Web ReDesign: Workflow that Works

Steve MacLaughlin wrote this review of Web ReDesign: Workflow that Works , a book which transcends its title to address much more than workflow, and more generally than just on the Web. Steve promises that your copy will soon be tattered and marked -- and that's a good thing. Web ReDesign: Workflow that Works author Kelly Goto & Emily Cotler pages 253 publisher New Riders Publishing rating 9 reviewer Steve MacLaughlin ISBN 0735710627 summary Practical wisdom for Web creators on consulting, design, development and more rolled into a single readable volume.

There are books that attempt to impart the divine wisdom of consulting. There are books that detail best practices in graphic and usability design. There are books that detail the intricacies of software development. There are books that detail project management and surviving the technology lifecycle. But there are very few books that explain how all of these pieces work together successfully. Kelly Goto and Emily Cotler have pulled it off with masterful perfection in their new book Web ReDesign: Workflow that Works.

People, projects, technology, and clients do not work in a vacuum from one another. Process is the magnet that holds them all together. Goto and Cotler offer professionals a comprehensive "Core Process" to guide them through their Web projects. While other books may explain some of the tricks of the trade no book has really placed all of these best practices under the umbrella of a process or methodology. Perhaps that's because a lot of these processes have been closely guarded secrets in the highly competitive interactive services industry. It's almost as if Goto and Cotler are on a humanitarian mission to save clients and projects from future punishment under the hands of companies using poor or in some cases no processes at all.

Web ReDesign's Core Process is a five-step approach to producing successful Web projects. The five steps are Defining the Project, Developing Site Structure, Visual Design & Testing, Production & QA, and Launch & Beyond. And each phase is broken down further into steps and checkpoints in splendid detail. As someone who started out doing this kind of work I found myself making mental checkmarks throughout the book. "Did that. Did something like that. Man, it took me years to learn that I should do that. Where was this book six years ago when I needed it?"

Perhaps a book like this wasn't really possible until now. The profession had to go through its ugly duckling stages where individuals and companies tried to figure out what worked and what didn't. Grafting parts from consulting, marketing, project management, and software development into some freakish process monster that often resulted in turning clients into an angry torch-carrying mob. Thankfully Web ReDesign has finally arrived and it is certainly no Bride of Frankenstein. The processes are spelled out in clear language and the authors repeat certain key points in case you missed something along the way.

It's easy to get sidetracked reading Web ReDesign with all the sidebars, charts, sample forms, and interviews. But this is a good thing! The tips and sidebars along the way spell out in greater detail how to put the process into action, and what to do when trouble arises. The forms and charts are some of the most thorough ever published, and thankfully you can download most of them on the companion website located at www.web-redesign.com. Throughout the book Goto and Cotler call on experts like Lynda Weinman, David Siegel, Jeffrey Zeldman, and Jakob Nielsen to offer their perspective on a given topic. The overall design and layout work done by the folks at New Riders is phenomenal and the visual presentation of the book is really first rate.

The one big question I have about the books is its title: Web ReDesign. That's because this is a book that can be used for first time Internet initiatives just as well as for redesign projects. Perhaps the authors had some dual purpose in mind for the title: If you're doing this for the first time, you need to rethink the conventional wisdom that Web projects are a black art with no best practices. Or if you didn't use a process the first time, then you've probably learned how valuable it is to have a proven methodology to avoid repeating mistakes.

Goto and Cotler have produced a book that no Web professional, whether they're a consultant, project manager, designer, programmer, or specialist, should be without. Web ReDesign is one of those books that should be kept close at hand during projects of all shapes and sizes. It won't take long before your copy is either severely dog-eared or has post-it flags sticking up throughout it. Get your hands on a copy before the competition does.

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Comments

Just a bunch of buzzwords

[sting3r]

Although my employer doesn't specialize in web development, per se, my boss read this book a few weels ago and he couldn't help but fall over laughing at it. We were talking about it the other day and he told me it was all simply common sense and general tips that anybody in the business would already know. The book is just a collection of buzzwords, often misused, that describe the same thing you've already been doing. How else can you explain the section headings: "Defining the Project, Developing Site Structure, Visual Design & Testing, Production & QA, and Launch & Beyond"? Give me a break. Anybody who can't figure these basic concepts out on their own doesn't belong in the computer industry. I'm sorry, but I just can't recommend this book.

-sting3r

Play it again Sam

[jsin]

I think it's funny that we think our problems as web developers are new. It is easy to parallel the problems we have writing software with any other industry that involves engineering and marketing, how arrogant of us to beleive that we are any different.

I suggest picking up any systems design and analysis book from the '70s for starters if you're looking for guidance as a developer, and if you need a bigger-picture view, read up on the industrial revolution.

Re:Play it again Sam

[EnderWiggnz]

one of the biggest problems in commercial software development is the idea that your group is the first ones to come across this particular problem, and that you have to weave your solution out of whole cloth.

the programming field has left its "arts" phase a long time ago - as in - everything is new, so everything is a work of art. This is when most software people were graduating with Computer Arts degrees.

It is currently at the end of its "scientific" phase, computer science degrees are the norm. This basically means that we are able to repeat what we're doing, and are beginning to make processes out of it, and to make some solid foundations.

The next phase will be an engineering phase, where we refine the scientific techniques to be finely, highly efficient production processes.

at least, i think...

Others disagree

[Xoro]

...by Kelly Goto & Emily Cotler

I heard Dijkstra wrote a really damning criticism of this. Using it could even be considered harmful or something...

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You're right! Screw the standards!

[MRossland]

You're utterly right. Standards have done nothing for us, and won't ever.

I know that I love testing my pages in all the different flavors of IE on Win, Mac and Linux. And, its even better making sure the NN 4.x and Netscape 6 work too. I mean, some people like being creative with their time, but me, I like screwing with different CSS, JS and HTML flavors of the different browsers.

I also agree that XSLT is a total waste of time. Its not like its supported by any browsers. Well, it is supported by numerious server technologies, and is used to render content in HTML lots of places on the Web. And, I guess if you really look at it, it probably never was intended for the browser anyway. But, you're right! Just because I don't fully understand it, its a total waste of time!

And, you are so dead on with the W3C. I mean, any organization that could produce XML 1.0 is a bogus waste of time. What is XML ever going to do for us? It doesn't even have a FONT tag!

(Come on man, I hope you were kidding. Standards allow us to do our job ... not prevent us. Learn about the stuff. Don't just stick to HTML 3.2 ... the Web has moved on.)

--Mark.