"Real World" vs. "Structual World" in Web Project Development

[admin]

What every project has in common is they are either directly related to sales or indirectly supporting sales efforts. Everything is about sales and reducing the cost of sales through more efficient methods.

Therefore all web based development projects should have on their team a manager who understands both sides of this coin, sales/programming.

The programmers main job should be to translate sales needs into functional applications that support what ever the sales effort being addressed To a great extent this type of person is unique since the personalities of a sales related experiences and programming are inherently quite different. I referred to it as the "Real World" vs. "Structural World". This combination type person is ideally suited to manage this type of project AND does exists.

Why then is having this type of person so important to the project itself ?

This type of person is most important when it comes to the GUI (Graphical User Interface) portion of the project, it is also important from the back end prospective of the project from a functionality standpoint when designing for the informational output requirements. In other words what information and in what format does the company, from a sales perspective, need to generate on demand. Once this is determined it is then the programmers turn to work their magic.

Whereas programmers understand the structure, rules and definitions that are required to build a project, for the most part this does not translate well into the functionality or usefullness of a project automatically. The most dangerous statement a programmer can make is "I don't think this is needed". In most cases this will refer to something simple in terms of the GUI or a minor functionality enhancement. Don't get me wrong the programmers will and do provide valuable feedback, but the point I'm trying to make is that what the programmer deems as un-needed or minor may in fact be something that takes the project from just being good to being great. Programming should never dictate what is needed from a sales perspective.

This side of the project requires and demands the input and overview of the combination type manager described earlier. It is this combination of the  "Real World" and "Structural World" that can help ensure that the final project results satisfy the needs of the company's web based project.

RT