Yes, after 2 years our new website is live. And no, it won’t take that much time if you follow our project process.

Internal projects for many might seem like a promised land. You’re both the client and the provider, so you have all the freedom, endless possibilities… No limitations known from the collaboration with clients. Is there anything that could possibly go bananas?

Actually, everything can. If you’re about to embark on a similar journey with the objective of launching your new website, save yourself a great deal of time, money, and stress by learning from our hiccups!

To give you the big picture, let’s rewind 24 months back to the moment when we first considered revamping our website.

Why did we change something that is “working”?

As the connoisseurs of web design and development, we would love to redesign our website every year. The world changes so fast, not to mention the trends in design that evolved significantly since we launched our first company page… If not that, we also became a quite different company. We gained an amazing portfolio, something that wasn’t reflected on the old page.

Another reason was that our first website was done the fast way — using a template (a great one tho!) that allowed us to save precious time. Back in the time, we didn’t have some of the UX/UI and web development competencies we do have now. When we’d grown to a much larger team with new skills and the ability to deliver a fully-fledged website on our own, the idea came up naturally.

Project process tips to follow if you want to deliver quality product

You’re about to start working on your website and you think that it doesn’t matter how much time it will take because the final quality is the priority? Well, that was what we thought too, but it turned out to be the first circle of hell that didn’t lead us anywhere.

And that was only the beginning. Looking back at these 24 months, we can distinguish the following decisions that we’ve made (or didn’t make) and you should avoid at all cost:

No timeline defined

Working on the new website was a side project for us, so we thought that no planning was required. Everything will sort out in time, right? Moreover, not being limited by the timeline means we can have all the time we need, right? Well, no. Usually without a timeline, team is tempted to put other tasks first, work becomes disorganized and unsystematic, and without any fixed deadlines that leads to constant postponements.

• Lesson learned: Assuming that you have all the time in the world for your internal project is a rookie mistake. Every project, including internal, should start with proper planning: starting with defining the budget and assigning time needed to complete all tasks. This initial phase requires some effort at the beginning, but you’ll see the results as the project will start off on the right foot and continue without delays.

Too many perspectives

Our approach to project requirements and expectations was pretty democratic: we wanted everyone to have the possibility to contribute with their ideas and suggestions. It seemed like the more perspectives and specialists involved in the project, the better would be the quality of the final outcome. However, it actually resulted in too many, too diverse perspectives and opinions that were hard to reconcile.

• Lesson learned: Any project is by definition a complex system of interdependencies. A minor change can cause a domino effect. That’s why all feedback should be analyzed, prioritized, accepted, or rejected, preferably by a project manager experienced in the diplomacy of managing stakeholder expectations.

Overly ambitious goal

We have to admit we’re perfectionists. We wanted the final result to be spotless, and more importantly, polished to the extreme, with a complete set of features. And we kept adding new ideas to the project scope, causing it to expand uncontrollably, instead of focusing on a predefined MVP that could be augmented during the next iterations.

• Lesson learned: Start with an MVP with the basic functionalities. A project delivered in a few months, although with a limited scope, most probably will respond more accurately to your current business context and market situation than one that would extend during years.

Project manager missing in action

Our web development project started without a designated project manager. After all, every team member was familiar with our internal procedures, so we thought it was enough to ensure smooth progress. As a result, everyone involved had to play the role of a project manager to some extent, taking care of tasks related to coordination.

• Lesson learned: Never underestimate the role of a project manager. Other team members whose work is crucial to the project’s success, such as designers and developers, can’t dedicate enough time to coordination tasks, even if they have project management skills. Therefore, having a good PM on board will allow to have the timeline, budget, and scope under control.

The final takeaway

It has taken a lot of blood, sweat, and tears… but our new website is finally live. After these 24 months, we want to leave you with the final lesson learned: you can ignore the process, but you cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring the process. We hope these tips will help you carry out similar projects effectively and in timeframes way shorter than 24 months!

Despite the many problems, it was a fruitful journey. Having delivered countless websites for our clients, we also had the chance to learn the ropes of internal project management and see for ourselves how the whole process looks like from your perspective. And we believe that’s for the better. Now we’re even more capable to work together towards a common goal: delivering your project in time and budget!

Give us a shout if you’d like to get a new website yourself.