Web Development Strategy and Scalability
As a business owner or other important person in your organization’s decision making team, how do you make decisions to grow and develop your web site? I’ve sat in many team meetings over the course of my own career that involved lengthy discussions on anticipated new technology needs and solutions. While everyone usually comes to the table with varied theories, what always strikes me is just how varied the ideas can be with regard to projected growth and web site scalability. I usually walk away with the sense that no one in the meeting really knows. So, how do you plan and determine solutions with regard to your web site and application development projects and ensure they don’t get out of control?
I’ve recently come across a straightforward article discussing some realistic approaches for planning the scalability of a web project and thought it has some good talking points.
1. All web sites and applications will have breaking points.
Accept that your web site will need routine maintenance and that performance enhancements should just be part of the technology budget. After all, your car doesn’t run forever without tuneups and oil changes.
2. Understand all of the features you desire and the tradeoffs between them.
Bells and whistles may be visually interesting but if they slow your web site down, your visitor will mentally dock you for performance degradation. Understand all of your features and what you can live with and without to offer the most reliable and dynamic experience for your customer. We’ve mentioned this before – remember the golden rule of “less is more”.
3. Realize at some point you will want to scale back down and rebuild.
Accept that you will need to stop growing outward but instead begin refining and sometimes scaling back. Re-analyze your server use and make decisions on how much infrastructure you really need to be paying for. New technology will also always come into play, offering more efficient solutions. The increasing mobile use is an example of how we need to quickly revamp how we offer up content.
My favorite quote in the article says it all: “don’t be afraid to change everything”. How does your organization make decisions with regard to web site strategy and solutions?
