While the methodology put forward by Kelly Goto is a great guide to follow, it should not be taken as a specification to any sort of standard. There are two major oversights that must be addressed.

The first oversight (I call it an oversight and not a flaw because perhaps Ms. Goto never found herself in this position while climbing the ladder of success) is the fact that her methodology does not include a Stage 0, which is one of the most important sections of the entire document. I have never owned, operated or had the privilege to work for a professional web development or web design firm. All of my knowledge has been self-taught and all of my projects have been looked after by the good people (read: person) of Me, Myself and I inc. Prior to my current position as in-house tech and developer for a local dot com, I was the lowly self-employed independent contractor. Let's say that our friend Joe Schmoe (fig. 1) is in the same position.

Without a salary or even a guaranteed paycheck at their back, Joe will find himself scrutinizing every project. He does not have the luxury of taking on a project because it will be fun. At the end of the month he has bills to pay, just like the rest of us. Before even sitting down to define the project as illustrated in Phase 1, he must be sure that the job will bring food on the table. At the end of the month he has bills to pay, just like the rest of us and he can ill afford a contract that will leave him homeless come x-month plus one. (fig. 2)

Secondly, and more importantly, no two clients and no two projects are the same. Every client has different priorities, different expectations and their own methodology to which they must adhere. As a developer who has their employer as their client, I've come to be all too familiar with all of the "bad" client traits, not to say that I dislike my job or have an incompetent boss. I have a very healthy relationship with my employer but that mutual understanding and trust that has built over the years raises expectations. As we have grown to know each others quirks and work ethic we have adapted a methodology in which there are no formalities that come with any project, such as signing off on ideas. Creep is not only acceptable but also inevitable. Things get done at a pace and in a priority that is dictated by my other obligations to the business.

As with my job, there are many other real-world scenarios and applications where Phases 1 through 5 of the methodology presented, while optimal for the completion of a project of general criteria, may not always apply. First of all, is the designer in any position to have to even worry about all of this budget/content gathering/persona mish-mash?

Going back to Joe, he is essentially a gun for hire. He's not the big boss or the leader of the gang. He's the extra on set, fodder for Clint Eastwood or John Wayne. He will rarely find himself in the position of project manager. In our script he doesn't even come into the picture until Phase 3, with a brief appearance on screen during the "Kick-off party" scene.

Now, let's say that Joe gets to ride off into the sunset (fig. 3.) As stated earlier, every project is different. Below is a list of points taken from Phases 1 through 5 which, when applied to my personal experience, can become more of a hassle than a helpful blessing.

1. Definition
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Aside from the two points made above which are targeted towards very specific scenarios, I find the methodology to be great in theory. Every project to which it is applied has the potential to be a great success and everyone from the client to the developer to the customer would be monumentally happy. Even our friend Joe could comfortably live one more month without worry.

Unfortunately, Murphy's Law dictates that anything can go wrong and will go wrong. In practice, failure will certainly be met somewhere along the way. No matter what contingencies are put in place and what reservations have been made to insure that the job is done as agreed upon, someone, whether the client, designer or customer will end up disappointed at one point or another. This can be summed up with one globally accepted ideology. "Nobody's Perfect."

Posted by pandymic at 3:59 AM