Don’t let small functionality stand between you and your web launch

Aug 01 2008

I had a conversation with a client yesterday that reminded me of a post I wrote back in January about setting priorities on the web.

This particular client needed an e-commerce solution… He had a long list of requirements, a limited budget and a short timeframe to execute the project. I offered him an out of the box e-commerce package that could be integrated seamlessly with almost any site design we developed and could be implemented quickly and cost-effectively.

However, “out of the box” our e-commerce package only handles about 90% of the required functionality. With research, testing and programming dollars, we could customize the software to do exactly what he wanted, but it would mean sacrificing both his critical timeline and budget constraints.

Upon further examination and conversation though, we realized that much of the extra functionality, though desirable, was not absolutely necessary. In fact, we found the function that would have likely cost a lot of money and several weeks to create via an online process could just as easliy be handled with a printable form given the company’s current volume of business. That solution costs the client virtually nothing in time or money and preserves the integrity of what they were trying to achieve from a business perspective.

Always be wary of the “showstopper” when planning your web project. Those little nuggets of functionality can often be the most expensive parts of the project and the biggest headaches. Keep your eyes on the big picture as much as possible and if relatively small functionality starts causing big problems, don’t be afraid to table those parts of the project until after the launch.

Would you go without a car for two months just because they didn’t have one in stock with exactly the right sound system? Probably not… You’d get your car this weekend with the standard system and upgrade later. You’re always going to be better off with a live site that only does 95% of what you want it to than you will with no site at all.