Consider before you begin: no website without a strategic preliminary process

Flashback 2: On those same website quotes was the word "wireframes" or "preliminary design," something I had to defend tooth and nail:

• "Can't we just start with design?"
• "Why do we have to work everything out in black and white first when we already have a corporate identity guide to use?"
• "Surely we're not going to work out all those functionalities until development?"
• ...

Unlike 'mobile first', I still have to defend this full pre-project (too) often today. And I will continue to do so.

On several occasions, after losing the initial pitch, we made the website after all. Because a project just wouldn't land or the winning party's offer for development was much higher than foreseen in the pitch. And that is not surprising. Each time the pitches were awarded, the importance of the extensive preliminary process was questioned or the winning party had an absurdly much lower budget for development.

Without a preliminary process, website development is full of assumptions and risks. A black box, which in terms of timing and budget will never end as anticipated.

With a new construction, you don't start bricklaying right away, without thinking about where your pipes will be. You do your homework. Depending on your short- and long-term living needs, you choose modular construction with prefab, turnkey, or just customization. And maybe you already make the electrical cabinet 100% home automation-ready, even if that doesn't yet fit the budget. For a web platform, the rules of the game are no different.

A digital strategic preliminary process is the foundation of a successful Web site. It ensures that everyone involved is on the same page and that the goals and expectations are clear. In this process, we analyze your needs, define the target audience, study competitors and set clear objectives. After the launch, we can measure and evaluate each of those objectives, making adjustments as needed.

To us, a platform is not development-ready until you have at least these things (usually delivered in this order):

• Objectives from the business
• Target groups and their objectives
• The most important user journeys
• Measurable KPIs that everyone supports
• Wireframes
• Functional analysis (for things you don't see in wireframes or design): how are products sorted, where does content x go today, does content block y automatically appear on all pages, ...
• Chosen CMS / programming language (at Cartel Agency we usually make that choice between Drupal or Webflow)
• Technical analysis for possible links with a CRM, ERP, PMS, ...
• Finished designs for desktop and mobile
• The right balance between flexibility and automations in the CMS for efficient manageability of the platform (we discuss during a shared development kick-off)

Due to a hard deadline, is there a need for an MVP (Minimum Viable Product), for example a onepager? Then we first take a close look at the objectives of that MVP and - while the onepager is being designed and developed - start the rest of the process for the entire web platform.

Design is more than aesthetics alone. It is a critical phase in which usability, functionality and the full user experience are determined. Read: closely linked to the strategic preliminary process. A good design ensures the right balance between branding, feel, usability and accessibility.

Finally, design also ensures a smooth development phase by continuously checking off design with development capabilities. It reduces the number of assumptions and unexpected obstacles during website construction, because all important decisions have already been made in the design phase. It also allows you to make the right choices technically (CMS, integrations, supporting tooling, hosting,...), and not automatically that one framework a partner suggests.

Development is the final step. By investing in the preliminary stage, development will happen more efficiently, faster and more future-proof.

Why? You are confident that your platform will be scalable. And you know that you're ready now for your ambitions for years to come. That means you can also develop in multiple phases. Need to have and nice to have, that story.