old dogs, new tricks: life after launch

OLD DOGS, NEW TRICKS:SUPPORTING WEBSITES AFTER LAUNCH

JOE CRESPO@JSCRESPO

@ATENDESIGN

ATENDigital Design

Development

Strategy

FOCUSCause-Driven Organizations

YOU'VE LAUNCHED... WHAT NOW?

PRODUCTION SUPPORT:THE AGENCY'S PERSPECTIVEPost-launch (Phase II) catch-all.After-thought / loss-leader.Maintain relationship until next big piece of work.

PRODUCTION SUPPORT CHALLENGESGuesstimation.Billing & project management.Hurry up and wait.

GUESSTIMATIONUpfront overhead.Complex task, large margin of error.

BILLING & PROJECT MANAGEMENTFIXED-FEE

Poor incentives for both parties.Fixed-fee client: control cost, push scope.Fixed-fee agency: push cost, control scope.Quality = casualty.

BILLING & PROJECT MANAGEMENTTIME AND MATERIALS

Turns scope creep on its head.Time and materials, client: set priorities, give feedback.Time and materials, agency: more "yes and", less "no".Goal = efficiency.

HURRY UP AND WAITRetainers and sprints.Feast or famine.Snack or splurge.

COMMUNICATIONAlways, early and often.Time & Materials requires trust & transparency.Weekly check-ins: priorities, progress, goals, options.Builds relationships with clients.Builds deep understanding of clients' sites.

PRODUCTION SUPPORT:CLIENT CHALLENGESActive maintenance.Identifying ways to improve the site.Right-sizing the engagement / budget.

ACTIVE MAINTENANCEKeeps the site secure.Helps to recognize areas of improvement.Keeping down technical debt holds a rebuild at bay.

SITE IMPROVEMENTSClients know their message / product / service best.Clients are experts at their field, which is likely not webdevelopment.Client: always share the high-level objective for the task.Agency: listen for the objectives in incoming requests.

RIGHT-SIZING THE ENGAGEMENTEmergency hotfixes today.Feature build next month.Requires flexible, responsive development capacity.

COMMUNICATIONAlways, early and often.Time & Materials -> understanding your priorities.Weekly check-ins: learning best practices for webdevelopment.Creating a partner to assist with long-term strategy.

PRODUCTION SUPPORT:A WORD FOR THE DEVELOPER

Hey.

DEVELOPER CHALLENGESPerception: it's all dull break-fix work.Perception: huge projects are sexy, small feature builds...not so much.Perception: Terrible for résumé-building.

AWESOME FOR THE DEVELOPERFixing bad code makes you a better developer.Small projects are great for learning something new.Best practices? A bunch of clients? A lot of differenttechnology? Come on now, the résumé writes itself.

SMALL INVESTMENTS, BIG IMPACTCASE STUDIES

CASE STUDY #1BEING ON THE SAME TEAM

CLIENT REQUEST:Audit header tags (<h1>, <h2>... etc.)

WHY?SEO

OUR RECOMMENDATION:Adjust content

Enable xmlsitemap module

Audit the site's speed

PINGDOM SPEED TEST(before)

PINGDOM SPEED TEST(detail)

ENTER VARNISH

(almost impossibly, their mascot is worse than Drupal's)

PINGDOM SPEED TEST(after)

CASE STUDY #2RUBBER, MEET ROAD

SOLUTIONS:Cache all the things.

Search the DOM, not the server.

Lighten the payload.

CASE STUDY #3TRAFFIC COP

GLOBAL INITIATIVES:Climate

Energy

Food

Forests

Water

Cities & Transport

CROSS-CUTTING CENTERS:Business

Economics

Finance

Governance

@ATENDESIGNJOE CRESPO @JSCRESPO