Speeding things up
I wrote an open letter to my future coworkers a few days ago which might have been a bit harsher that it should. I realise that since thinking about it now, quite a few of the issues I mentioned like sloppy/hacky code, reusing code and assets from other projects and lack of organisation are usually caused from lack of time and the need to speed through development to get a site up and running fast.
Looking through my personal basecamp this morning I realised yet again that the coming three weeks are bringing with them an equal number of new sites that I have to work on. There are also a couple of things that need finishing off by the middle of the week. A few years ago this would have made me panic to say the least. Now I realise that it’s all about the process. After all this time as a web hybrid I have streamlined my work process a lot.
First comes the pen and paper. I take the sitemap and visuals and properly work through them, writing down what needs doing for each section to function properly and any questions that might arise in my head. This is where I jot down all the functionality and features in lists and next to them possible solutions.
I then gather my resources and look through them to see if I need anything more chasing up even before I start, as clients do sometime take ages to get back to you. By the time I have completed these prep tasks I have a good idea of what I need to do to complete the project successfully as well as any specific issues that might require extra time to look into. This helps me get immersed into a project and gives me a clear picture of my goals and how to achieve them in the most efficient way.
Then it’s time again for my trusted toolkit that is no other than my external hardrive. 120mb that fit into my pocket and contain anything from code snippets, scripts, reference e-books, mood boards, icons, vectors… It is my electronic equivalent of sport Billy’s rucksack. In this drive I save in an organised way every little bit of code, graphics, I have created or downloaded that works well and can be applied to a vast majority of projects saving me time.
I know I went on about how I hate people reusing code and assets from other projects so I think it is only fair to point out that what I am talking about in this instance are generic bits of code that produce functionality that would be exactly the same in every project. Think local scroll, png transparency, or lightbox effects etc.
Depending what the project is built on I have also created some site barebones folders which once I’ve copied to my computer I’m ready to start working away. They all contain a number of css files with the basic properties like body, links, headers with no attributes, a modified reset css to suit my needs, blank browser specific and print stylesheets and a folder structure to save all my work. If its an expression engine project it will contain a generic .htaccess file for all the default rewrites and if its a rails project it will have all the scripts that come bundled with RoR when you generate a project.
All these set me up for success most of the time. It shaves off a little bit of the project time not to have to generate all the blank files and reset files from scratch. I have all my tools ready along with stripped down scripts, modified to suit my work style and ready for reuse without specific styles that can cause conflict, as well as having been thoroughly tested for usability and functionality.
Some people might call it slacking or cheating, I call this my own work process. It helps me get out of the way the searching time for tools and the review in the beginning answers all the questions in my head that might not have been there at the briefing of the project. Because let’s be honest, even if you are lucky enough like me to have an understanding project manager, deadlines often creep up on you out of the blue and time is of the essense.
Comments
You’re such a nerd. Terrific read though.
Can I haz a zip of these 120Mb? Puhlease?
*puppy eyes*