no matter

the weather took a turn for the worse and they found themselves in the middle of a tough decision: scrap the trip and endure the embarrassment of having turned back despite their expert status, or press on and brave the elements in hopes that the storm would pass. Since each of them had equal say, and nobody wanted to be seen as trying to trump the others, they all continued the trek. This story did not have a happy ending. Several of them lost their lives, simply because they did not choose a leader to make the tough decisions. It is tragically ironic that even though any one of them could have filled that role, a leadership vacuum existed because of mutual respect.

The lesson to be learned here is that selecting a leader is not necessarily a bad thing. However, typically, it manifests itself in one of two ways. Either the most senior people are the only ones who get to make decisions because of their status and clout, or decisions fall to those with lower positions because the issues at hand are not seen as pertinent and worthwhile. The ideal environment is one where people all have something to bring to the table, but a group consensus is reached on who will take ownership of the team effort before a project even starts. This need not be re-negotiated every time, but the important thing is that people know who has governing authority, and that there are not overlapping agendas in the process. One could think of this in terms of professional sports teams. Michael Jordan might have had a superstar shoe deal, but he respected Phil Jackson as the one who was coaching the game. Contrast this with players such as Latrell Sprewell, who attacked his coach, P.J. Carlesimo.

So What?

What does any of this have to do with web development? Quite a bit, actually. The tale of the village stew reflects how big businesses get so tied up in their own IT bureaucracy that their processes become a hindrance instead of an effective governance model. As the ones building websites, we first need to understand the human factors involved before constructing solutions that might not address our problems. In her book Web ReDesign 2.0: Workflow that Works, Kelly Goto offers this advice:

“Clients usually have clear business objectives, but are notorious for not having clear site objectives. And why expect them to? They are neither designers nor web experts. By asking clients the right questions, you guide them into aligning their business objectives with the constantly changing, evolving, and demanding web.”

The mountain-climber tragedy illustrates how small agencies can be hindered by lack of structure. Somewhere in the middle is a solid team model, in which there is just enough of a framework in place to keep people communicating effectively, but not so much paperwork that it keeps anything from really happening. As a general rule, if your web team produces more Word documents than deliverables, then it may be time to re-strategize. On the flip side, if you are just designing and coding all day, but there is no clearly established scope or budget for a project, then you should define those parameters, pronto.

Here are a few pointers:

Do:

1. Choose a project leader who has final authority.
2. Establish scope and budget for the project.
3. Agree upon a timeline for deliverables.
4. Set specific, incremental milestones in the process.
5. Get to know the key stakeholders.
6. Keep the yes-man under control.

Don’t:

1. Be afraid to demand that someone take charge.
2. Give into scope creep unless the client is paying.
3. Shoot from the hip without any timeframe.
4. Start a project with no clear goals defined.
5. Be a loner or isolate yourself.
6. Let a yes-man run the show.

Summary

No matter the size your team, be it an agile design shop or large IT department, it is important to know when to defer to those who are well-versed in a particular area, and equally as imperative to step up and take the initiative for the betterment of the project as a whole. In either situation, check your own motives to make sure that ego or personal agenda is not clouding your judgment. In the business world, projects are unsuccessful not because a group of professionals working together lack anything by way of skill or intelligence, but, more often than not, they simply fail to work well together. In the future, we can hope for more culinary masterpieces and less village stew.