Very interesting article in ZDNet Asia on working with Chinese web developers
Interesting because we could pretty much apply the same to our own experience here in Thailand. People are different, think differently and work differently. Let’s try to apply a bit of humor here (in no way we are saying westerners are better….we are simply different, and we really mean it)
Here are the 3 main elements of the article:
Different definition of “work completion”: For westerners, a project is completed when the final copy is approved, when the final pixel is aligned, when the size of the page is optimized (and when our developers roll their eyes 6 times a day at us). In China (and Thailand), a project is completed when it’s running and doing the job. The rest are technicalities and details.
Developers decide what final software should be: “Ok why do you input this function?” “Because it’s better”. ” “Hmmm….but it’s not in the requirements” Blank stare. “Why didn’t you ask me before doing it?” Blank stare….”Ok thank you”. (Note to self: I’m a Zen master, I’m a Zen master, I’m a…..)
Keeping quiet about problems. Nothing to add here ; )
How do we solve these issues? We use the oldest trick in the book.
We talk.
And guess what, it works. We’re 2 French Canadians working with Thais, using English to communicate between ourselves, and it works. It took a bit of adjustment but we can honestly say we’re on par with any Western companies now. Jing Jing
We love the 37signals guys. We don’t agree with them all the time but at least they bring so much more in their blog or books than the usual PR/buzzword BS we usually get.
A simple phrase from their latest book, Rework, out in March.
“The best are everywhere”
We couldn’t agree more. If you have the right people, it doesn’t matter where your company is located or where you come from.
Not anymore.
We are very proud of one of our latest project with Yellow Pages Canada. Our mandate was to create a new section called Video Channel, where users can browse through more than 10,000 videos according to different categories and their preferred location. In other words, Yellow Pages but with videos.
The main challenge was to figure out how their huge databases worked (geo-location ,videos types, etc…) and create the most efficient solution to handle all the requests. Remember, we’re talking about a website that gets millions of visits everyday, and gets a very large number of searches. Our solution had to fit in nicely. Any significant delays for the user would simply mean abandoning the project.
Obviously we delivered on time and I’m glad to say it now, above expectations ; )
And we were happy to count on Dan Mireault, our favorite art director, to create a clean and efficient interface once again. Thanks Dan
Please check it out here: video.yellowpages.ca
We get a lot of requests for Magento. Not only building a whole site, migrating an old one but also simply doing “PDS to Magento” jobs. And then we get back to the client and they’re always surprised at the time (and dineros) it takes. “But it’s just a PSD?”….Well, yes, but Magento is not just HTML. Really
Here are the main differences:
- Magento uses mostly blocks for its modules and components so you have to understand how they work and how they fit with your HTML and the overall code. It’s not plug and play and it takes time to figure out. Even after several projects.
- You have to take into account in your evaluation and work all the pages beyond the home page and product pages, like account log in, checkout, shopping cart, wishlist and so forth….
- Don’t forget the “communication” pages like transactional emails, newsletter templates, etc…
- Finally you’ll probably be using javascript to make things a bit more user-friendly, like an accordion menu, or a gallery, so you need to take into account as well.
Overall, creating Magento templates are easily twice or triple the time it takes for a normal “PSD to HTML” job so be careful before you quote anything if you don’t want to lose your shirt. There a lot more pages and templates to play with than the home and product pages
Have fun!
