There was a great article at The Standard by Ted Gioia in July 2000 which discussed pricing options for Web development. At the end of the article he poses ten questions, and we feel that these are useful enough when selecting a Web developer that we've taken the time to answer them here.

Before outsourcing a project, ask the prospective firm the following:

1. How do you determine the cost of projects?
2. Can you provide a fixed bid?
3. How quickly can you assign developers to new work?
4. What is your methodology for managing and tracking a project's progress?
5. How do you handle changes in project requirements?
6. How much turnover do you have among your developer staff?
7. Can you provide clients with thorough documentation of their projects?
8. What is a typical price tag and time frame for your work?
9. Who else have you done work for?
10. What percent of your developers' time is allocated to training and education?
    
    

1. How do you determine the cost of projects?

Project costs are based on three factors: the scope of work, the timeline for delivery, and the resources required to accomplish the job.

Specifically, factors such as these will have a direct affect on cost:

• Number of pages

• The nature and complexity of the graphic design and layout

• Whether the site will require SWF (Flash), database connectivity, or other special technical considerations

• Timely delivery source materials to work with (product photos, press release content, etc.)

• Flexibility of the schedule

2. Can you provide a fixed bid?

Yes. In order to provide a fixed price which both provides clear value to the client and covers our expenses, we break the process into two distinct phases: design and development.

The design phase is a fixed number of days at a fixed price, during which we work with the client to determine the goals of the site, the general "look and feel", and specific media and functionality to be included. The deliverable for this phase is a detailed design document which serves as a sort of blueprint for the actual development.

The development phase is based largely on the specifications described in the design document, with specific costs also determined by the timeline available and the workflow process. If a client is able to devote sufficient attention to the project to provide timely delivery of review and approvals, source media, etc., overall costs can be lower.

3. How quickly can you assign developers to new work?

Like any firm, we prefer as much lead time as possible in order to ensure that adequate resources are available to focus on the project. But generally we can start work within two weeks of initial contact, sometimes sooner.

If we are unavailable during the time required, we will often work with the client to find an appropriate referral whenever possible.

4. What is your methodology for managing and tracking a project's progress?

Communication, both internally and with the client, is paramount for effective project management.

Internally, we have weekly reviews of overall project goals, and daily reviews for specific issues as needed. We maintain networked server space to trade files between our offices and with any contractors we may be using on a project. And of course, project files are backed up at least once daily; we live in an earthquake zone, so yes, we store backups offsite as well.

Each week we send a status report to the client, outlining overall projects, next steps, and any specific issues that need may need attention, such as media deliverables and the like. We maintain a private Web site for each client, where we post preliminary versions of the work, as well as updated timeline charts (usually Gantt, but can use other formats if the client prefers).

5. How do you handle changes in project requirements?

Change is the only constant, and this is perhaps more true with software engineering and Web development than in any other venue. Acknowledging this and incorporating it directly into the process and schedule, is the only way to deliver great work.

At the outset of a project, we work with the client to establish processes for handling changes as appropriate to the nature of the work and the client's preferences.

Change requests are commonly billed by the hour, but larger changes can be handled as a separate project, with its own design and development phases, to arrive at a fixed cost for implementation.

6. How much turnover do you have among your developer staff?

Zero thus far, for both employees and contractors. Every contractor we've worked with has requested to do it again -- many have said that working with Fourth World was their best contractor experience.

For employees we provide a rewarding and flexible work experience, deep training, and annual passes for Disneyland. Who's gonna walk away from that?

7. Can you provide clients with thorough documentation of their projects?

Yes, depending on the needs of the project. Some projects simply don't require this, and we don't want to sell services you don't need. But larger projects, esp. those involving the development of commercial desktop applications, can benefit tremendously from documentation.

We can provide both end-user documentation, such as manuals and tutorials, and can provide documention for internal use, such as schema, flow diagrams, source code notes, and more.

8. What is a typical price tag and time frame for your work?

The nature of our work varies greatly, from six-page Web sites to cross-platform commercial applications, so an average would not be a very useful number. In the last year, our smallest project was $2,500 and our largest was $80,000, ranging in time from two weeks to the full year.

Far more useful is this central principle, which we apply to all of our work: we are here to maximize your return on your technology investment. As with any business investment, developing a Web presence or software product is not a trivial expense, but with our flexibilty and experience we can deliver a healthy return on nearly any reasonable budget.

9. Who else have you done work for?

A partial list of clients:

ResearchWare, Inc.
Integrative Medical Arts Group, Inc.
University of Melbourne
LA 411 Publishing
Terry Hines Advertising
Runtime Revolution, Inc.
IDG Books
RiverText
Lush Life
QuickMedia Labs
Beyond Design
Aquatic Outreach Institute
Cardinal Health Systems
PearLink Software Int'l, Inc.
Spectrum Geophysics
Foothill De Anza Community College District
Nights of Neon
Internal and External Communication
Allegiant Technologies, Inc.
ABC/Clio
Gregg McHatton
GeoImaging Systems
Atlas Environmental

10. What percent of your developers' time is allocated to training and education?

We give priority to client projects, but use nearly all available downtime for training and professional development. As a platform-independent shop providing both desktop and Web solutions, there's plenty for us to learn, and always will be. Seminars, internal training, and company-sponsored independent study and research are a regular part of our work.