1 of 25

Systems & Processes

for Creatives

2 of 25

proc·ess¹

ˈpräˌses,ˈprōˌses/

noun

a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end.

3 of 25

Processes give us a roadmap to completing

a project.

1

4 of 25

Processes help us lead clients when doing so is not our strength.

2

5 of 25

Having a standard process means we get to design the client experience.

3

When we think about and begin to set up a process we'll follow for our website design projects, what we're ultimately doing is designing our clients' experience. Some of the questions we might ask ourselves are what kind of experience do we want our clients to have while they’re working with us? What kind of experience do I personally want to have while serving them? How does my team work together to serve our clients?

I know I personally want to feel in control and to know the steps I need to take to produce a quality product. What I don't want to feel is overwhelmed and stressed out. I want our clients to know they are in good hands and that they'll be guided through the process of designing and developing a website, especially if they have never been involved in a website project before.

It's our jobs as service providers to lead our clients through the process. I also want to feel efficient and effective and productive and I want to give our clients the tools they need so they understand their role in our projects and what we need from them. We can do that by having processes around how we share and ask for what we need from our clients. We might do that with tools like Trello or Basecamp. How do we keep track of the tasks that come out of meetings? I do that by having a Word doc for each meeting and then adding the tasks to Trello afterwards. How do we keep track of production timetables and deadlines? I use a production calendar along with Trello.

6 of 25

Processes mean less time reinventing the wheel.

4

7 of 25

Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.

– Peter Drucker

“

Yes, processes do help us prevent reinventing the wheel, but we should ask ourselves why we’re setting up a process to begin with.

Why are we doing it? Is it to reduce your own stress? Is it to get everyone on your team communicating better?

It’s important to really keep in mind why we’re making a process out of something to begin with. We shouldn’t just create systems and processes for the hell of it. What are we solving by systematizing a certain thing? For instance, if you hate invoicing, that is something that could be systematized. And I would suggest first asking yourself why you dislike it. What is it about invoicing that might be solved by setting up a process? Do you dislike invoicing because you have to do it all manually? If that’s the case, maybe you need a different invoicing tool that makes it super easy to send out an invoice. A process should come about as a way of solving an issue.

It’s kind of like design right? Somebody could come up to us and say “I need you to build me a website. I don’t care what it looks like or what it does, I just know I need one.” And then they run away and you don’t hear from them until the end of the project and maybe what you designed looks really nice but the likelihood of it actually solving their business needs is going to be very slim because we didn’t design to solve a problem. The only problem we were solving is that they didn’t have a website, and now they do, so I guess in that regard, the problem is technically solved, but the results aren’t going to be as good as they could have been.

Peter Drucker is a management consultant.

8 of 25

Our Process

Development

Design

Discovery

Research

Sitemap

Tech Brief

Wireframes

Style Tiles

Mockups

Templates

Functionality

9 of 25

Client Questionnaire

Client’s Organization
Client’s Customers, Clients or Supporters
Client’s Competitors
Brand
Website

9

10 of 25

Sitemap

11 of 25

A Slickplan Sitemap

12 of 25

Tech Brief

Content Types
Templates
Forms
Sitemap
Search
User permissions

12

13 of 25

Wireframe

13

14 of 25

Style Tile

14

15 of 25

Visual Mockups

15

16 of 25

Website Development

Templates
Forms
Plugins
Functionality
301 redirects
SSL certificate

16

17 of 25

Content

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

17

18 of 25

One process does �not fit all projects.

5

19 of 25

Changing our

habits is hard.

6

http://bit.ly/wcpgh-change-is-hard

And there’s actually science behind why change is so difficult. It has to do with our brains and the neurons and synapses and neurotransmitters and I am not a neuroscientist so I am not going to try to explain the specifics of it in science terms but if you want to learn more about it, I’ll have a link at the end of the slides. (https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/why-change-is-so-hard-the-power-of-habit-in-the-human-brain-0317155) Basically, what it comes down to is our brains work in circuits and they like to be efficient by performing repeated behaviors. They really don’t care how it’s being efficient, whether it’s a beneficial behavior or a problematic one. It just wants to do what’s familiar. So if we’re used to doing something a certain way and we realize it’s really not working and you start doing things a different way, your brain might have a hard time adjusting at first even if it’s a positive change. Your brain has to create new circuits to support the new habit. The good news is, we do have a choice. We can choose to become aware of our behavior and change it. And if we keep practicing our processes, they will get easier.

20 of 25

Shiny Process Syndrome

is a real thing (I made up).

7

21 of 25

Start by writing down the steps you already take.

8

22 of 25

Where are the �pain points?

9

23 of 25

Keep it simple.

10

24 of 25

Build on it.

11

25 of 25

Thanks!

Let’s Connect

laurenpittenger.com�@laurenpittenger