SIGIA-L Mail Archives: Re: SIGIA-L: best app for wireframes/pag
Re: SIGIA-L: best app for wireframes/page templates
From: Dennis (djhuston_at_21stcentury.net)
Date: Tue Jun 19 2001 - 11:24:04 EDT
Kayla,
Not IS horrible implicitely, but to be warned about if:
a) You are working with a project manager who is willing to pass off your
deliverables without giving you a chance to explain them to the client
in a
meeting and get their feedback. This is only made worse when using a
tool like PPT
that clients are familiar with, but also dangerous because they don't
know why
they are using it or what the IA is trying to communicate because
they've never
worked on a web site before. Have you ever seen a fully designed PPT interface?
It's possible, but not very pretty or functional.
In the situation I mentioned, the PM had grabbed the doc off of a shared
network space and given it to the client while it was still in working
form, then
told the IA who was working on the redesign about it. I can only assume
that it
only contributed to the fact that the client took the project back soon
after as a
result of this botched maneuver by the PM. The unfortunate thing was
that when I
had an opportunity to look at what the client had done, there was
essentially the
same site they had started with in the first place, while the redesign was
actually being geared toward new requirements.
b) That client does not have any experience designing or visually communicating
interactive structures
c) That client uses the opportunity to start changing project scope, or worse,
retracing ground already covered by the IA and project team
Don't get me wrong, there are certainly savvy clients. But for every
knowledgeable client, there are probably two who have been dumped into
the job or
this is their first experience with the "Internet" ("Does our company
use the
latest version of the Internet?" - yes, I've heard it more than once
from a client
new to this game). My point is that the most successful deliverables
usually have
one point person per team. That person is responsible for gathering
feedback and
input about their deliverables and their PM should be making sure it
jibes with
the collective team reality and not the subjective vision of one team member
versus another.
Clients pay us for our expertise and unless you are lucky enough to
find a
counterpart on the client side who actually speaks the same language it
can be an
uphill battle to give everybody on the team an opportunity to start changing
project documentation on a whim. Many times clients are willing to take
a project
out of house because they realize that the people who manage them
internally might
not be able to think about things objectively or apolitically. Allowing projects
to developed out of house can allow for some of those risks to be mitigated.
Thus, while all documentation is technically "fluid" throughout the
course of
development there should be only one person per document who is
responsible for
changes, revisions, etc.
Dennis Huston
Kayla Block wrote:
> At 10:22 PM 6/18/2001 -0500, you wrote:
> >1 bad thing about PPT:
> > - Clients can manipulate the files if delivered in PPT format. While I never
>
> And this is horrible because....?
>
> Kayla
>
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