Strategies to build a Drupal site as dev or client
Catalyst "... Agencies [] will not work for less than 20,000 dollars;" while one-man outfits will. Client wants an agency, who will.
Historically these projects creep; no strategy. Scope creep largely in dev phase.
Managing expectations from early on. Not a unique snowflake - could the client compromise on contrib? [What's the underlying need for functionality? - discover that with the client]
Red flags
"works the same way as the old system" or looks the same. If that's true, why do you want to switch? [If the client "has no choice" but to switch, manage expectations.] Every CMS has its idiosyncrasies and strong/weak points. 80/20 rule.
Too many cooks: warn the client that multiple stakeholders will incur cost. Also input from relatives.
Long timescale - things will become irrelevant even as you finish them. So shorten timescale. Prototyping and rapid development. Get signoff. [Explain what sign off means contractually.]
Ensure pre-requisites. If your client wants to push blogposts to Twitter, Facebook, Google plus etc. Etc. But doesn't have any of that set up, is that all the best use of budget?
Compromising on clients' existing internal processes. Workbench for workflows. How much can happen offline rather than enforced by Drupal?
Fully hosted solutions e.g. Drupal Gardens. [The limit on features could be an extra risk] But you can migrate away later
Drupal distributions: rapid deploy and quick setup but learning curve and still need hosting
Feature server & "Chinese menu"
Minor requirements aren't minor if they don't play to d's strengths: Client education. Be realistic as early as possible & accept some clients walk away.
Question: client won't share a budget? [can you just state a budget in the pitch, or three budgets?] Some councils are told not to tell people tendering know the budget, and govt departments work off standard templates. As an agency, speakers' policy is to walk away
Question: Payment milestones? projects run time and materials [!] invoice clients with invoice sheets & make a call on what we charge
Question: But how to not do 10+k of discovery to prevent scope creep? Be realistic on detail; also outline what specified line items will NOT do
