Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
even longer into the night without accomplishing anything and possibly
even creating problems in your code. Sometimes, the best thing to do is
walk away, go home to get some rest, and try again the next day.
Aim Ahead of Schedule
One suggestion I would like to make is to aim ahead of your dead-
line. If you have 4 weeks to complete a microsite, try to have it
finished in 3 weeks. If you have 3 days to build a round of banners,
see if you can knock them out in 1 1/2 days. If you are the Flash
developer on the project, your first deadline will most likely be to
get your project handed over to quality control. The quicker you
can get it to them, the less crunched they are on time and the bet-
ter they can do their job. The next deadline you will probably face
is the deadline to have the bugs that are found by quality control
worked out. This deadline usually ties right in with the launch or
campaign start date. Imagine if you turned the project over to qual-
ity control 2 days early, they find a few issues, report them to you,
and you fix them right away. Now you look again at your final
deadline, and yes, you
ve just completed the project 3 full days
ahead of schedule. What client isn
'
t going to want the reassuring
comfort that you and your team have everything so completely
under control?
'
ALERT!
Remember that other than quality control, you are usually the last to have
your hands in a project before it goes live to the world. Because that is
the case, your deadlines are extremely important. Don
'
t miss them.
Creeping Scope
Another good reason to stay ahead of the game when it comes to
your deadlines is scope creep. The best way I can describe this phe-
nomenon is the same as it has been explained to me in the past:
Scope creep
is the inevitable process in which the client or
stakeholder, after agreeing to initial deliverables, discovers what
those deliverables truly need to be. This process usually occurs gra-
dually over time and only becomes evident once the project is near-
ing completion. If it
s not managed well, scope creep can very easily
translate into many extra work hours. However, by expecting it to
happen, you can be prepared to watch for the signs ahead of time.
'
You
re Not Alone
Because we
'
'
ve talked about your deadlines as the Flash developer,
'
let
s talk about another deadline: The deadline to have the layouts
