Best way to start off a new project?

[eluser]Ollie Rattue[/eluser]
Hi there,

I wrote a blog post the other day about some of the technical things I do when kicking off a new project - http://toomanytabs.com/blog/145/my-web-a...practices/

As for the actual process it tends to vary depending on the project and whether it is client work or a side project.

Client work:

1. Getting real data into the sytem - Where possible I like to work with real data. So if there is a admin backend for the client, I will get this up and running first on a live box, so that the client can populating the website. An example is a restaurant review website I recently built, where the client was responsible for adding the reviews. I could of created some test data, but test data is not REAL. It isn't the data the actual website will use, and so you usually end up overlooking problems, that real data reveals. I built and handed over the admin backend to the client, and whilst they added the reviews, I built the frontent with the real data populating as I went.

2. Agile explorative frontend led development - If neither party knows what the final product will look like and how it will function, the priority is to get something up and running that is usable. It won't be finished, it won't have a nice design, but it will have forms that work, links that link, simple copy. Both sides can look at what is being developed and spot potential problems early on. This tends to lead to an organic style of growth, and often the design emerges as you go along. When a designer can see all the elements on a page, they can produce a great design. If they don't know what is going to be happening on a page their designs are just guesses. The method of designer creates a PSD and the developer makes it work, simple doesn't cut it when the specification and business requirements change so rapidly and cannnot be known at the start of a project.

If you haven't already done so I recommend reading the bible that is Getting Real by 37 Signals.

Side projects:

Often my side projects will be trying to solve a tricky problem. If it is a case of "I don't know whether this will actually work technically", I forget all of the parts that will make up the finished web app (logins, amnesia, signup, email systems etc), and focus solely on a 'proof of concept'. It is easy to start building the complete all singing dancing application, and leave the tricky stuff to the end. But this is really just burying your head in the sand. You can waste a lot of time and in the worse case scenario the project may have to be abandoned.