I recently posted a new Opinion on MIX Online entitled “How We Work (and sometimes skip some steps)”.  It’s basically a short essay outlining in the broadest terms the process we go through here at Microsoft when creating a new website.

Oftentimes creative assets, whether they be visual comps or individual assets, are “handed over the fence” to the development team who then is responsible for building the site and incorporating the stylesheet and visual aesthetic (not to mention the possible interactive aspects or animations). There are a lot of great developers out there, and they can take visual comps and assets and build out a solid, valid, function site. We all know, however, that no site is built and immediately published. The designer — not to mention the client — always requires changes. And what about those of us who’s teams are very small and deadlines very tight? Those of us who can’t afford the headcount or the hours to have multiple rounds of internal and external back and forth approving wireframes, comps, and working sites? Is there a way to manage the current standards of meetings and workflow?