the project management I wasn't really prepared for the reality of that.
There are lots of ways to avoid this and I’ve seen lots of talks about avoiding burnout and having a healthy life / work balance.
So I’m not going discuss any of that!
Instead I’m going to talk through my typical workflow along with a few concepts methods that have I’ve learnt that helped me
move away from this and towards this:

the joy!
Photo Credit: Arrested Sunlight
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/anupamakaranth/8648424360/

The Client
Thankfully none of my clients are like this.
I always adopt the attitude that I work with the client and not for them.

I work with the client
and not for them.
This helps with my selection process. Don’t be afraid to walk away

1. The potential
project meeting
The first stage is always scoping out the project.
This usually starts with an initial meeting where I am interviewing them as much as they are interviewing me.

I look for the type of clients that I would enjoy working with. I'm not going to knock out a website in two days for £150, and so I
want to work with people that appreciate that. This is a really great screening process for projects. After all, who wants to work
with people that make you want to do this:

There are also a couple of other things that are really helpful in this early stage. They are:

People Skills

Conﬁdence
Photo Credit: karla_k
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/karla_k/2776839587/

People Skills
When I say people skills, I don't mean the ability to hold a conversation with another person. Hopefully we can all do that! I
mean the ability to give geeky explanations to non-geeky people in a way they would understand.

Conﬁdence
Photo Credit: karla_k
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/karla_k/2776839587/
They are interviewing you as well after all and your confidence in your abilities will reassure them and hopefully make them
want to contract you for the project. As a slight contradiction, I've also found that having the confidence to admit when you
don't know something is equally as good. Nobody knows everything.

JOY !
So hopefully, that meeting went well. They've agreed the project so its time to get going!

2. The design meetingPhoto Credit: VE Fusion
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/vefusion/8229046461/
This is the meeting where we discuss the design brief in more detail, and go through the initial structure and functionality
outlined in the quote.

Go through
the planned
workﬂow with
the client
As part of my quotes I always include a section on the workflow for that specific project,
so I also go through that with the client so they understand it and set some dates. This includes them in the project as part of
the team and also sets their expectations

The Team
Get the whole team involved in
this meeting.
Remember the client is part of
the team now
Also if they are available, I invite anyone else that I have chosen to bring in on the project to the meeting. I find this helps
makes the client feel a part of the team.
This is a good point to mention:

Photo Credit: Vasco Silva
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/vasco_silva/4342863369/
Communication
As I said, I try hard not to work alone. I work better if I can bounce ideas off of other people.
No matter, whether you work in a large team or small business like me, make sure you start
to communicate with your team as early as possible. It will set a precedent for the rest of the
project.

Don’t work in isolation!
Photo Credit: sohvimus
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/sohvimus/3033758459/
There are a plethora of ways you can do that if you don’t work in an office with your team,
just don’t work in isolation.

3. Planning / wireframes
Ok, so we’ve done a lot of chatting so far, made sure everyone feels warm and fuzzy about
the project and working together. Now its time to do some actual work!

the ﬁrst stage with me is always pencil and paper

Sketch out the wireframes
I sketch out all of the templates required (not necessarily all of the pages)

inVision App
www.invisionapp.com
a note about gridset
outline the content for the client

4. Designing in the
browser

Remember them?

Photo Credit: lieberman_photo
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/54951670@N00/50415618/
A huge leap of Faith

5. Bolt in your CMS
(if needed)

6. Populate and proof read
Content is a tricky one, in an ideal world we do want the content ﬁrst to design around. I
agree with that 100% however, in reality the client is usually very busy, there is alsways some
hold up and often they just don’r understand if you don’t get on without it.

7. Go Live !

JOY!
Photo Credit: lepista
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/lepista/198956460/
I’ve mostly focussed on keeping the client happy within the workﬂow and managing their
expectations. This is because, no matter how you choose to work, if they are not happy they
are going to suck out all of the joy

No joy :(
I always thinks this sums it up nicely!

Or in conclusion ....

CommunicationPhoto Credit: Vasco Silva
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/vasco_silva/4342863369/

Thankyou.

Speak the Web - Liverpool 24.07.13

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