Smashing eBook Series: #2 Successful Freelancing for Web Designers _____________________________________________________________
5. Set realistic deadlines, and stick to them As designers, we can quickly turn around designs in a few days and be done with it. Unfortunately, this is not the case for development. The ratio of design to development hours is not even close to 1:1. Make sure your deadlines allow enough time for the developer to implement the features, as well as any back and forth time for questions. No matter how hard you try to hit your deadlines, something always comes up. Perhaps another project, kids, family, etc. Try your best not to announce any hard dates until you are absolutely sure you will hit them. Announce the week before (or even month before) if you feel comfortable. If you just started a project, never commit to launching in the next 6 months. It just won’t happen, and your users may or may not hold you accountable for that date.
Don’t make promises you can’t keep As irritating as missing deadlines is for you and your team, its even more irritating for potential customers who are waiting for your app to change their workflow. Be vague about deadlines, and keep people wanting more.
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