The process of iterative development in an Agile environment lends itself very well to many applications. Building software in small increments allows the customer to be involved in the development process, oftentimes adjusting the trajectory of the project as developers and clients begin to speak a common language. Launching a project in small increments builds excitement for the product and encourages ownership by the client. It improves the end product and tightens the timeline to customer satisfaction. It’s a win all around.

 

Recently we had a chance to test iterative development in a web design capacity. Until recently our company’s website was a classic case of the cobbler’s shoeless family. We design/develop web environments and sites, we market them and we provide outsourced IT and database development. We’ve had a web site up that didn’t adequately represent our company. It didn’t represent our web design ability and it wasn’t being marketed.

 

But our company’s sustained 17+% growth rate and our increasing client base keeps everyone skating as fast as they can. Internal deadlines are the first pushed out. We made vague promises to get the site out and deadlines were missed until our CEO said, get something out there, or else.

So, in the spirit of iterative development, we designed a skin, created a home page with skeletal navigation, added content to the top level page of each department, created a blog module and launched the site.

 

Our CEO is delighted. A broad-visioned and optimistic man, he can see the potential. It’s not perfect, it’s not done, but even at this stage, it’s better than what was out there.

 

My history is in print graphic design. In that world of pre-web where I learned to manage clients, I developed habits that are hard to break. In those days prototypes were as close to launch as you could get them, even if you were presenting three or four. Perfection was the name of the game because you wanted the client to see the overall and not to focus on the inevitable flaw if you showed it to them too early. Clients couldn’t be expected to see the vision from a bare-bones iteration. You needed to perfect the kerning and the color and the images to deliver exactly the right message in the first impression. Because that first impression dictated the flow of the rest of the project. 

 

While the design process itself is certainly iterative, the client never got involved until it was safe for the client to see. In my experience, most clients were quick to notice a design that didn’t work, even if they couldn’t say exactly why. Because so many didn’t have the broad design vision and couldn’t ignore the wrong blue or an unfortunate kern on a word, we didn’t show it to anyone until it was ready. Once a client latched on to an imperfection, or was unsettled by an incomplete design, overcoming that first impression became the project and it quickly derailed into minutia and “here’s what’s wrong with this iteration.”

 

Software has changed this game. Clients are involved from the beginning of the project, releases are staggered and ever-improving. Our web site will take this tack and it’s a good thing or it might never have been launched. But it’s an uncomfortable feeling to launch an imperfect design. I want to slap a line across the top of the homepage that says: Wait, wait, not quite done, come back later.

 

But, we’re already in production… stay tuned for Phase 2.