TurnShirts.com - a developers platform choice
So why a standard Blogging System for TurnShirts.com?
As the developer on the project I can hold my hands up and say I made some bad choices when trying to progress the project. I should have put aside the "I want to learn something new" or "I want to write from scratch" or "I want to show off how complex I can make a system".
Using a new technology
So whilst working at a company called Romax I was using Seaside/Pharo/Smalltalk and wanted to apply this to the TurnShirts.com project. This was a mistake for the following reasons:
Create a bespoke application
So let's create a bespoke PHP application! Um, that will require all my time and people won't understand it or be able to support it. Though it meant we could create a unique system - it would also mean that I would have to support or create a shed load of documentation to support it.
So we did this for 8 months until I realised that this was a mistake.
When we went down the bespoke route - I knew that every time the design changed or the process was amended my heart did sink a little - knowing extra work was coming my way when using a bespoke system. A step away from delivering a system - not a step towards it.
Use proven and known Technology - live with the limits
So as we had both worked on WordPress and myself with WooCommerce it was a good choice and meant that as a developer I could step back and actually take points and advice from the designer. Also opens up other opportunities for adding pages, adding modules, creating modules and leveraging the system to actually deliver a project.
I would not say this was as straightforward as we thought it would be or delivered the bespoke system that we had started to code, but it did mean we could have an actual end date on the project - and actually deploy something ready for selling. Which was the main aim of the project!
As the developer on the project I can hold my hands up and say I made some bad choices when trying to progress the project. I should have put aside the "I want to learn something new" or "I want to write from scratch" or "I want to show off how complex I can make a system".
Using a new technology
So whilst working at a company called Romax I was using Seaside/Pharo/Smalltalk and wanted to apply this to the TurnShirts.com project. This was a mistake for the following reasons:
- Garry the designer could not use it, plus I had to explain a new way of working
- I was still learning more about it - it's weaknesses and strengths
- When the project was released the support would be limited - selling as a franchise requires extra work as I would have to also license the software and support it.
Create a bespoke application
So let's create a bespoke PHP application! Um, that will require all my time and people won't understand it or be able to support it. Though it meant we could create a unique system - it would also mean that I would have to support or create a shed load of documentation to support it.
So we did this for 8 months until I realised that this was a mistake.
When we went down the bespoke route - I knew that every time the design changed or the process was amended my heart did sink a little - knowing extra work was coming my way when using a bespoke system. A step away from delivering a system - not a step towards it.
So as we had both worked on WordPress and myself with WooCommerce it was a good choice and meant that as a developer I could step back and actually take points and advice from the designer. Also opens up other opportunities for adding pages, adding modules, creating modules and leveraging the system to actually deliver a project.
I would not say this was as straightforward as we thought it would be or delivered the bespoke system that we had started to code, but it did mean we could have an actual end date on the project - and actually deploy something ready for selling. Which was the main aim of the project!
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