Managing the Redesign: A Developer's Perspective As project manager for a Web-development company, I rely on a fairly elaborate methodology to take a client's concept (along with a pile of cash) and create a full-fledged Web site that meets all the client's expectations and business objectives.
Redesigns offer many of the same challenges as the from-the-ground-up work we also do, but there are constraints and problems peculiar to the redesign process. By recognizing these differences and planning for them in the earliest stages of development, a production team can do more than merely change an existing site - they can take it to an entirely new and superior level of functionality.
Every design shop's approach to redesign has its own quirks and its own strengths and weaknesses, but most include reviews, sign-off schedules, and documentation that fall into distinct phases like these: Discovery; Concept and Planning; Design Specification and Prototype; and Production, Testing, and Wrap. Each of these phases has traps and pitfalls specific to the redesign process, but most problems take place prior to production and can be avoided with a little bit of planning and awareness.
In the pages that follow, I list a few of my favorite (or least favorite, actually) pitfalls, along with some ways to avoid them in your next redesign.
