To get this going, define the must-have components that add enough value to your user-base, and are do-able in 2 months. Skilled resources must also be identified, hired and rapidly acclimated to the objective.
In order to achieve liftoff, it is highly recommended that certain key resources be hired, not bartered with. Hiring some experts will manifest strong results early, and you’ll need the momentum generated from those early wins. When the implementation team starts, make sure an action plan is in place and the core thinking and documenting is done.
For future projects, after a successful relationship has been established, have the barter/equity conversation. Establish credibility and chemistry first. If phase 1 is successful, and everyone can see the potential, you’ll have “investors”.
Roles and Responsibilities
Founder, idea guy, subject matter expert
- Be able to explain to a layman, in 60 seconds, why the world needs your site. Practice on people, refine your pitch, crystallize the message. If you’re not delusional, you’ll know when it starts resonating.
- To be taken seriously, create a brief PowerPoint defining the purpose of the system, the target users, the business model (which will probably change), features, competitors and schedule desired. Don’t get too attached to this – the “Glue Resource” will have a say in timing and others may persuade you to change other aspects – seek counsel of trusted, open-minded colleagues. Be prepared to make adjustments.
- Find a site you like that looks and flows like what you had in mind – take your time – this is important. You don’t want to copy, but you do need a baseline “template”. If you can’t find just one, identify the good parts from multiple sites.
- Based on the template, layer on your unique needs. Define the additional major screens – rough layout and flow. Explain why they are important.
- Use methods you are comfortable with (Visio, Word, Excel). Verify that others can understand it. This will take a few iterations. It may look ugly – it doesn’t matter – thinking this through and getting it documented is the important part.
Keep it simple and manageable for phase 1 – focus on what adds the most value to your target user, such that they will eagerly engage.
During product development, your main role is to provide support every way you can, and create conditions for success. However, it is also to generate interest for the upcoming release. Your inbound marketing strategy needs to be in full flow around the beginning of the project, which means you already have active presences, at a minimum, on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the Blogosphere. Don’t overlook Twitter and a Blog – they are both very important building blocks. The Get Discovered blog entry provides some direction on how to approach that.
Ok, now you have some bricks in place. You have been forced to think about what you really want and the priorities. You’re ready to engage the “Glue Resource”.
Glue Resource
Funny name – yes, but it’s the most descriptive. You could call this person CTO, architect, tech lead, technical program manager etc., but their real role is providing the glue between you the founder and the implementation team. Choose VERY carefully – it needs to be someone experienced, reliable, pragmatic and with sound judgment.
General Skillsets Needed
- Business Analysis: can understand your proposition and offer insights on how to proceed or offer new twists.
- Technical Architecture: knows how to establish the technical foundation, and understands resources required. Can write code if necessary.
- People/Process/Project Management: can build process flows with supporting documentation/diagrams and open up clear channels between you and the technical team.
- Documentation/Follow-up: documentation is not a 1 time thing, it is constant throughout the project, with regular clarifications and adjustments needed. Staying on top of this is a must, or the project will spiral out of control.
Specific Technical Skills Needed
- Data modeling, database design and some (MySQL) DBA skills.
- Significant coding experience (8-10+ years preferably) and has implemented and supported production web applications.
- Clearly understands and can explain the various tiers involved in web applications.
- Well versed in HTML/CSS/Javascript/SQL – can create and modify as needed.
- Good understanding of SEO techniques
Deliverables
- System design document: overall game plan with technical details.
- Database design: creates the data model and documents key entities and relationships
- Work plan: schedule for each component and who will do what
- Specifications: details how a feature will flow, mappings back to database design, testing/success criteria for the feature.
- Glossary: Key business terms and phraseology to avoid confusion.
- Many working incremental releases to walk through, test and adjust. At least 2-3/week, after week 1.
- A working system that performs agreed upon tasks, looks good, flows well, has been tested and is secure.
Regarding this role, if you feel the need to “give someone a shot” (e.g. a friend), have them work as an apprentice under someone more experienced, until they have proven themselves. Don’t forget how important “Glue” is in the “regular use case”! It is preferable (although not essential) that the Glue Resource be based in the same locale so that in-person sessions are feasible.
Finally, even though this resource could potentially also be the developer, avoid that scenario. Managing and documenting the moving parts between Founder, Creative, Development and any vendors is enough to focus on. Coding requires deep-dive involvement, is time-consuming and would detract from the aforementioned. Furthermore, this resource is too expensive to do the bulk of the coding.
Implementation Team
In some cases, creative and development can be sourced from the same company, especially if you’re already providing a template on which to base the design.
Creative
By providing a template (reference sites) on which to base a design, you are effectively short-circuiting this process. However, do take this role and activity very seriously – even a great site technically is significantly diminished by a color palette or styling that was not created by a pro. The eye catches very small details that pros take care of. You know a pro site when you see one. Your hire for this must have previous design experience for web, preferably for database-driven sites – shoot for 3+ years solid experience, where you are impressed with their portfolio.
The deliverable from creative is a Style Guide. This includes several examples of “The Look” along with technical details of how to implement The Look. Technical details include Stylesheet code, HTML colors, font sizes and families and how they apply to heading, content, links etc., page template dimensions, form labels, form fields, buttons and treatment of any dynamic page behavior deemed important. A developer should be able to take a good style guide and apply it to all implementation scenarios.
Software Development
You only need 1-2 Senior Developers – NOTE Senior. If you have budget for 2, make sure 1 of them is very experienced.
Assuming 1 strong developer, the Senior dev will truly short-circuit the development process. They already know how this should go, will likely have a bunch of “plumbing code” already available. They are also already familiar with all the tools needed for professional development, including: Database (such as MySQL), Source code control (Git, Subversion), IDE (Development tools), Cloud hosting platforms, Linux, Modern development tools (such as Groovy on Grails, Ruby on Rails, Python/Django etc.), Automated testing procedures, Persistence Layer tools and techniques (Hibernate/GORM).
In addition, they are significantly less likely to make mistakes that need to be undone later – let me stress again the importance of maintaining momentum.
It is the job of your Glue Resource to choose the dev resource wisely. However, experience with the following is a recipe for success:
- Data modeling, database design skills, some DBA skills
- 5-7+ years hard-core coding skills (web applications)
- Experience with Tomcat and Apache Web Server
- Experience with a maintenance cycle on a production web application
- Strong, working knowledge of a Javascript framework (JQuery, YUI), CSS, HTML, AJAX.
- Experience with REST and can explain what it is.
- In-depth knowledge of a modern web development tool.
- Knows what to do with a Persistence Layer and optimize database queries where necessary
- Good understanding of SEO techniques
- Good understanding of web page optimization techniques
NOTE: It makes a big difference to have experience in a modern web development tool – these tools enable the huge productivity necessary to achieve the short timeframes proposed herein.
