Reflect before briefing - better briefings by broadening horizons
For the most part, the purpose of a website is to meet a marketing need. When I look at the results, it’s sometimes questionable whether that need was actually identified and addressed. Is the reason for this due to restrictive briefs and expectations, or to an ill-considered implementation?
The processes for developing web presences, the technologies for implementation and the marketing instruments are diverse and the interplay is complex. Even for us web specialists, it is time-consuming to keep track of and assess all the options; non-specialists have long since lost the overview. Nevertheless, the knowledge of web specialists is little used in the tendering process for a new website.
Cheap is not always good
I observe that again and again briefings for a new web presence are distributed without prior reflection with potential partners and the cheapest offer is awarded the contract. This procedure often leads to unpleasant surprises: Relevant requirements are not recognized and not explicitly requested for the bidding. When these requirements emerge during the course of the project, costly rework and, not infrequently, disputes arise between the client and the service provider.
Reflection broadens the horizon
My experience is that companies that collect the functional and non-functional requirements for their web presence and reflect on them with specialists before finally approving the briefing get an optimal final result. The reflection broadens the client's horizon, helps to identify possible weak points of the briefing at an early stage and to uncover new aspects for the implementation. Quite often, the added value of the findings has a striking influence on the project direction. With the findings of the reflection, they formulate a precise briefing with which they can request structured, comparable offers. A reflection conveys security: In the discussion of the requirements, you recognize how fit your discussion partner is in dealing with the web and online marketing instruments, how he assesses the requirements and how he approaches the task. After three interviews at the latest, you will be in a position to assess the quality of the potential partners, their briefing, and the budget ideas.
Specialists pay off
Even if the briefing requirements have been discussed in detail in your company, you do not have the certainty of having recognized all essential aspects. That's why it pays to discuss your requirements and ideas with specialists before the briefing for the relaunch of a website is created and distributed. This will save you a lot of time and trouble in the course of the project.
Imre Sinka
