Process
In four steps, each ending with something that runs. You know in advance what you get, and you are not dependent on me at the end.
Step 1 of 4
Review or project planBefore you commission anything
I start by looking for the cause, not by writing a list of tasks. If your website already exists, I review it. If the project is new, I write a project plan. It says where the project is most likely to fail and how to find that out cheaply.
One example: on a photographer's website, two add-ons cancelled each other out. That is why Google barely found the site.
Without that finding, the 49 hours that followed would have achieved nothing.
What you have at the endA document with scope, effort and risks. Then you decide.
Step 2 of 4
Delivery in stagesYou sign off every stage on its own
You do not get everything at once at the end. I build in stages, and each stage works on its own. You see something real early and can change direction while that is still cheap.
I write down the important decisions: what the options were, what I chose, why, and what the downside is.
What you have at the endAfter every stage, something that runs. Not a status report.
Step 3 of 4
LaunchThe part many leave out
The job includes everything running at the end. Your site is reachable at your address, and the connection is encrypted. Your data is backed up every day. If something goes down, I get an alert. None of that costs extra.
For the technically minded: what launch includes
Deployment pipeline, TLS, daily off-site backups with restore tests, monitoring from outside.I currently keep looking after seven projects myself.
What you have at the endReachable at your address, backed up, monitored.
Step 4 of 4
Ongoing care or handoverYour call, not mine
After that I keep looking after the project, or you take it over. For the handover I write a guide. It explains every setting and lists what needs doing regularly.
A website only its developer understands makes you dependent. That is not a result.
What you have at the endThe handover is planned in from the start.
Frequently asked
How does a project run here?
In four steps. First comes the website review or the project plan, with a written scope. Then I build in stages that you sign off one by one. Then comes the launch, with backups and monitoring. At the end I keep looking after it, or I hand it over to you. Each stage ends with something that runs.
What happens before I commission anything?
A website review or a project plan. At the end you have a document with the scope, the estimated effort and the risks. Only then do you decide whether and what to commission.
How do you record decisions?
As short notes: what the options were, what I chose, why, and what the downside is. That saves the later question of why something is built the way it is. And whoever takes over after me can read it up.
What if the plan turns out to be wrong mid-project?
Then I say so. On one of my own products I threw away four months of work because the review pointed elsewhere. The same applies to your project: an uncomfortable message early beats an expensive invoice late.
Does this match what you have in mind?
Write a few lines about it. You get an assessment before anything is commissioned.