Different Views of the Same Mountain

On this 100-degree day in Seattle, I found myself dreaming of snowcapped mountains.

An interesting and somewhat challenging part of the creative process (and yes, web development is a creative process with a functional purpose) is coming to a shared understanding about the aspirations and future vision for a website with a client.

We start by asking questions about the website today:

• How are our customers are using it?
• What frustrations is the team currently experiencing?
• How could it better represent your brand?
• What might be lacking in features or functionality?

We ask about future aspirations for the website to help recommend solutions that will help a business run smoothly and grow strategically.

Ultimately we want to be on the same page and start every project with this intention of 100% alignment. No matter how aligned we feel, we are coming at the website from different viewpoints, and that makes communicating throughout the process that much more important. 

Which led me to thinking, while we're talking about the same mountain - our views of it are not always the same.

How you might view your website

This is Mt. Baker, a beautiful mountain that is part of the Cascade Mountain Range just a couple hours north of our home base in Seattle.

Imagine the mountain as your website. You see the mountain along with the larger ecosystem of things in your perspective. This might include things such as the water, sailboats, forests, and animals. With all these moving pieces within the ecosystem, you need a mountain (i.e. website) that looks and works smoothly while also connecting the other pieces.

A developer’s view of the website

This is the same mountain, Mt. Baker, up close from a winter ski trip. Our development team view is from the mountain. We see all the elements up close—the rocks, trees, glaciers, water, effects of wind and time. We use all the elements of web technology that make up a site. Our understanding is the system as a composite of its technical parts— from Javascript libraries, HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, and full stack of technology that brings a site together. 

We make mountains that will stand the test of time thanks to the team's understanding of all the elements up close and underneath the surface. Our clients are able to depend on the mountain, use it, and grow with it without having to know every single element that goes into it.

At Bear Group, it is our job to make sure the mountain looks good from a distance as well as up close. It needs to be a well-built collection of the pieces within the larger ecosystem. 

Our shared view

Launching a new website is kind of like standing on top of the mountain with the client and looking off into the distance. Together we both can see the short range view, we can see the valleys, and hopefully we both can see the potential—the 100-mile view on a bluebird day.

This inherent difference in perspective has been an interesting challenge to the work we do. We approach this with clear communication and a roadmap at the start of projects that helps us identify what each client needs their website to do for them and how we can help get them there.

We don't expect clients to become mountain makers, though we love sharing knowledge and work hard to demystify the web development process along the way.

About the Author

Greg Bear had a front-row seat as the internet became the center of the economy. He built his first web page in 1994, led startups through the Seattle internet boom, and launched Bear Group in 2007. His dedication to exceptional digital experiences and client service has remained central throughout.

You'll find a version of this original blog published here.