System Development with a Design Firm?
Posted on | April 21, 2010 | 1 Comment
Hands up those design firms that are taking in system projects as well. Hands up those who REALLY have a functioning Tech team!
That’s lesser hands.
Designing and implementing a website is not the same as developing a System. The process that starts the both are different. Yes, the designer and the developer both have to go thru the waterfall life cycle. But that’s where the similarity pretty much ended. A real IT system development company will provide the client with a detail and accurate breakdown of the cost of development. But a design firm’s quote often fall short of the requirements expected by the client and also fails to convey the real scope of the project to the outsourced developers.
An application needs extensive documentation, more than mockups. Requirements, workflow, database documentation, deployment instructions, redeployment processes for the scripts & database. Changelog.Database synchronization, system backup. Logging and evaluation.
For a design website, Requirements, sitemap, deployment instructions, system backup. Logging and evaluation. Yes google tracker is the most popular tools used but what is done to analyst the data? Nothing I am sure. Just a ok so I know it, that’s good enough.
Readers, please feel free to point out if I have left out anything for the development & design processes.
Sadly, in Singapore, a big chunk of the budget is spent on Marketing, Branding and Ads. Less is spend on research, systems, websites are reproduced using cookie cutter method, without evaluating whether it is suitable, enhancing, improving or not.
Companies believe in that IT spending on ERP systems are beneficial to them. But often they can’t accept that R&D is needed for the best solution flow that fit their work processes, company culture & workers. Instead of expecting a full fledge system with the most advanced AJAX effects, capable of wonderment and fast turnaround time, settle for a prototype first. From a prototype, build up modules of the system to work on its own before linking up the whole flow. Really fixing and mending a live application is not R&D. There is no proper deployment processes and documentation.
If the company is unable to allocate budget for a prototype and on going development work for a system, why not settle for a hosted application?
I so wonder why do companies send their IT projects to design firm? Lack of budget? Don’t know any better? When the company don’t have development processes in place, it is a sign that your project might just be their first? Often these companies that outsource their ERP to Design Firms, are also the ones to go first when recession comes.
On the other hand, I have also seen designers who are also great programmers, judging from their portfolio. So I shall conclude that when companies refrain from spending on their IT projects, they could be just ignorant about IT & Web or they just plain don’t care.
