Switching webdesigners

[esdesigns]

Hello,

I am working as a graphic designer for a company who would like me to take over the general maintenance of their website (which was created by a firm about a month ago). I have experience creating my own, and starting a site from the ground up but not quite with taking someone's else work and changing it.

I am concerned about adjusting the code, while the other firm still has control of the ftp, email servers and whatnot. They haven given me access to all this, but I am reluctant to start the project as I don't want to come in and trash their very recent work. However, there are obvious mistakes and they need to be corrected. Any one have any pointers on how to go about this switch as tactfully as possible? Many thanks in advance!

 

[LisaRole]

I think you should have a big coordination between the old guys and the company you are working for.

Sometime there are things that designers wanting to ask from either clients or old designers who handled the projects but somehow the company ( people higher from you) would want things to make it in different way

I think you should analyze first what are the things you need before starting to patch things up then relay to your boss what are those and maybe he can help you how to sort it out with the old guys. Then if somehow you felt that still you will be needing more information and this and that then also let them know so that they will not think you're just acting it and also they will be ready for it.

Keep the communication open forehand to everything, that way both parties will understand things better.

 

[Wynnefield]

I agree 100% with Lisa about keeping an open communication line with the agency who did the work (and apparently is still hosting everything). As a standard practice when working with agencies (especially in the intro phase), I cc my manager on just about all communications until he/she asks me to cut back on the extra emails. This eliminates any "he said"/"she said" between you and the agency.

Before making any changes, I would also confirm several items:

Who is the customer?
I.e. who owns the site. Is it Corporate Communications, IT, Marketing and develop a strong relationship with the owner, so you have a strong understanding of what they want on the site. This way you also know who you have to explain SEO content changes too and/or other adjustments they may not readily understand.

Have read/write access to everything you need on the web server?
Are you just responsible for the design/content, or are you expecting to administer the hosting configuration, as well?

What change control tool is the agency using?
During the introductory period, this is critical so you are not overwriting each other's code. If they do not have change control implemented, I strongly recommend putting something in place until they back out of the site and/or you remove their access.

These are a few areas that have caused me stress in the past when taking over and/or passing along a site to another group or third party agency.

Good luck.

 

[creativityunltd]

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you are inevitably going to run into the problem a lot of people run into in the corporate world right now. You are going to hit a point where there are too many conflicting "chiefs" in comparison to the number of subordinate "indians". I would speak to them directly about organizing duties as far as the FTP server is concerned, and some kind of organization.