Work Flow
posted in Hurray for Geekdom |Pretty much aimed at those of you who do different ‘projects’ at work. Most of my jobs have entailed the assignment of different projects- not like “take orders in section A” or “stock shelves in entertainment,” but more like “build website for foo.com.” When I get a project like this, I visualize two things; on the one hand, the relationships of the database tables to each other (books to authors, books to inventory), and on the other, the way the user will experience the interrelationships of this data (the website flow) - index page has a navigation bar, click on authors, or click on books, or click on inventory . In fact, part B really defines part A; generally speaking, someone has specific demands laid out for how a site works, as opposed to specific demands as to how a database is organized.
I was experiencing this last night; I had a project shift from one “user experience” to another, and I could see how the new flow would be much better for the end user. In order to work some more on this task, I had to stop coding and envision how the flow would have to be restructured — and then I had to rewrite the data tables to support this new flow. Until I had that concept, I couldn’t really start thinking about timelines and that sort of thing, because that’s all defined by the coding process, which is defined by the flow.
It also makes me a little more resistant to change than I’d like; once I’ve got an investment in terms of flow and database, I’m less likely to want to change part of this foundation because of how it might affect the rest of the structure. For instance; with wishease.com, do I want to set up an area for people to place something akin to “prayer requests” - where they can “register” some less-materialistic wishes? If I do that, how do I work it into the structure of the site? Until I answer that question, I can’t really think about how much work I’ll need to do to do it.
So - when you’re starting a new project, do you think of it in terms of timelines and deadlines? Or do you have to do something mentally first? Or do you see it as a network of little tasks that all inter-relate? How would you describe how your process works to someone else?
