You're My Favorite Client

If someone’s complaining about legacy systems, that means they’re deep in the weeds about to start the most heinous job in web services.

Dealing with legacy systems is like swimming through maple syrup. No one’s legacy systems are in good shape. They’ve been cobbled and duct-taped together for years. The previous redesign probably entailed a quick f

Your designer needs to set the stage for you. Remember my speech about hope in the last chapter? (Go back and reread it if you don’t.) Every design presentation should start with some form of: “Here’s what we need your feedback on today.” That may be followed by the helpful: “Here’s what we’re not ready to talk about yet.” If your designer doesn’t

If a designer shows you work in progress, it’s a great sign. It means they’ve moved beyond a fear that all you’ll see is the broken stuff to a willingness to collaborate with you. Look at it in the spirit of collaboration. Ask questions about what they’re showing. Talk about where they’re headed with it. Feel free to ask if there’s any feedback the

If you take something away and the site still meets its goals, you don’t need it. Burn it with fire. Let’s define what we mean by “need”: does it meet a major goal of the business or user? Is this the right place to meet that goal?

When a designer puts something in front of you, especially if it’s technically tricky, evaluate the effect that piece of functionality has on your deadline. If you don’t know whether something is technically tricky, ask. Here’s a secret: they will always say no. But if it’s tricky, they’ll hesitate for a second before saying no. At which point, ask

Before searching for someone new, take stock of what you’ve learned. Did you miss a red flag during hiring? Did the problem stem from the quality of the work or the relationship? Do you need someone with more experience? Or did you choose the cheapest option over someone more qualified because you wanted to save money? (Guess what? You didn’t save

If something isn’t working, point it out and go into as much detail as possible as to why. Tie it to the goals we agreed to earlier in the project. Understanding your reasoning is critical to solving the problem. Being told to do something a certain way, or worse, getting a comp of it done that way only means we have to reverse-engineer the whole t

The goal of this phase is that you jump up in your chair and scream, “Yes! That’s it right there. Make it like that!” Be prepared for that moment to take a few iterations, which are normal parts of the process. A designer who nails something right out of the gate isn’t good—they’re lucky. A designer who works with you, listens to your feedback, pay

When you ask your designer to do something and they ask why, they’re doing their job. The ensuing conversation is invaluable in helping them solve the problem correctly. The two of you can probably come up with a better solution than either of you could have done individually.