Apr 10

Written by: Dylan Barber
4/10/2009 10:46 AM 

Normally I would post aimed at developers and designers here but this issue really comes on both sides of the development world, the developers and the consumers or clients. Most developers and designers will hate this statement but its true and I really believe it, “Anyone can build a website or web application.”

*Okay before the flames start read on!

Well there goes my job right? Wrong! Just because I can do a thing doesn’t mean I should. Change that statement around for any other profession, “Anyone can do surgery or be a doctor.” Again this is a true statement but everyone realizes that to do this takes a lot of time and schooling to be a doctor. Hey, I know I can stitch up a big gash in my leg, I had to do that once, but I know if I went to a doctor not only would it not hurt but very possibly I wouldn’t have the hideous scar. I know all the developers and designers out there have seen sites that are a big scar.

The same applies to building a website, developing applications, or any other endeavor in real life. Lot of times this discussion comes up in my full time job when we start talking about allowing users to upload files. The discussion goes something like this:

Boss: Company X want to be able to upload videos and stream them.

Me: Well videos are huge and we aren’t really geared towards streaming those to them.

Boss: What would it take to do this?

Me: Well I can look at it but, if I buy some prebuilt stuff then maybe a few days.

Boss: How much is that going to be?

Me: More than a dollar!

Boss: What other options are there?

Me: We build it ourselves.

Boss: How long will that take?

Me: I’ll tell you how long when I get it done.

Boss: We don’t have that much time.

……and on and on ………

As you can see the real option here is to maximize my time as a developer geared towards our client needs and not reinventing the wheel or rediscovering fire. That way we can maximize our usefulness to our clients and return solutions to them in a reasonable amount of time.

Could I build an upload component to handle 100’s of megabytes? Sure, it would take a few weeks to build and test and make sure it doesn't cause denial of service problems (common with upload controls in ASP.NET). Could I build video streaming into our site? Sure, again it would take time to learn about and build a solution and test it and load balance it etc etc etc. But by pushing off that job to people, companies, or products that know how to do those things I can focus on the real issues my clients care about, the site giving up videos on demand.

Okay all that makes sense but so what? A lot of time I read of developers saying “I need a component to do x and have no budget how can I build one?” These developers really need to reflect if they can afford to spend the time it takes to build a solid component or if maybe the budget can support a little money to do this and move the project along. I also see this with clients sometimes “Yeah I want to x but can’t afford it.” or “I can’t afford for you to buy that and integrate it into my site.” Really? Is it worth it to add three weeks to the development time of your site just so you can save a few dozen bucks a month? How much did you lose from your site not being active during that time?

So time not only equals money on the front end but lack of sales for a product can cost just as much if not more.

 

An old proverb makes sense to wrap this one up ‘Penny wise and pound foolish!’