So you’re designing a new website or online store, and you need a web developer. Or maybe you just need them to work through some tweaks, changes, issues, or extra functionality.Either way, your relationship with your web developer can be difficult to manage. I’m a developer, so I know that there are so, so many ways the relationship can fall apart: Missed deadlines Lack of communication Slow communication No communication Developer over-promises Developer under-delivers Developer disappears Loosely defined scope Lack of protocol for small assumptions/decisions Bugs or issues don’t get fixed Practically every designer I work with has shared a horror story involving one of those things. What’s the plan in case of emergencies?[pullquote]More communication does not always equal better communication[/pullquote]There are no wrong answers here, as long as you set expectations at beginning? Why This Matters You want to have a good rapport with your developer, and to accomplish that, you need an established mode of communication. Where are the files and login credentials the developer will need. That’s why it’s important to establish where the developer can find everything they need? Will the client have direct communication with the developer? Why This Matters You don’t want to backpedal on development, or have your developer redo work? How much freedom does the developer have while interpreting designs? (i.e. the popups: “Password invalid.” or “Username doesn’t exist”.) If you haven’t, is the developer free to make decisions or suggestions4 What’s the hard deadline for the project, and what’s the soft deadline? Why This Matters [pullquote]it really doesn’t help to create artificial hard deadlines…honesty is the best policy[/pullquote]If there’s a hard deadline, make the developer aware of it, and make sure to leave time for proper testing. Waiting for a developer to make a fix can be frustrating, but even small requests require maintaining version control, launching the development environment, connecting to the server, deploying to the production site, etc. Are you hiring the developer to do the project at an hourly or fixed rate. Why This Matters The last thing you want is a developer getting a site 95% of the way there, and then not launching the project due to a discrepancy in the scope/contract/payment.