6 Tips for Avoiding Bad Business Decisions

Updated on July 2nd, 2018 by Quertime Writer in Business

Whether you own a business or you work for someone else, bad decisions are always hard boilers. The role of entrepreneurs or designers are much more than you imagine, and include much more than just injecting life into creations. Apart from imagining what the web page will turn out to be, it’s even more important to assess the reaction of the target audience. This article will be about how web designer can avoid bad decisions and here are my takes:

Forecasting Your Role and Responsibilities

Forecasting is an essential managerial function, which deals with thinking in advance or even estimation. In this context, I would like to associate forecasting with deciding the roles and responsibilities. It is during this stage, a designer must establish his roles and responsibilities to avoid clashes in the future, especially when the project is in mid-way to completion. Brief and timely discussions with project head ensure that there are no role confusions and conflicts.

Moreover, by discussions I mean ethical conversation in which both the parties are open about their issues and role play. If by any chance the designer is reluctant to open up in front of his project head or someone who has enough authority then, he or she is already making a bad business decision.

Calling the Shots

If you are an experienced designer then you already might be aware of certain design patterns that lead to dead-end or a misfit as they proceed. It is your responsibility to take decisions accordingly because in the end, if the design turns out to be bad, you’re the one in trouble. Situations like these require you to come out and place your expert opinion in front of all the parties involved. Moreover, if you place your opinion backed with enough reasoning, you can easily win the confidence of all the parties involved.

Active participation by calling in the shots will make the process interactive than before, and will ensure that the project turns out to be a great success. However, in our industry we often have situations wherein people already have an idea of what they are looking for and situations like these make things much more complex for a designer. In case your client has a pre-disposed opinion, just show him his chances of survival with his idea, and if he still wishes to go ahead then let him be!

Show All the Cards to the Clients

While working on a random project, we often come across certain aspects that cannot be compromised with and certain issues that have to be dealt with immediately. For instance, I came across clients who wish to design a website dedicatedly for Opera browser. Now, Opera for sure is an amazing browser and a popular one too, but being an experienced professional it is my responsibility to let the client know about the outcomes of this narrow strategy. I should let the client know of the failures and even suggest shifting focus on multiple browsers than just ‘Opera’.

Normally, a professional conversation will result in enough brainstorming and a good move in the end. Showing all the possible cards to a client will not only improve your value but will save your creativity from bleeding over other creative projects.

Sometimes You Need to Let Go

Now, after showing all the cards that is the possibilities of a bad decision to the client, it’s decision time. You have a dead line to meet and ofcourse bills to pay, which is why you are bound to obey the client. Sometimes, your inherent creativity has to be rested on the opinions of the client, like it or not, the client is always right. I try to explain the outcomes of a bad decision to my clients through live examples and for me the technique has always worked. Sadly, we all have to let go of some principles that we value the most and for a designer, it’s often creativity.

Work for What You Believe in, Quality Will Follow

I know this sounds silly and I am going against by own points mentioned above of that of letting go of our belief! Opinions vary from people to people and an intelligent client will never interfere in areas that are out of his domain. There are times when you have to stand for your values and design principles, which allow you to deliver quality designs. Making these values clear to your clients in the beginning will allow you to work efficiently and dedicatedly towards a common goal. Hence, working for what you believe will ensure you deliver your best in the end!

However, in the end a sad fact remains that not every project is worthy of being showcased in your beloved portfolio and not every project leaves you with a memorable experience.

Client Participation is Not a Child’s Play

Effective client-designer participation in the process will again make the decision making simpler and project a success. Excessive client participation often confuses the process, whereas some crucial stages require a client to participate actively and ‘decision making’ is one of them. Client’s opinion should never be underestimated or even taken for granted at any point of time because they may know the target market segment better than you do. It is the client who identifies his target niche and offers his opinion on the type of designs he needs.

Conclusion

Effective project management is something that comes with time and experience. And, yes the experience earned with it is worth every headache. These tips will assist you in avoiding bad business decisions and will for sure promote efficient project management.

Author: Maneet Puri

Maneet Puri is the Managing Director of Lexolution IT Services, an India based website design firm. Maneet as a professional web consultant has been offering innovative web solutions to his global clients. Most of his articles and blogs are also based on robust web technology and ways by which a web master can avoid dire business decisions.