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I regret my website redesign

mtlynch.io

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Re: I regret my website redesign

#211

Post by yellow_lead »

gtm1260 wrote: post #200
skilled wrote: post #37

I am pretty sure there are a handful of good (based on Tailwind CSS) template generators which will produce results superior to the pages you received. Sure, you'd need to hire someone to do the logo and the custom icons, but I am certain that would not cost you anywhere near $46k. Furthermore, I cannot comprehend how this actually happened even if you shared all the details. Holy shit, for $46k you could have gotten…

He says he got a 40% increase in sales, so I imagine that takes the edge off a little LOL!

Well he had a 32% increase (vs. the previous month) in June [1]. I'm not sure how the increase was calculated but I don't think see how you can attribute 40% to the redesign - the graph is already up and to the right ;)

[1] https://mtlynch.io/retrospectives/2022/07/#tinypilothttpstin...

Re: I regret my website redesign

#212

Post by lxe »

> I’m not trying to bash the agency here, so I’ll just call them WebAgency.

Wow after reading this, I'd love to know who this WebAgency is so I can stay away. Alternatively I'm thinking of starting my own WebAgency and charge $7k to change button colors from green to limegreen.

Re: I regret my website redesign

#214

Post by tshaddox »

j4pe wrote: post #91
mtlynch wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for reading! I have a different philosophy when it comes to hiring in that I assume the people working with me are honest and they're motivated to do their jobs well. I'm paying for their time, and I assume they'll use their time effectively. If they can't use their time effectively, I terminate the hire, but I don't try to fix it with different policies. I agree that there are payment schemes that will cause…

As a longtime freelancer and agency founder: misaligned incentives are not the same thing as dishonesty. Honestly pursuing your own incentives, and being open about what those incentives are, is really the only honest way to do business. Broadly speaking, it's not economically feasible for an agency to take contracts that pay $7k (or even $25k, for that matter - I've written about this here https://bonner.jp/posts/th…

> As a longtime freelancer and agency founder: misaligned incentives are not the same thing as dishonesty. Honestly pursuing your own incentives, and being open about what those incentives are, is really the only honest way to do business.

I don’t know. It’s a blurry line at best. If an agency dev team is really noticing that bug fixes are billable hours and that’s causing them to relax their code quality standards since they’ll be paid for bug fixes anyway, how is that not dishonest? Perhaps it’s possible for them to not be aware that what they’re doing is in bad faith, in which case you might argue that they’re “being dishonest with themselves” instead of “being dishonest with the client,” but it seems like a distinction without a difference.

Re: I regret my website redesign

#216

Post by lawn »

> I genuinely believe that WebAgency tried their best on this project. I don’t feel like they meant to deceive me or squeeze money out of me. We just didn’t match.

Sounds exactly like how people rationalize abusive behavior from their partner. "It was my fault he hit me" etc.

That's because they did abuse you and ripped you off.

Re: I regret my website redesign

#217

Post by nerdawson »

_ynmi wrote: post #208
nerdawson wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author chose not to name them. Attempting to find that information and then publicly sharing it feels in poor taste, regardless of your opinion of how things went.

I didn't "attempt to find" them. I was considering working with this agency and the designs are eerily similar.

So, you’ve dragged the company into this, potentially tarnishing them in the eyes of everyone seeing your comment, based on a hunch?

You didn’t see a reference in their work examples for instance, they just happen to look similar?

Firstly, I think if the author chose to keep it anonymous we should all respect their decision.

Secondly, I find it incredibly inappropriate to be throwing out company names like this without any proof.

Re: I regret my website redesign

#218

Post by issa »

This sounds like EVERY agency I have ever worked for. I am sure there are good agencies out there and others have had better experience, but the few agencies I have worked for would have considered this scenario a success.

Re: I regret my website redesign

#219

Post by ddubs »

Great article, thanks for those useful takeaways. I find that every website I have ever worked on has gone over budget and over scope, it's super frustrating. Mostly it happens because the client doesn't know what they want or keeps changing their mind, but it seems like you did know what you wanted and were pretty steadfast about. Either way, super impressed with how you managed to share a shitty experience in an objective, non-bitter way! :)

Re: I regret my website redesign

#220

Post by mtlynch »

jetheredge wrote: post #51

As the owner of a digital product agency, this is really hard to read. It is such a shame that an agency would do this to you. I know you felt like they "did their best", but by setting you up with unrealistic expectations out of the gate they essentially guaranteed that everyone was going to walk away unhappy. Besides, when you go to an agency communication/transparency/team of experts is what you are paying for! Yo…

Thanks for reading!

Yeah, I don't think the agency is blameless here, but I also don't think they're malicious or dishonest. I think they just overestimated their ability to scale down their workflows to a project smaller than their typical gig.

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