LebGeeks

rolf

Member

Design by commitee

Have you ever had to face such a situation?

I'm having to develop a website right now which suffers from this condition.
Everyone wants to put their input, and of course every change ends up having unforseen side effects, which trigger other changes, by each person...

At the design stage the design was changed many times, through the development stage, and now we've been in the "final touches" stages for ages.

About 5 persons are involved in the decisions...

Nabs

Member

Re: Design by commitee

Is the change related to code or design?

rolf

Member

Re: Design by commitee

Is the change related to code or design?

Design changes, mostly visual; aligning elements, etc.
Stuff which should have been done during the design phase...

NuclearVision

Member

Re: Design by commitee

Meh, just tell them it's not your way of working and that they should make their minds up in order to reach the optimal work.

rolf

Member

Re: Design by commitee

Meh, just tell them it's not your way of working and that they should make their minds up in order to reach the optimal work.

You think I didn't! :)
I told them several times that this is not the right way of working, and explained that it makes things more complicated and difficult, even got pissed off several times already!

If this continues for too long I'm just going to have to start saying no.

Joe

Member

Re: Design by commitee

Rolf, keep in mind that it's always easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. Design by committee is a very common pain in the ass. Good luck with your project.

FWIW, the project I'm currently working on takes "design by committee" to a whole other level. I call it "design by democracy" where every single tiny decision has to be taken by consulting everyone and making sure nothing goes against anybody's diverging plans.

"Permission vs Forgiveness", best strategy you can adopt.

arithma

Member

Re: Design by commitee

@rolf: How about you charge extra per email? They may not mind, and you'll have more money, and the "improvements" will be welcome.