[thelist] philosophising (designers and propeller-heads)

[A. Erickson]

On this topic, there's a pretty good Web Techniques article in the Jan. 2001
issue that talks about building web teams. I think their recommendations and
job descriptions are right on.

I especially liked this bit about picking a leader for your team:

"...having a non-techie [referring to a marketing director] in command can
engender dissatisfaction in the ranks. Employees who are intimately familiar
with the Web's limitations don't want to spend hours explaining why they
can't fulfill a ludicrous request."

This goes for companies that are hiring design firms or contractors to do
their websites. Just to bring it all back to the inital bit that started
this thread which was about standards, I have had more than one client who
demands something stupid and I had a particular client in the past who was
so demanding and so ludicrous that it made my job hellish enough to make me
want to leave the company I was working for. This particular individual was
a marketing direction and she knew not one thing about building a website
and refused to accept any sort of advice or consultation.

However, as her lead contact and as a designer with a solid understanding of
the technology for the back end, I was able to give her the best of my
advice and deferred to the programmers when things got a bit too hairy.

- amanda