Workflow: Walking with Clients from Wha? to Wow!

Submitted by Michael Hart on February 10, 2010 - 12:34am

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I tend to be a pig picture kind of guy. Not to say I can't manage details, but I want to see where we're headed before I hit the road. Chances are, your clients are going to want to know the big picture scope of their project too. How will you look if you head into a project full steam and full of excitement only to end up weeks behind and hundreds (or thousands) of dollars over budget? Not very pretty, that's how you'll look. Or, what happens if you get so into building a great new custom feature for a site that you completely forget about cross-browser testing or Search Engine Optimization?

Every designer needs to have a workflow. You probably have one, whether written down or not. Take my advice: write it down! There's no way you can remember all of the details of a job from start to finish. If you don't have a visible, complete checklist of what needs to be done, you're bound to forget something. So, because I think Prezi does a great job of presenting information in a memorable way, I've 'written' my workflow down in a presentation form. Check it out:

MDHDesign Workflow on Prezi

Now that you've seen what I do, here's a few things to keep in mind.

That is by no means a 'finished' workflow. You're not going to remember everything the first time you write it down. In six months you may find that you don't need certain things in there, or that there's something extremely important that you missed. That's what edits are for! This is a work in progress which will grow with you as you grow in your freelancing skills.
That is by no means a comprehensive workflow. In reality, your workflow will be much deeper than what I have shown you here. If you drilled down into my freelancing drawer, you'd find much more goes into each step of the way. Things such as client surveys, job estimates, proposals, contracts, detailed checklists, billing and invoicing, and more. Having a written workflow gives you a framework for managing your freelancing life. This is big picture; you still have to fill in the details.