Several new clients have been specifically asking about our workflow process lately, so we thought we'd put together an explanation in the following article.

Initial stages

Our process starts at the information gathering stage - a client reaches out for the first time with a thoroughly prepared brief, a somewhat prepared brief, or no brief at all. In any case, we kick things off with an intro call or an informal meet-up if we're geographically within proximity. Every project and client is different, so we approach this meeting with an open mind. We listen carefully and offer our honest opinions and recommendations for which direction to take.

The next step is to take the information collected from the initial briefing and create a thoroughly detailed project proposal. This will include the entire project scope, a complete breakdown of costs, timeline, team members who will work on the project and various other details. If necessary, we can be flexible with this written agreement, if a client needs something worded differently or extra details added.

The SOHO workflow process

Design

Once we've entered into the official agreement, the fun (aka work) starts. Normally this begins with an interactive, in-person workshop in Berlin or beyond. This would include branding strategy or visual branding workshops. Alternatively, we could cover a corporate identity upgrade or information architecture restructure.

When we have a solid foundation to build from in terms of CI, we then dive full on into the design phase of the project. This is where we bring our creative expertise to the table. The aim is always to create the most impressive "first draft" as possible, correlating to what we've learnt in the earlier stages of the project. Of course, there are always things to tweak and fine tune from there, but a solid draft one visual always sets a good tone for the remainder of the project. We generally provide up to three rounds of iterations for the design phase. This can be flexible, but we find it's generally more than enough.

Development

Consists of taking the approved website designs and building a fully tested, responsive & fast loading website. This also includes all custom functionality outlined in full detail in the initially agreed scope.

Workflow process - do good things!

Testing, QA & Go Live!

The final stage of the project life cycle is when we perform complete testing of the website on all devices. The client then makes sure they are happy with the completed design and everything is good to go live. When we've got the green light, it's then back over to us to migrate the finished product over to the client's live hosting server.

Communication throughout the workflow process is mainly carried out via Slack. Slack is good for quick daily messaging between the client and the active team members. Asana or Jira are used for project management and task tracking. Clients always have access to view constant progress of specific tasks and comment or contribute accordingly. Weekly progress meetings are via video conferencing or in-person in Berlin.

Ongoing maintenance & support are available following go live. We can work in a flexible fashion (when the client reaches out), or with a more defined set of monthly tasks. WordPress backend training is also available, if required.

Hopefully this article gives a good picture of how our workflow process generally looks. We'd love to hear about your project!

In addition, our friends at Milanote wrote an informative article here about writing a creative brief.