Nobody budgets for doing it twice

Last time I went to the dentist, I told him I had toothache, probably one of my top molars, and asked him to put a filling in. I was in a rush, so we skipped the unnecessary diagnostics and X-rays, drilled the tooth and filled it. It saved me quite a bit in fees.

Of course, I didn’t really do that. Nobody would.

What I did though, was take my car to a garage on the way home because my brakes were making a nasty noise. The first two garages both said that it was likely to be an issue with my callipers, and one said I could have a fluid leak and didn’t want me driving it. You should have heard how much they wanted just to tell me what the issue was!

The third garage happened to have some old brake pads that he said “should work”, so put them in really cheaply. Perfect, because I’m driving to France tomorrow.

I didn’t do that either.

I’m sure you know where this is going, especially as we’re a web agency... and you’d be right.

Websites aren’t as important as your teeth or your car’s brakes, though, are they?

No, not at all. It isn’t as if they’re often your first impression to the outside world. And it isn’t as if people run their whole business through them, with ecommerce, customer portals and management systems. And it certainly isn’t as if they hold your customers’ personal data.

As with the teeth, and the car’s brakes, these quick ‘fixes’ are not likely to be a good investment, and are more than likely going to cause more drama, heartache (and toothache) and costs in the future.

We see this time and time again and often have customers come back with their tails firmly between their legs (and have used this terminology themselves), often having already spent a good portion of their budget on something that is worthless, and having to raise more capital to get it done properly.

What’s worse is that people often know they’re making the mistake and do it anyway.

Schrödinger’s quote (noun)

A quote that is simultaneously too good to be true and exactly what the client wants to hear. Its true state is only revealed once the work is delivered.

“They knew it was a Schrödinger’s quote, but went with it anyway.”

We’ve had a company director talking to us in tears before; he made lots of quick fixes and poor choices in the past, and these accumulated as technical debt. Suddenly, just like an old car that has been neglected for years is condemned after an MOT, his website was unfit for purpose. It had been hacked, and needed urgent fixes, but everything was out of date and botched. A new build would be hundreds of thousands, and the website was crucial for his business operations. We could have fixed it, but it would have cost tens of thousands of pounds and take months. Meanwhile, he had no website, no way to run his business, and had to inform all of his clients (and the ICO) that their confidential information had been compromised. Many people are unknowingly waiting for this sudden business-ending event.

Ever asked AI something and had it completely miss the point? Well, here’s a shocker: it does this when coding as well. When guided by an experienced developer, AI can be extremely useful; when left to its own devices it can be a disaster. Would you be happy if you got on a plane to Lanzarote and after take off the pilot announces “The right engine was making a bit of noise earlier, but we ran it through ChatGPT and it says it’ll be fine.”?

I’ll tell you what AI is doing well... figuring out how to exploit vulnerabilities in websites. Oh dear!

We web-folk talk to teach other, and we know of other web agencies who, when out of their depth, will make changes blindly because they “think it’ll probably work”.

Again, oh dear.

There’s a military adage called the 7 Ps. “Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents **** Poor Performance”. This couldn’t be truer across many sectors, including web development!

I said on in email to a client earlier:

“We're not cheap and don't try to be. We're thorough, methodical, and diligent”.

I’m unsure if this is an old-fashioned concept, but it sadly seems to be in decline.

As my dad used to say, “Aaron, do it properly, do it once”. He was right; he usually was! And, in our sector at least, doing it properly will be the best value in the long term.

We are Webbed Feet, we do things properly, and are proud of it.