#1 There’s no place for wicked game…
… unless you listen to Chris Isaak.
Dividing web design and development tasks between two agencies often means that one agency loses out on their share of the profits. It is understandable for both parties to be upset and possibly concerned about losing the rest of the business to another agency. They may be over controlling, cherry-picking of each other’s mistakes, and creating delays. This is not how it works, though.
It’s not a wicked game, as the agencies should have one and the same goal: to deliver for the client. Whenever a project’s success is in sight, there are win-win situations to be had.
Can you avoid it? It’s impossible to prevent this completely; a successful project may put the future of one party on the site at risk.
The client can act as an intermediary to ensure that all parties are invested in the success and incentivize cooperation toward this purpose, and this may significantly improve the collaboration. In addition to giving both teams exposure to high-quality practices, this exposes them to new ways of doing things.
Clients may also hire a well-trained project manager to oversee the entire process while outsourcing design and software development.
It doesn’t matter if you’re an agency, consultant or internal employee: don’t be too proud to accept constructive criticism from project partners. Although hate can hinder this dynamic, partnering that uses criticism to weaken the other can be dangerous as well.
#2 Meet in the middle
Being on the same wavelength in terms of mindset is one thing: another is to meet requirements and deliverables. And here’s where challenges knock to your door.
You can always rely on your internal team to know more about your organization than outside agencies will. These include understanding company policies, a brand’s voice, target audiences and goals.
And any agency can only be provided with these insights through collaboration and time.
Their focus will be on learning about your customers, brand, goals, and vision for the app, but they will not get all the knowledge right away. An applications-focused development team usually understands the field better than a pure design team. To accomplish the tasks at hand, they may use a variety of methods and techniques to understand the requirements, primary goals, and priority features. By using existing industry knowledge and the latest trends, more experienced teams can offer a perspective that is only possible through focused effort.
You need to put in the time and effort to get the agency and you on the same page, so you will have to go through the growing pains and assets that go with building a team together from scratch.
The collaboration is not a dead end – rather, it is moving in the direction that will benefit both parties in the long run. Besides, new perspectives are often very refreshing.
And for all parties, it’s important to meet in the middle, otherwise it’s not going to work. One of the biggest obstacles waiting for design and development teams working separately is asynchronous work. A few challenges arise here:
- Development team’s challenge: among the timing factors that are out of the development team’s control, is an exact date when designs will be delivered.
- Design team’s challenge: often development tasks cannot begin until a design has been reviewed, feedback given, and approval from the client has been collected – and this may take ages. If the design team is not alert to the effect of delays, then they might not realize that such delays are often costly.
- Clients’ challenge: to meet their turnaround time criteria, projects must come with significant buffers to allow for client review.
Can it be 100% avoided? Is there any secret sauce of how it may work anyway?
Its risk can be minimized if you master communication. Because…
#3 There’s a tribulation without communication
Keeping frictions at a minimum requires an effective communication plan – not only in terms of developing applications.
All parties can benefit from crystal clear communication with each other. So, if delays happen on the design side, they need to be communicated straight away – even if it is not yet known how much delay will occur. Still, there’s more than can be done. It is also beneficial to share design drafts with the clients and the development team to help them identify any potential impacts on the schedule if added complexity results from a design.
On the development side, the capabilities of custom development are pretty wide-open, but some features involve more effort and resources to build. Everyone should be informed about the current status. There should be no technical or scope restrictions that the development team cannot clearly communicate.
Also, there are no excuses here: with the multitude of communication and productivity tools available today, it becomes easier and quicker to communicate with individuals and teams despite working in different time zones or countries.
#4 You do You (and your contract)
Take a look at each other’s duties, but also arrangements.
Whenever you work with design or development companies, there’s a budget that is typically set, and with the budget come certain limitations.
Each step of the process allows for a certain number of revisions as well as feedback rounds. If you go beyond the set number of revisions, your quote will increase and such an activity is nothing but a dealbreaker. This is where you may look for some companies that employ Agile methodologies that give you more flexibility and more accurate estimates as opposed to fixed scope contracts.
The distinction between design and development lies somewhere in the middle.
A clear line needs to be drawn between one team’s responsibilities and the rest of the project. Who to contact, what to approve, how to communicate modifications on the go and what are other policies and practices to follow? If this is not defined and clear-cut for everyone in the process, you may end up overspending and having to re-do the work.
To prevent it, it’s good to create a development playbook. Without it, projects are vulnerable to a number of costly and time-consuming problems for all sides. The same is true for designers making sure developers understand how their designs can translate into an application. Therefore, software developers can work simultaneously and contribute to shortened project timelines.
What about developing your app with Codibly? (SPOILER: it's effective)
If you are looking for a team that will help you with your project regardless of its size, Codibly is a great choice. In addition, it may be your solution if you want to leverage the expertise of experienced software developers.
What you can expect:
- cost-effective and business continuity,
- multi-sector experience,
- teamwork and efficiency,
- high recruitment capacity,
- transparency in communication.
Codibly offers a wide range of services. Whether custom software development, product development, or even a dedicated development team, we are here to help.
We base our activities on AI, machine learning, advanced analytics, and more to deliver you a reliable project.
Speaking of which… There could be a situation where you already have a project, idea, or prototype from a third-party company. Then, some questions may arise – what’s the best way of implementing the project? Who to hire? Or maybe doing it in-house is enough?
Of course, many factors are worth considering before making any decisions about working with someone or on your own. For example, whether you have experts in your company who are able to implement the idea successfully, similar to what we’ve mentioned above.
However, in some cases, it’s hard to go solo.
It is especially true for renewable energy projects. To illustrate, cooperating with a team that does not know how to approach the topic of renewables would be much more complicated and riskier compared to working with a team that specializes in this area. Therefore, a change from an inexperienced team to an expert one is something that streamlines the whole process of developing a project.
We come up with a solution – to assure not only professional help in terms of implementing your idea thanks to many professionals but also expertise in renewable energy.
So, behind every project you need to deliver, technology and digital transformation are always a matter. Codibly makes a difference in that field with green and clean technology. Thanks to many years of experience, we know how to develop a project that meets high standards.
Please feel free to contact Codibly team! They are here to answer all your concerns and help you in the best way possible.
You can also listen to a podcast here to learn more about our approach to renewable energy technology.
What’s the perfect set-up, then?
You cannot anticipate all potential issues when redesigning an application. It is even more difficult when separate development and design agencies are involved, as this entails a clash of methods and personalities.
It’s not impossible to manage, though.
Knowing in advance where the potential pitfalls are helps you navigate around the most dangerous situations, eliminating the most predicted issues. All team members ought to resolve any possible conflicts and make sure that there are no communication stumbling blocks.
You have to figure out if you want to handle everything with one business or if you want to hire a lot of companies. If you’re a large company with thousands of employees and structured processes, it may make more sense to hire several agencies to execute the entire project. You may want to do business with one if you are a small startup with no funding or product yet.
But there’s no secret sauce here. There’s no unique answer to whether developing a project should always consist of one, two, or five agencies. You need to evaluate your needs and requirements, and then adjust the resources to use in your project.
Good luck!
