Tuesday October 9, 2007

Barber or Director?

by Nathan Smith in Article

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The other day, I went to get my haircut at the barber shop I typically frequent. Without fail, one of the hairstylists in particular always tells me to “jazz things up,” suggesting I spike my hair, buy specific types of hair products, etc. Now, I consider myself a pretty normal guy (some might say boring). When I go to the barber shop, innovation is usually the last thing on my mind. I just want to get in, have my hair cut the exact same way as it was before, and get out.

I really wanted to tell this person (but didn’t, lest my haircut suffer the consequences):

“Look, with all due respect, unless otherwise stated, can we just assume that I want my hair cut the exact same way as I did last time? Thanks.”

Barbers

This interchange (or lack thereof) got me to thinking: Many clients treat web designers and developers exactly the way I approach a haircut. They already have an idea in mind, and simply see us as a means to an end, facilitating their bottom-line exactly as they have envisioned it. Innovation is not necessarily the driving factor, because there are real-world business goals at stake, and deadlines to be met. Best practices often take a back-seat to getting a project done. To deviate too far from the norm would be the equivalent of walking into a meeting with a mohawk.

Don’t get me wrong, maintaining the status quo is not automatically a Bad Thing™. In the story of the Tortoise and the Hare, slow and steady wins the race. In the IT industry, proven reliability pays the mortgage and keeps food on the table. In web design, if we didn’t have the relative stability of the Pax Microsoft era, when Internet Explorer 6 dominated the browser space for so long, we would not have had a common baseline for advancement. Still, innovation is inevitable and previously obscure upstarts like Mozilla can become major players, seemingly overnight.

Directors

This brings me to my second point. On the flip side of the code-monkey, “git ‘er done” coin is the innovative role that we can play during the formative stages of a project. I tend to equate this window of opportunity to the time spent by a director adapting a screenplay (or book) for a motion picture. One of the most world renown directors is Stephen Spielberg, who often commands a multi-million dollar budget for each feature film with which he is involved.

Best-selling author Michael Crichton didn’t complain when a good portion of Jurassic Park ended up on the cutting-room floor, because he trusted that once in the hands of the movie-makers, the right decisions would be made; to best facilitate the underlying themes, if not the verbatim text. It is this ability to relate through storytelling that people find truly compelling. Johnny Carson said it best:

“People will pay more to be entertained than educated.”

Yet, the process of pruning a large volume of text, then subsequently condensing it into approximately two hours of gripping entertainment, cannot be as effortless as Spielberg makes it look. While a director might want to do full justice to the storyline, sacrifices have to be made in the interest of budget and brevity (lest it turn into a bladder-busting theater experience).

Such is the facilitator hat we wear when gathering requirements on a project, helping cut scope from what the client might say they want, molding it into what will be most appropriate for their target audience. In a world where people scan quickly, but don’t read, conciseness is key.

Start Small

One of the things I love about DVDs is watching behind-the-scenes extra features. Very rarely do you hear about some prodigy director who just magically understood all the nuances of TV or film. More often than not, you will hear stories of humble beginnings, scraping-by making the occasional commercial or working long hours (for no pay) as an intern in a dark editing room.

There is a lot to be said for this school of hard-knocks. Just as cops do not progress immediately from gum-shoe to police chief, we in the web-dev line of work have to be versatile. Some days you will have to put “lipstick on the pig,” but what might seem mundane produces strength of character, and helps you appreciate opportunities to truly craft a project from inception to production.

When those opportunities to think outside the box do arise, we must listen for the underlying need, rather than getting caught up in rigid requirements around implementation. Jeff Croft said it best:

“Bring me problems, not solutions.”

Do most clients really want a bigger logo, or are they just concerned about brand perception? Not being a creative genius, I do not purport to have all the answers. I’ll leave that up to Spielberg.