building a platform help
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- ETM0
Even if the IA is rock solid, and the dev is super competent, I would be concerned of what the end result is in only 125 hours. I see 3 outcomes if the dev is very skilled:
-They work for more than 125 hours and swallow a good amount of time to complete the project. But they may burn out on it.
-Similar to above, but charge you for every hour and budget is blown.
-Buggy and not fully functional. Not ready for client review. Budget spent.
Recommend considering the 'agile' development method for this. Have the dev get it working in little pieces at a time, rather than broad strokes. Empower him to make decisions. At least if you have to pull the plug, you come away with some working components rather than a 100% useless mess.
- How long do you think it would take?Raybandana
- 2 months?Raybandana
- Not knowing full scope, or IA, that's hard to say. But for testing and polish, I wouldn't be surprised to see another 50hrs easy.ETM
- 50hrs easy. Plus I don't know if this is supposed to be public ready at the end or just an alpha/beta.ETM
- And once in the wild, what budget you have to respond to and correct issues. The public is a bitch for finding flaws.ETM
- it would be publicRaybandana
- Raybandana0
Well I have a clients that paying alot.. because he thinks its going to be super busy... which I dont care if it is or not... He wants to pay for it...So I want to make sure it coded in the correct manager to handle heavy traffic..
- Raybandana0
Thanks for your help with this ETM... I've been a designer 6-7 years. I've been through enough... but I'm trying to do my own thing now. I've never had to worry about the development side to much. But I can do development myself. But I've never built or instructed developers how to build a platform. And this clients a real hot head.. but has money.... BUT I've quote him 25k because I'm not a full service agency. But now it seems like that my whole DEV budget... I'm still learning!
- I thought I might be able to get it done on the lean side.. for around 10k..Raybandana
- Next time get a dev quote BEFORE finalizing yours...ETM
- well the problem was the dev.. cant give me a quote until he see;s the wireframes... and the client wanted to know priceRaybandana
- right away... and my inexperience didn't fair wellRaybandana
- Raybandana0
Sorry I make no sense.
I'm worried that I'm going to have a platform built that won't be stable enough to handle high volume traffic.
I need some development consulting.- I'd suggest you talk to a consultant then. Here's one I use that are Agile / RoR focused: http://threewisemen.…spot13
- lambsy0
can you show us some of the blank wireframes you've designed so far, and list some basic functionality? hopefully someone here can help point you in the best direction before this ends up burying you.
- i_was0
i'm building a paltform with many stuff like facebook, you need lot of ajax, jquery and php, sql for the db and server part.
- fadein110
http://www.buddypress.org and then try to manage your own expectations.
- ETM0
Here's the thing. If you're building it (or it appears project managing it) and you can't communicate the core concept very well, how are you going to do that for a developer? Are you being so vague and confusing because of NDA or something?
- vaxorcist0
you get these chicken and egg NDA situations....
i.e. we can't show you the wireframes because you'd steal the idea.... but then again, you can't give a meaningful estimate till you see the wireframes... and, the most important part, the WIREFRAMES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE! no matter what you think! Why? because no wireframes ever survive contact with actual users without some sort of "we didn't think of that" moment....
One of the reason that open source CMS platforms are usually pretty robust is that they've matured and been used by many people and been hacked on by many dev's.... over years, not months...
- prophetone0
easy. first get drunk. then create a site that compares faces of college kids. then listen to this on loop. create facebook-like site. done, boom.
- in all seriousness, good tips are already provided aboveprophetone
- Raybandana0
So I've called the project off!! the guy ended up being a complete nut job.. he's not paying me for the wireframes because he doesn't think they are professional. I told him that because its a very conceptual idea - we both need to work together to create the wireframes... I can't possibly interpet what he wants. I gave him very rough wireframe as a base to start the idea.. and grow it out
- Raybandana0
Its not worth my time to fight for the money... because he's always talking about suing people... and he's super moody... I think taking it any further would just turn into a disaster. I'm glad I'm out.
- vaxorcist0
Congrats! It may not be fun for you finances for a short while but I think you escaped from a train wreck about to happen..... projects like these are why developers often seem to be cynical.... breathe deep you cn relax now
- fadein110
new client always 50% upfront. feel for you. but your original post wiffed of inexperience. learn from it and move on.
- ETM0
I am kinda glad to hear this. It sounded like you would be taking a loss on the project and that would drag out for some time. Project from hell, really, so glad you are out. Sucks to walk away from money, but mental health is better.
- Sorry I was harsh in some posts, but you were all over the map for a while there.ETM
- No problem mate... Your words are appreciated.Raybandana
- ETM0
There's lots of crazy clients out there too. Gotta pick them out early. When classmates.com was big, I once had a guy who wanted a clone of the functionality done in 2 weeks... over Christmas.
I also had a guy who wanted to create a "secret confessions" site. He said he'd be rich. He thought he was first to market. I told him numerous sites like that already exist. When I asked how we would monetize he said he'd charge $5 to post your anonymous confession, it's "therapeutic". The other sites are free, btw. He couldn't comprehend why I turned him down.
- why did you turn him down?omg
- Because when people with bad ideas they believe in fail, they can't possible believe it was their fault.ETM
- So then they blame you. And it's just not worth it. Plus it didn't interest me.ETM
- And their could be legal and privacy issues. If someone admits to a crime, and it might be true... and the cops want logs and IP adresses etc.ETM
- IPs and logs etc.ETM