NYCPHP Meetup

[Corey H Maass - gelform.com]

It's cheeky, but you can demand these things if you work for yourself.
If you can to calm the inner 'freakout' voice, you can usually convince
a client that doing it the right way is worth the little extra time
(money is another matter :-P ). When I was full-time freelance a few
years ago I had this epiphany. I had the luxury of a few regular clients
that I worked well with, so when a new client came thru my door, I set
high expectations. Sort of the other side of 'firing clients' is 'hiring
clients'. If yre not going to work well together, don't work with them.
But again you need to be in a position to not desperately need the work.
:-)

Corey



On Thu, 07 May 2009 10:22:37 -0400, "Leam Hall" <leam at reuel.net> said:
> Well, let's hope you don't have any heart attacks soon! however, I do 
> wonder how you *real* developers get specs and requirements? Are they 
> that loose until you build and the client says "that's not what I
> wanted"?
> 
> Is there room or time for better requirements gathering up front so you 
> save time down the road? That seems to be part of the TDD process; your 
> requirements specify the tests. Or do I not get it?
> 
> Leam
> 
> 
> Mitch Pirtle wrote:
> > I think the biggest pain most of us face is that web development is
> > always of the oh-my-god-we-are-all-going-to-die-if-we-dont-launch-freaking-TOMORROW
> > variety of projects. If a client ever came to me and said "You know
> > Mitch, take your time on this one, I'd really like to see it done
> > right" I would die of a heart attack right on the spot. That or
> > immediately search for the hidden cameras, fully expecting to be on
> > Punked or something like that.
> > 
> > Regardless, one thing I've been into for a while is test driven
> > development, which although does slow down the development process
> > somewhat, also accelerates the test and debugging process:
> > 
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development
> > 
> > It *is* possible to incorporate some sort of testing into the
> > development cycle, which is required when you start working on bigger,
> > more complex systems. Plus taking the TDD approach really forces you
> > (and your client) to fully understand just what it is that you need to
> > code, before you start coding. Project killing things like scope creep
> > then becomes a conscious act instead of a forced, constant and
> > unavoidable burden.
> > 
> > -- Mitch
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//
Corey H Maass
Gelform Design
Brooklyn, NY
Web design and development for art and business

em corey at gelform.com
ww http://www.gelform.com
ph 646/228.5048
fx 866/502.4861
IM gelform