In a recent conversation with a client, the topic of developing an OTA platform came up. It was disheartening to hear about their previous experience with a contractor who took a significant amount of money and a year of their time without genuinely understanding the project and its business implications. Unfortunately, this is a common scenario in the world of development and outsourcing. He didn't have a chance to do everything in time.

This is a brutal example, but the story is classic. The problem often begins with the client presenting their project and asking for proposals from different contractors and agencies. Agencies then provide these estimates and take on the project without fully delving into the details. They start working on the project, and something goes wrong. As a result, they fail to meet the deadline or meet the expectations.

Everyone is dissatisfied, relationships are strained, and morale is destroyed. This is a problem not only for agencies; the same dynamics exist in many digital product companies and even in the internal teams of big behemoths like FAANG-like companies.

So why is this happening? Because customers live in the real world. If the product does not start generating income or solving other tasks in time, the business's economy will not come together, and it can effectively close its doors.

Clients demand clear deadlines and prices, and companies bidding for the project are forced to commit to deadlines and money without a comprehensive understanding of the project. This pressure often leads to a vicious cycle of dissatisfaction and failed projects. If they don't take the project, it will go to a competitor that will.

Designers and developers on the agency side dream of working on complex projects at the level of Google or Netflix. However, they are forced to work on such poorly planned projects as if they were intended by incompetent fools.

The illusion that web/mobile design and development is a straightforward process further exacerbates the problem. Many believe it is simply a matter of translating a client's desires into eye-candy design mockups and developing them. You take the client's wishes and loose ideas and treat them like instructions for the machine in a suitable programming language.

However, the reality is far more complex. Development involves interpreting vague client wishes and unclear desires into precise, strict instructions, like translating thoughts into written words.

Everything is obvious as long as you spin them in your head. But it turns out to be complete nonsense if you sit down and try to write them down. You need to act constructively to manage the deadlines, quality, and cost of development. To be able to be in a state of uncertainty, to withstand it, and to "figure it out" methodically.

To effectively manage web/app development project's deadlines, quality, and cost of development, a more constructive approach is needed. Instead of demanding clarity from the client at the outset, it is crucial to work closely with them to understand their business needs and limitations. This involves extensive research and methodical planning before embarking on the development process. This is the research phase that most clients want to avoid paying for, and contractors/agencies often fail to describe its importance.

In conclusion, the challenges of development and outsourcing can be mitigated through a more collaborative and thoughtful approach.

Demanding clarity and a full picture from the customer at the start of the project makes no sense. In general, the worst thing that can be done is asking the customer to write a detailed spec of what they need. If they knew it, they could just design and program it themselves.

By acknowledging the ambiguity inherent in many projects and working closely with clients to understand their needs, including the Research Phase in the timeline, the development process can be more successful and ultimately lead to more satisfactory outcomes for all parties involved.