Agencies are Scum

As the web has developed, so too have design and web development agencies. These are knowledge industries, and they thrive on information asymitry. They are the specialists and so they mus know how to do the job in the best manner possible. How many times have you heard from a designer that that will not work beacause of some random reason that they make up on the spot? More often than not its 1) an ego issue, or 2) lazyness or unwillingness to do extra work. Over time though as the web has developed, people who grew with it learned how to design and build websites with it. Ok, this is not true for everyone but I for one am one am one. I have also been formally trained in design and have worked in web development. Sure, I have also lost touch with a lot of my programming, as that is not my field of speciality or my field of occupation. But the logic and the know how of how thing work is enough to lay out plans on how a website is to be build, as well as evaluate whether or not something has been build in the way that it should have been. Sorry developers, your lame excuses are not good enough for me.

In the past they could just tell their client that this was the best possible solution and they would have no choice but to but it. Now they can find someone with the skill set to make sure that things work. This will be the demise of the traditional egotistic agencies of the early 2000s. In this decade you will have to prove your worth.

The way agencies work is completely innappropriate for the industry they are in. So much of their work is subjective that they should not be allowed to operate in this manner. What is with the whole concept that they can layout 2 stages of changes for the client? So often designers and developers lack creativity or drive to produce something that works for the client, and eventually the client just has to settle for the best out of the their inferior choices! If the client wants more changes these firms charge top dollar to rectify their own careless mistakes. I almost switched to that industry and to be honest this sorta behavior makes me sick to the stomach. In an agency you are valuable if you can get the most amount of money for the least amount of work.

Bug fixes during a website build is another classic example. Agencies often give the client x number of days to evaluate and log bugs so that the company can fix it. This again is built on information asymitry, as the less mistakes the client can identify, the less work the agency needs to do. Whi care if it could have been done better, the quicker they can signoff, the more money they make. This sorta behavior should take you straight to hell if there is such a place. Quality is no longer what agencies give.

I think for most small to medium sized organizations, they might be better of not working with agencies. For design, they should hire in house designers and a simple cost benefit analysis will prove that in the long run its cost benefitial. Just have to remember to hire more than one with different schools of design, so that you get a variety of ideas. For web development, they should hire 2 developers on a year contract, to sit and build a website with them. This will ensure that what is being built actually work for the organization and immidiate feedback is generated. This would also mean that 100% of their time is devoted to this one project and they will take interest and innitiative to make the best website possible.

I for one am sick of hearing the run of the mill excuses that I get on a regular basis from designers or developers. I'm not buying it, you'll have to please this one unfortunately!