Jumpchart is really a communication centric tool. It’s designed to be quick for developers to live in, but easy enough for clients to be actively involved in collaboration. If you’re not directly inviting clients to participate in your Jumpcharts you’re missing out on the best part of the process.
When clients can be engaged in the process of defining how their site will work, they’re more likely to be happy with the end product. They feel included in the decision making process, so they have ownership of the site in a way that other planning apps can’t provide. Client involvement in the planning phase leads to:
- Less scope creep
- Less revisions
- Quicker development
- Easier organizing (No digging through email to find where to put stuff)
- Clients who defend the site as their own
That last one is a big one. Defending the site. People have a way of escaping out of controversy. If you deal with clients who have boards of directors, and committees it’s important to have a reliable person on the inside. Someone who defends the work, because they took part in it. Otherwise it’s just another project that nobody is emotionally invested enough in to fight off the corporate nonsense that ruins great websites.
So while Jumpchart is a great tool for individuals to plan websites within the walls of their own office, -you’re missing out on a whole lot of benefit if you’re not involving clients in the process.
July 9th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I must say, and this isn’t to perpetuate the ‘clients get on my nerves’ maxim, but it’s nice to give the client something to ‘play with’ for a while. The ability for clients to go to town on their content, has given us a little breathing room now and then, during the development process.
When it comes to more corporate clients, we find if they don’t here from us for a couple of days, mainly because we are up to our elbows in CSS and Ruby on Rails, they freak out. They feel out of the loop. Jumpchart has become their loop, they can show the boss their progress whenever they want as often as they want.
July 9th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Jarrett,
You’re on target as far as we’re concerned. Giving clients something to do isn’t something to feel guilty about, even if it’s a small part in the big picture of things. Getting involved is something we all look forward to. And… Let’s face it, web dev is pretty darn cool, and glamorous at times. Compared to the people who sit in meetings all day, and wear a tie, – we’re rock stars. Getting to flex your creative muscles, and do something business critical at the same time is something most people dream about. We say, harness that power. You might be surprised at what will come out. That guy behind the tie just might be a creative in disguise.