Recently I was at the Caribou Coffee in Buckhead reading a business book and three people sat down at the table behind me. Naturally, I didn’t think anything of it until I heard them talking about building a website. They started getting into who would do what, what would go where, and how long it would take. At that point I had a hard time concentrating because I was curious about the conversation.
It turns out that a married couple was meeting with the third person, a lady, who was a web developer so that she could build an ecommerce site for them to sell soccer jerseys online (think of “proper football” teams outside the U.S.). This is a great example of hiring a consultant that is happy to do what is asked without offering up best practices. Some of the choice quotes:
- Client: Can we add music to the site?
Developer: Yes, of course, and I won’t charge you for it! - Client: Are you a full-time web designer and developer?
Developer: Yes, and I’m also a tattoo artist. - Client: How did you learn web development?
Developer: I bought a book five years ago and taught myself. - Client: What are your thoughts on social media?
Developer: I’m not a fan of Tweeter but I like Facebook (yes, they both pronounced it Tweeter and not Twitter)
There wasn’t a single minute spent on driving traffic to the site, measuring ROI, etc. Unfortunately, and in many cases, you don’t know what you don’t know. If you outsource the work without understanding it, you’ll get someone who is accustomed to saying “yes” over and over.
David Cummings on Startups 
Several people have asked me offline if this was a real conversation. Yes, amazingly, it was a real conversation.