One of the most important parts while creating websites is to understand the vision of business owner and craft it as per the vision. There are so many failed projects and unsatisfactory work because there is no common understanding between the executioner and the website owner. The real need is never identified. It would be great to just read the client’s mind, and we all know how that will turn out. But there is the next best way, the most human way to do it.
The expectation is that the customers should be well aware of the challenges. We also merit them with being able gauge the right solution for their business. Clients are humans after all. It is our duty as problem solvers to understand them better and go beyond what words can tell. It is our duty to give them a glimpse of what they can achieve, out of what they knew they wanted.
In about any profession, it’s common to diagnose and get to the core of what the real need it.
Ex. A doctor diagnoses a patient’s symptoms to offer a solution. If the patient only knew everything about the illness then she would just need the pills, not the doctor. The patient shouldn’t suffer because the doctor din’t have the best way to reach the illness. A good doctor will find his way to the disease and the cure and he does it without reading minds.
Yes ofcourse, the real need has to come from the clients from their complete business understanding. Hence, many resort to rigid, deterministic models of creating the website. One such example is the use of survey forms to gather understanding from the client about the business and their need. We believe, it increases a toll on getting to those answers. There could be a rather human method to go about it. If I put myself in the same shoe, I would hate to fill a survey or questionnaire to get to what I wanted.
To be able to create a great website, one that resonates with businesses and their owners, we need better way to approach and reach what the real need is. At ColoredCow, we do it by not missing out the human aspect.