No time for polish

Some of the projects I deal with have strict schedules right up until the “launch” date. That’s fine, but it sometimes means missing out on that final ten percent, which more often than not plays a large role in the success of a design or interface.

Almost anything that I creatively put together — whether it’s ruby code, a library, some javascript, a design, or whatever — is never complete when I’m done, if that makes sense. The days spent “cleaning up” is where those things get their polish. And only then can I step back and feel proud of what I just created.

I’m currently working on a project that has something like a 16 month time line packed full of intermediary deliverables. The day the project is said to be complete is a couple of days before the “launch” of the site. There’s no allotted time for experimenting with the UI and feeling how the application works. There’s no time for adjustments.

I’m not saying the project won’t be successful (because it will be), I’m just saying when you live and die by those hard dates and todo’s, the flare can often get lost. Sure, in a day or two I can throw together some forms, functionality, and general flow and call it a “met requirement”, but to really nail it, I might need an extra week.

In reality, though, sometimes projects don’t allow for polish, only met requirements.