Client Developer Communication - Importance Questions to ask

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Client-Developer Communication
To Ask Your Developer Before Start of a Project
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Client-Developer Communication
The latest business trend in the world of IT, is
the full or part-time hiring of developers to
work on your project from a third-world country
where IT talent is abundant and cost of living
low, making their services considerably cheaper
than your local talent. While this may seem like
a shrewd business proposition to most any
businessman, and it no doubt is, problems may
arise if you dont completely comprehend the pros
and cons of the situation.
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Client-Developer Communication
We, at Konstant Infosolutions, have several years
of experience and in that time have had the
pleasure of serving multitudes of clients. Like
any other IT solutions provider, we have had our
fair share of troubles (but thankfully not a lot)
due to miscommunication with clients and decided
to create a list of questions that business
owners can ask developers prior to awarding a
project in order to ensure things go as smoothly
as possible and they are satisfied with the
outcome.
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What a nice portfolio you have! How exactly did
you participate in the outcome of the project?
If someone is going to take the trouble of
putting up their portfolio for public viewing,
they will no doubt put up their best work.
Unfortunately, the best of their work may
sometimes not be their work at all. Its possible
that your developer may have only participated in
a very minor way and is simply taking some other
persons credit. Ask for specifics in regard to
the project like the developers contribution to
the coding, programming, maintenance and
designing.
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You sure do have a lot of testimonials! Can I
talk to some of them?
The best way to get information about developers,
is to call people who have worked with them
before. Do not hesitate to ask for a reference
and make sure to ask them questions regarding any
communication problems, timely delivery and
information handling.
6
Your business plan is impressive, but what about
a contract?
This may seem like a redundant point to make, as
you will no doubt ask for a contract to be drawn
up. However, the important thing is, what will
the contract clauses consist of? Make sure to
agree upon things like payment summary and
delivery expectations. You may also want to set
down clauses insuring you against untimely
delivery and unsatisfactory deliverable.
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You must be maintaining coding documentation.
Will I be receiving the documentation upon
project completion?
By their very nature, IT projects are susceptible
to future upgrades and improvements. While its
always best to have the same developer work on
these upgrades, that may not always be possible.
This is where the project coding documentation
comes in handy. Ask your developer to hand in the
documentation upon project completion to ensure
future work on the project is hassle-free.
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Internet Marketing! Do you know it?
Irrespective of how brilliant and talented your
developer is, he may or may not have the right
marketing skills required for your project. You
are after all a business owner and looking for
exposure and traffic. Ask the developer for his
take on E-Marketing and see if he talks about SEO
and lead generation. If he does, you made the
right choice.
9
How will you ensure my site is responsive? What
browsers will support it?
The standard developer response to this question
is all major browsers. Dont let that fool you,
ask for specifics! Ask if your site will be
compatible for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and IE.
Yes, even Internet Explorer. While you may no
longer use Windows default browser, a portion of
your target demographic may use it.
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Security, security and more security. How do you
plan to make my website and server secure?
Ask the developer for his security framework
implementation procedure. If your project
consists of a simple website, robot.txt files,
redirects and no follow will ensure a good amount
of security. If your project is large scale or
susceptible to attacks, think encrypted database
and SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) in case of sites
featuring payment options.
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Resource load and traffic spikes. How much of it
can my site handle?
If you plan on showcasing clever promotions or
time based offers on your site, it needs to be
equipped to handle the spikes in traffic. Furnish
your developer with information on traffic
projections and ask him your sites breaking
point. Youre here to do business and that will
not happen if your site is slow or denies access
to customers due to traffic load.
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Time is money. How will you make sure my site
loads as fast as possible?
In todays world, patience is no longer a
wide-spread virtue. Customers want things done
quickly, smoothly and economically. Ask your
developer for his caching methods. Typically he
should be using APC caching provided your
resource pool is on the cloud. Also consider a
content distribution network if youre expecting
considerable traffic from other countries.
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Alright, weve hashed out all the details prior
to starting work. What about QA?
QA is quality assurance, and that alone can make
the difference between a successful project or a
failed one. Ask your developer regarding their QA
and Usability framework. Make sure that they
cover all the key platforms on your demographics.
Also set down a clause in your contract insuring
you against unsatisfactory QA tests.
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Conclusion Client-Developer Communication
Now you know exactly what to ask a developer
before the start of a project. The next time you
undertake an IT venture, make sure you ask your
solutions provider the above mentioned questions
for a successful and satisfactory venture.
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Thank You!
Are you looking for a developer? Get in touch
with us and discuss the needs and requirements of
your project. We would love to hear from you.
India 91-141-2291398, 4028078, US
1-310-933-5465 UK 44-020-3239-SALE
mail_at_konstantinfo.com