Drupal for Designers

Chapter 20. Proposing and Estimating Projects

Over the years, I’ve learned to break the discovery process into two distinct phases. The first, outlined here, happens prior to estimating the project, and gives me the background I need to create a proposal and estimate for the project. The second, more comprehensive phase happens during and after the project kickoff. This phase, described in Part I, is where we start framing the design challenge that we’re facing, fleshing out the user experience, and making sure the client is on board with our approach.

Preproposal Discovery: What You Need to Know

The initial discovery phase should give you enough information about the client, the project’s goals, and the level of complexity for you to put together an accurate proposal. During this phase, you want to learn:

• Who is the client?

• How well do they know the business and themselves?

• Who are they trying to reach?

• What’s the real goal here? What are they hoping their site will accomplish for them? Are they satisfied with their customers, or are they looking to branch into new markets?

• What kind of functionality will they need? Can you handle it on your own, or will you need to bring in external resources?

• What’s the decision-making process within the organization? Are you dealing one-on-one with the main decision maker, or does everything have to go through one or more layers of red tape before it can be approved?

• What kind of content are you working with? Does the client have examples to show? How ...