Thread: Should I just learn code?

I'm hesitant to answer questions like this for two reasons:

1. I am a professional Web Application Analyst, Designer, Developer

2. I provide services like what you are mentioning for entrepreneurs.

These two topics may make me look like biased. And of course I am biased. If I weren't then I wouldn't do this professionally.

My presentation for the meetup 2009 will be about what is needed in order to have a successful experience when having somebody else building a website for you.

So, my short answer to your original question is NO.

The most important point to remember is what lighthouse and others mentioned... you do need to speak the language. You don't have to be a developer. Your business is to make your company work, to define the services you provide, to take care of sales and marketing and shipping and accounting and many other parts that make up your company. You are the business owner. Act as one.

Do a search in google or any other engine for Requirements gathering. This is key.

If you can't explain in English what your site is supposed to do then there is no developer in the world that can build it for you.

Originally Posted by PEERless

One word: "copypasta!" LOL. Learn to copy-paste useful snippets. I don't "know" code, per se, but I pick up what I need every time I build a new site. I used Google, Wikipedia, and advice from this forum whenever I came upon something I didn't know how to do. Google's pretty useful. I did a lot of searches with terms like, "html e-mail form" or "how make button html." My most challenging coding experience was writing the formulas for Cash Dimensions. When my coding needs get more sophisticated, it will be time to outsource.

After you do this, you will start to at least understand it. Then you can determine if it something you are interested in enough to LEARN it.

Originally Posted by andviv

The most important point to remember is what lighthouse and others mentioned... you do need to speak the language....

If you can't explain in English what your site is supposed to do then there is no developer in the world that can build it for you.

THIS IS A MUST. Learn the language so you can communicate with those that know the code. This by far more important than learning the code itself.

Originally Posted by andviv

Do a search in google or any other engine for Requirements gathering. This is key.

Rep+ Andres... great advice!

Originally Posted by andviv

If you can't explain in English what your site is supposed to do then there is no developer in the world that can build it for you.

exactly! this is the key reason of course why you need to have a cursory level of knowledge. how are you going to be able to outline what you want if you don't even know what's out there.

Just to make sure I am not confusing people with my statement....

I am suggesting you at least understand some basic concepts. I am NOT suggesting you learn too much about coding styles and advanced technologies.

Examples of what you MUST know:

- A website could be either dynamic or static. Static is "just" html pages, maybe a form that emails information, or something "basic" like that. Flash pages are another example, but be careful with them, due to concerns with Google rankings.
Short version of this rule: Flash NO, HTML Yes.

- Most sites that people request from me are Dynamic. This means, in an oversimplified way, that there is a database and logic involved. Think of conditions. IF user selects State California THEN No Shipping charges. IF user is a paid one then it can see the videos, ELSE they can see the forum, articles and blogs, but no the videos. Thinking like this will make you progress a lot. You are suddenly speaking "logic", the universal, mathematical language.

- There are two basic technologies out there:
A) Windows, IIS, MS SQL Server, .Net
B) Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP

There are more than these two, but they are the main ones. PHP and Mysql is preferred as it is seen as "free". More hosting alternatives are usually available for this.
Short rule: Go with PHP/MySQL in case you don't know what you are doing.

- There are some basic documents that you must work on with your developer. The most critical is the Functional Requirements Document.

The Functional Requirements Document (FRD) is the soul of your system.

ALL successful systems are designed on paper first. Just like building a car, or a house, blueprints are critical in order to succeed.

Most developers, being "just developers" ignore this. Don't.

You, as business owner, must make sure you put the requirements in writing. It is not complicated once you see how it is done. Basically, open a spreadsheet with 4 columns:
- Requirement
- Understanding
- Acceptance

Requirement column is where you establish the rule that must be met.
Examples:

Users MUST login to access the videos.
The system must email the user when the Forgot Password button is clicked.
The system will lock the account if the user fails the username/password 3 times in a row
Only the Administrators can see the reports of sales.

Understanding is a column where you ask the Developer to check, so they tell you they understood the requirement.

Acceptance is the column you, the business owner, will check once the developer delivers the final product to you. This is used so the developer knows when the application is complete, and the business owner says he/she accepted the final product.

You have no idea how many headaches this simple step will save you.

The problem is, creating this document takes time. And effort. But, like every important task, that is the only way to succeed. Many take the simple route.

Entrepreneur: "Mr. developer, I need a website"
Developer" "sure. it will cost you $3,000" and will be done in 4 weeks"
E: "Awesome, how do I pay you?"
D: "50% now, 50% at delivery"
E: "Great, here is my money"
D: "Talk to you in 6 weeks"
E: "But you said it would take 4 weeks"
D: "Yes, but I will be able to start two weeks from now".

This may sound like a joke. It's not.
This happens all the time.

Don't be the entrepreneur that will suffer during all the process, and beyond.

PS: I must stop giving away my methodology and the info I sell... but I'm a sucker for helping people in this forum.

Thanks Andres. This is a really useful post. Excellent explanation – no jargons - and using simple non-technical language. I think this post merits a separate thread of its own.

Originally Posted by andviv

PS: I must stop giving away my methodology and the info I sell... but I'm a sucker for helping people in this forum.

Good one

Linux + PHP is preferable as IIS is an insecure POS btw...also PHP is more widely used so its pretty easy to get code snippets. You should also learn code so you can tune up your website.

I think it's good to be familiar with the technologies you are using to a point where you know exactly what your requirements are, come up with good solutions to complex problems, better estimate project costs and hurdles. With that said it can still be a good idea to outsource the development work itself, but I believe one of the keys to success is knowing the core technologies yourself in order to keep better tabs on your developers.

On the project I'm working on now I've spent a few months learning the technologies behind it. Parts of the projects are too complex for me to do myself, but I know what key questions to ask and the technologies I want to use.