Why you shouldn’t use another site as your specification

Previously I wrote about what happens when a client wants to copy the look and feel of another website for their latest project. Ripping off another website is obviously wrong but it doesn’t lead to any issues in the development process, in fact it might well speed it up.

Imagine the scenario when a potential client gets in touch and asks “I want an e-commerce site like Amazon.com, how much will it cost?”

Now I’m sure you’ve spotted the issue here, unless you know the client works for a massive blue chip company then it’s unlikely they are after Amazon.com. You have to read into the client’s requirements, and in this case they are likely after a fairly standard e-commerce setup.

In these situations it is tempting to go with your gut and quote the client for a standard e-commerce platform, following up as usual in a few days to see if the client is interested. It’s at this point that everything can start to go wrong.

On your follow up phone call you discover that the client wishes to go ahead with their Amazon.com clone. At this point you really need to be clear with the client and confirm the functionality that you’ll be supplying for this project. If you haven’t already sent the client a specification, then send one now and get them to sign it!

If you don’t clarify your position with the client you may run into the follow 3 issues:

1. The client only sees a fraction of the functionality on Amazon.com, probably searching or browsing for a product and the checkout process. They don’t see any of the backend or any of the “clever” stuff.
2. The development team working on the project sees a separate set of functionality and envisages the backend functionality, plus some of the “clever” stuff.
3. The user doesn’t see certain functionality they require but assumes that Amazon.com must have it somewhere and that the development team will code this into the system.

If this void between the client and the development team isn’t resolved then your project is doomed to fail, overrun, go over budget and perhaps even get cancelled.

For jobs such as these it is worth the time spent writing a specification upfront to accompany your quote to make sure the client understands the exact functionality they are getting. Once you’ve done a few quotes they’ll take next to no time to knock up. If you don’t write a specification you run the risk of the project going seriously wrong and costing you time, money and potentially worse of all – reputation.