A Practical Technical Project Checklist (For Non-Technical People)

One of the biggest intimidations is not knowing the steps or process. That lack of understanding of, "How does it work? How long does this take?" That can be really scary. Bruce Kirsch, Founder & CEO, REFM

That's Bruce Kirsch. He made the leap to build his dream when he launched Valuate, a web-based commercial real estate tool.

For Bruce, the biggest challenge of building a software product wasn't finding others who believed in his idea. It wasn't doing market research. It wasn't even finding financial backing.

It was finding a team that he trusted.

Finding, hiring and working with a technical team can be overwhelming, even for seasoned entrepreneurs and executives.

Let's explore common areas of miscommunication between technical and non-technical team members, using the universally loved format: the checklist.

PREPARATION

• Do I know if I'm building a product or a marketing site?
• Do I know if I need to meet the team in person?
• Do I have a list of industry terminology I need to teach the team?
• Do I have login information for a domain, servers, web host or other services the team might need to use?

KICKOFF

• Have I received an estimate?
• What are the project phases?
• How long does each phase last?
• What happens in each phase?
• What services are billable?
• Who is on the team?
• What technology are we using?
• Is the technology open source?
• Has the team used this technology?
• What channels will we use to communicate?
• How often will we check in?
• How will I give feedback?
• How will we measure success?

DELIVERY

• Does this include everything we agreed on?
• Has this been tested across different browsers and devices?
• How much budget have we used?
• What's the release plan?

POST-DELIVERY

• Have we looked back at the metrics for success?
• Have we collected feedback?
• How will we integrate feedback?
• How often will we release new work?

---

This checklist is by no means exhaustive. It is, however, a starting point to faciliate an open conversation with your team. Have a question you think should be included? Tell us at @colabcoop.