Why we advocate a phased approach to digital projects

Oftentimes, project stakeholders see the development of the website as a ‘one-off’ activity and are keen to have everything they will ever need from their site from day 1. Nothing could be further from the truth - the launch of a new website is just the start of a business's digital journey.

At Abstrakt, we advocate a phased approach to digital projects: adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery, and continual improvement, and we encourage rapid and flexible responses to change. Rather than throwing the kitchen sink at the project for the initial launch, we encourage our clients to prioritise features and functionality and to create a roadmap of phases, delivered over a period of months (or even years).

A phased approach allows us to get the core of the website live fast and then to work with the client’s project team to deliver user-centric enhancements, with decisions been made based on data and user feedback.

Following an initial launch we work in sprints to deliver continuous iteration and development. Sprints are generally no longer than one month and result in the delivery of deployable enhancements which both we and the client project team are confident will add value to the user and the stakeholders.

It’s important to appreciate that a website is a living thing that needs to change over time. Successful websites continue to evolve, develop and flex to the changing needs of the business, and more importantly, the user.

When it comes to iterative, sprint based development, we use a number of agile tools and techniques to plan, execute and deliver our client’s digital roadmaps, including but not limited to:

- MoSCoW

- Kanban

- Scrum

- Stand ups

- Retrospectives

As well as delivering a project faster, a phased approach is more financially efficient for the client, as not only are we only developing features and functionality that we know will add value, but the cost is spread over a longer period of time.

If you are looking for a new approach for your digital project, get in touch to speak to one of our team.