Does the following sound like a familiar situation?  You are at a planning meeting for the next Web development project your company is working on.  As is often the case with Website or Web application development, this project is very large, very complex and is taking longer than your team expected.  Because the project is stressful, your team starts to compromise, starts to make excuses why it is taking so long, or why it is so hard.  At the same rate, throughout the project, many new features and functions have been added to the scope of the project.  It seems this development project is taking forever!

Then, there is a pivotal point when a team member – usually someone with high-ranking status – says, “I think these (insert tasks and functions here) can wait until Phase 2.”  YES!  Although no one wants to physically show a sigh of relief, you can almost sense one.  Small smirks start to form on your team members’ faces.  Whew!  

We hear the term Phase 2 a lot at BitWise Solutions in relation to Website development projects and especially in relation to Web application projects.  We are working on very complex Web solutions and a lot of times our clients don’t have the resources to complete all the phases of development at once because of their timeline or budget.  So, in turn, someone will say, “Phase 2” and no one will dispute it.  Of course this helps us focus on key elements of the project; but I argue, is it better to do it all at once?  Is it better to spend the extra time, effort and money to get it right the first time?

If we wait until Phase 2 won’t we end up spending more time, effort, and money?  When we start phase 2, we will have to restart, reengage and spend more time managing.  Instead, it seems like if we did it all at once, we could have saved time and effort by keeping the momentum.  If we have more phases, won’t we spend more time than is necessary in quality assurance after the Website or application has been launched?  Wouldn’t it be better to spend that time looking ahead to see what might be coming and then innovate on the product with minor adjustments instead of entering costly additional phases?

No one wants to dispute Phase 2.  People think that by breaking projects into phases, it will enable the team to focus on the most critical parts of a project and we will complete those tasks so we have something to show.  But I argue, let’s not wait for Phase 2, or 3 or 4.  Let’s get it done all at once.  Let’s spend the extra time, money and effort getting it right the first time.  In my opinion, it will result in a savings at the end.