Why I develop things to the lowest common denominator.
2023/02/21
When it comes to development. It may seem like it’s best to use the latest and greatest frameworks on your projects. Or develop things to where you’re the one person your client or manager needs to call on to fix any issues. I’ve come to one conclusion. Don’t.
Latest and greatest frameworks/apps/software
Before you say “It’s good to keep up to date on current frameworks/apps/software.” I’m not against learning something new to keep up to date, but when I say the latest and greatest frameworks/apps/software. They are the ones that have only been around for only a couple years at most. The more tech I see come around. The more I’ve seen that the majority of that tech will either become a niche framework that may not work for my daily workflow or they go away entirely. I’m also not going to be the one that decides if something new becomes mainstream or not. So until something has become more stable and proven. I’d rather boost my current skills or pick up something that’s more tried and true and becoming more normalized in the industry.
Locking clients into having to use you to update things
Yes. It may seem like a good idea to setup your projects in a way that your clients have to keep coming back to you to make minor updates. I would suggest not doing this. The biggest reason is you won’t have to worry about a client coming back to you to update items like text, images and over all content and if they do. Things are setup to where it is a minimal time sink to make those updates. It also keeps your client from having to spend as much money on those updates and can keep that money in-pocket for either more major updated. This is one reason why I like WordPress as it allows you to setup things where minor updates are simple to do.
Clients can go elsewhere without much fuss
Yes. I know repeat customers and ongoing projects are easier to manage because you know how they work and they project you are on, but, in life, things can change. Whether it’s moving onto bigger clients as your business grows, having a relationship with a client fizzle out for what ever reason or simply don’t have time to take on updates on a project. Developing projects in a way where another developer can pick it up and run with it with relative ease is something you may want to think about.
In the End
It may seem like a good idea to lock your customers in to having to use you no matter what, but it might not be. So before you start gearing your work flow to locking them in. Take a look at the benefits and disadvantages to doing so.