Comments on: Tackling Maintenance Projects

By: Dan Saffer

Dan Saffer — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’d hate to see IAs split up like that. I’d hope that all IAs get a mix of full projects and a few maintenance projects (although not too many).

I will say that maintenance projects might be good for beginning IAs to cut their teeth on…for a while. But to really sink your teeth into a big project from beginning to end is really the best situation all around.

Glad you liked the article.

Dan

By: H. Galloway

H. Galloway — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I liked reading this because,as a ‘large agency IA’, the most challenging projects that I have worked on have been the “maintenance” projects…they can be extremely difficult! So, if the old adage hold true that ‘misery loves company’ it is nice to hear that others have similar struggles.

Maintenance is just a fact of life on large sites that are driven by metrics and changing business environments. It is, 9 times out of 10, driven by changing business requirements…hardly ever by end user requirements!! Just a fact of life and sometimes part of what we have to do.

It isn’t IA in the purest sense, but implementing maintenance changes is pretty heavily IA dependent nonetheless.

By: David Reid

David Reid — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Kudos to Dan for his down n’ dirty approach to wireframes. You’ve seemingly helped a group of smart designers realize they’ve been doing IA work without a net and it works. They simply recognize poor interaction design based on common senses like comfort, necessity and intuition, and demonstrate solutions quickly using whatever means possible. With a bit of business understanding and a proactive spirit these designers will be increasingly more effective and therefore more valuable to the organization but more importantly, the user.

By: Dan Saffer

Dan Saffer — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I'm glad my article spoke to you all! By the way, if you are interested in seeing what some Down N Dirty wire frames look like, I have a set that contains a few posted on my website at http://www.odannyboy.com/datek/margin_enhancements.pdf Dan

By: Dan Saffer

Dan Saffer — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Unfortunately, I don’t. My experience with dedicated maintenance teams is pretty limited. My maintenance work has always (thankfully) been mixed in with new project work. I imagine there are a lot of burn-out issues that occur with teams who deal strictly with maintenance projects…

Dan

By: malashreejd

malashreejd — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hi dan,
there are maintenance projects where issues are not frequent and not complex also. What will help team to keep busy & motivated?