BENEFITS OF TEAM WEB DEVELOPMENT
Better Communication
To make appropriate decisions quickly during the development process, you need to keep a tremendous amount of detail in mind so you can evaluate the ripple effects of various decisions. For example, how will adding a particular feature affect other features? Site navigation? Data preparation? Testing? Will incorporating a nifty new JavaScript function require users to have the newest version of the browser? To make intelligent decisions, you need to know a lot about the project in general and the design specifically. The team needs well-rounded representation of the various disciplines (e.g., programming, testing, design) and free and open communication.
If you try to produce a website with the functional area approach, people down the line need a huge amount of information about the work to be performed, and that information must move along with the work. In fact, the complexity of the required information will slow down the project. So many handoffs open up many opportunities for miscommunication and mistakes.
A website development project does move from an analysis phase through the design phase, prototyping, various production versions, testing, and is finally posted and goes live. This apparent step-by-step process may tempt you to set up an assembly line approach and move the project along in linear fashion. In reality, however, these phases cannot be so cleanly separated. They are often interrelated, and they may need to be repeated in part or in full as new information or ideas emerge.
The product design greatly affects the programming and even the testing procedures. A software tester involved in the project from the beginning can start writing test specifications early, based on the design specification. Otherwise, the test specifications need to be written after the program has been coded, which is much more time-consuming. Likewise, a programmer who is involved early in the design phase can warn about proposed features that might be difficult to implement or inconvenience users, and then offer more viable alternatives. Involving the programmer early also gives him or her a head start on technical design and implementation, perhaps even before the design is finalized, which can save a tremendous amount of time. You should involve as many team members as possible from the beginning of the project.
Concurrent Tasks
The large number of concurrent tasks that can and must be performed to develop a website in a reasonable time frame also points to the team approach. Website development is more akin to synchronized swimming than the 400-meter freestyle relay. During the development process, all team members are working simultaneously on various aspects of the project and need to be in constant communication. If they are working on the project full time, it greatly facilitates this communication and team integration.
Commitment among Team Members
The success of a website is usually a function of inventiveness. A successful website offers distinctive content or somehow creates a more powerful or positive user experience than do other websites. Because most sites try to be different, they are, by definition, attempting something new. Invention is at the heart of the process, and invention is characterized by continuous problem solving, which takes time and dedicated people. People become dedicated to a project only if they feel ownership of it and a responsibility for its success, which usually happens when it is their full-time job, more or less-not just because they have been assigned to the project as part of an assembly line workflow. A full-time website development team will take ownership of the site and become committed to its success. They will vi ew it as a direct manifestation of their efforts.
Programmers who are part of an assembly line process rarely become dedicated or committed to a given program. They may never have seen it before and will probably never see it again; however, as part of a development team, programmers are involved in a product through its development cycle and can actually become emotionally attached to it. They often work extra hours voluntarily to maintain high-quality standards and, more important, because the other members of the team are counting on them.
Not a manipulative or gratuitous ‘warm, fuzzy’ approach, team-based Web development is simply a pragmatic and effective way to achieve one of the essential elements of success-the bonding among development staff. People depend on each other for mutual success and feel compelled to support each other in the effort. The team can take on a wide variety of tasks, and team members can apply their individual strengths and cover for each others’ weaknesses. In this way, a team begins to identify with the successful completion of a project, and the team identity depends on such a success.