Planning

ConsortiumWeb has two business plans. The first I wrote in July 2005 and now pull out for a laugh every so often. The second was not written by me, nor was it written any time in the recent past. Two and a half thousand years ago Sun Tzu and Sun Pin wrote two treaties that we now know as the Art of War. This is my real business plan, the one that I pull out every day.

It’s great for running the business, but there is one particular aspect that I think would apply especially well to my clients: planning. To those who are not familiar with ConsortiumWeb, we develop everything from simple web sites to advanced web applications. I’m frequently asked to prepare a quote based on no more information than “I need a good-looking web site with five pages and pictures”. While I’m happy to oblige, this can never serve the client’s best interests. It’s like being asked to build the Sydney Opera House based on instructions that amount to “we need a good looking building to put on our postage stamps”.

Sun Tzu had this to say about planning…

You must know five things to win:

1. Victory comes from knowing when to attack and when to avoid battle.
2. Victory comes from correctly using both large and small forces.
3. Victory comes from everyone sharing the same goals.
4. Victory comes from finding opportunities in problems.
5. Victory comes from having a capable commander and the government leaving him alone.

You must know these five things. You then know the theory of victory .

It may seem at best loosely relevant but this is how the Art of War works: by applying common sense in the interpretation. In other words…

To get the website that you want in the right time frame and within budget :

1. Time your project based on the changing trends of the climate. Barging into a project purely because you think it is a good idea is almost always a very bad idea.
2. Judge the relative size and power of your resources and act appropriately. If you are limited by budget, start small and expect less. If you are limited by time, remember that even the most diligent developers in the world have no control over many aspects of a project – account for delays even if you can’t afford them.
3. Gather your thoughts on paper and have a clear idea of what you want – ConsortiumWeb can find you very good developers, but psychic developers are probably a little beyond us. Every time you change your instructions to the developers you incur additional costs in time and money. I have a good story about clear instructions… maybe for the next post.
4. Discover opportunities by knowing your market. If your background is in real estate and you’re trying to build a travel web site, do not go it alone. Engage someone in the industry if you need to, just don’t go in blind.
5. Be the boss and make the decisions. A large percentage of a developer’s time can be wasted waiting for instructions in a badly managed project. Reduce the complexity in delivering instructions and have the decision maker deliver them directly.