Most internet projects are fast food.

Where will Russian web development go and how to organize the process smoothly? Igor Zabotin ( @iZabotin ), the head of Internet projects at OLMA Media Group, one of the largest publishers, agreed to answer these questions. Igor controls a huge amount of work from launching an online store to promoting book series on the Internet, from preparing a publishing house to release and selling electronic books to optimizing Web and Digital resources in the company.

- Igor, hello! Tell me what you do in a nutshell?
- Creation, support.
At the moment, my main employment is the management of the Internet projects department in a large publishing house, so in most cases I speak as a web customer. Partially we carry out work by the staff of staff, which I lead. For other tasks we attract freelancers and contractors.

- How do you see the situation in the web development market now?
- The market is in the state of its beta version. On the one hand, everything works: there are sites and sites are good, on the other hand, there are a lot of bugs in the form of kickbacks and incomprehensibility.
')

Money

- What do you mean "incomprehensibility"?
- I’ve just been approached by an acquaintance who needs an online store and he asked a question quite normal for the customer: Why do some people ask me for 7,000 rubles for a ready-made site, others for 120,000, others for 300,000 and so on to infinity !? Why the hell do they make me understand this?

This is a businessman. In addition to the site and promotion, he needs to deal with the organization of delivery, accounting, legal issues and a million other issues. As a result, the site became the bottleneck. The problem is that the customer was left dissatisfied by several studios at once and could not clearly explain why such a range of prices.

A lawyer, an accountant, drivers have a certain cost, you can calculate the rental office, warehouse, depreciation of cars and other expenses. What happens in the web - to an outsider is not clear. From here 65% of orders, according to research WebProfessionals , which leave on familiar.

And it seems that this is a common situation for Russia (perhaps not only for it). An investor from one of the projects complained that while building the house, he had to become a professional in construction, to study all the technical issues. Otherwise, the house will be many times more expensive or poorly built or not meet the requirements. With this approach, we are killing the market!

Process

- It’s no secret that web development is a very unpredictable process. How do you meet deadlines?
- Constant control! The remaining methods are not as effective. Plus, everyone in the team should be clear who is doing what at the moment. Of course, I don’t distract the programmer every hour with the question “what are you doing?”, But without control, “cats” sleep.

- How do you build work on the project, what documentation is accepted?
- For performers with whom we work for the first time, it is always standard - a brief, a meeting to discuss the details and search for optimal solutions and, as a result, TK. And I try to make it so that in the course of the work did not have to make major changes. At the same time, we are trying to lay the possibility of further development at least for 1-2 years.

With those performers with whom I have been working for a long time, we pronounce the general concept of the project and set the task in Basecamp or simply via Skype. Next weekly monitoring. The most important thing at this stage is to always be in touch, so that developers do not go in the other direction.

- Do you have standard technical documentation? For example, brief, technical task, contract? Or is it all individually? How do you feel about the idea of ​​common standards in the market?
- Standard documentation is, and it is in constant development. There is a kernel, which is standard in 80% of cases, and the rest is added, removed and governed.

I use two hands for common standards and, in my humble opinion, the basis should be taken to pay one hour of specialist work.

Frames

- Do you mean the standard hatching of web-studio specialists from interns to architects?
- If we talk about web-studios, then it is desirable for the customer to show how long it will take to complete the tasks and how much its specialists are worth. Was the studio able to find a developer in the Far East and organize its stable work? Profit!

As we go to a civilized market, let's strive for transparency.

- How much do you think a “strong middle class” of a web developer should cost?
“For example, I see a“ failure ”in Java developers in the range of approximately from 50K to 100K rubles. It is difficult to say a specific cost, but it is not correct when a young specialist “pumps skills” quite a bit and starts to demand a salary from the upper range.

- Igor, what do you think about the quality of personnel in the web development market?
- Right now, I am closely involved in recruiting staff and freelancers. I see that the bulk is either strong professionals or weak beginners. I would very much like to see no “failure” for strong professionals - optimal in value and interested in work.

With all due respect to the market professionals in Moscow - the cost is in most cases too high. My perspective strategy: search for contractors in the regions of Russia and Eastern Europe. This experience is, and it is very positive.

- Do you think web development will move from Moscow to the regions?
- I am sure of it. I think that in 5 years, half of the current Moscow web specialists, whose presence in the office is not an urgent need, will work outside the Moscow Ring Road. And not only in the regions, but also in “low-cost” countries.

Let people work in comfortable conditions, do not breathe chemistry and do not lose time in traffic jams.
Why pay a lot of money for rent or mortgage in Moscow? In the end, the customer pays for all the “charms” of life in the capital!

- How do you qualify employees in the average market? Enough for work or some things you want to improve?
- Another salt on the wound. Already there were several candidates who received higher education in web-manding, e-commerce, etc. But their level of training is disappointing. I continue to believe that waiting for a specialist from the university is not worth it. The person himself should be interested, and this ultimately leads to self-education. It's the same with programmers - if he is interested in working, this is the desired employee.

Generally

- We recently conducted a study with RAEC. They polled 2,000 specialists in the web development market. The result is such an infographic. Can you comment on it somehow? What agrees with what not?
- I agree on each item - this is hell. Customers and contractors are also to blame. There are fewer claims to customers, they do not have to be professionals by status and will always change the TK in the course of the project. Developers need to disassemble all these items and make a clear transparent market.

The point is about 90% of people who consider the market unprofessional and the point where every third customer is displeased - they say that work with clients is bad!

It is necessary to go from examples of offline business. A person needs to eat - he goes to a fast-food restaurant, where he is given a small selection, where it is tasty, fast and hot. And it is not loaded with manufacturing techniques and the degree of roasting, which the client is not interested in. Most online projects are fast food. Now there is a huge demand for “Internet fast food”, and the market for some reason offers customers integrated services of a good restaurant, where you need to get acquainted with the chef, find out what products they use and where they come from, etc.

- In the tenders have to participate? How do you like this procedure? Provides openness of a choice of the contractor or just formality?
- To participate in the state tender was once accounted for by the performer. Won. And this is just a formality, without comment.

I myself regularly spend mini-tenders and meticulously evaluate the performers by the maximum number of points. But these are not the tenders where transparency is required of me. Although the studios that did not pass, then I always tell what I paid attention to above all.

- What are you and your projects doing to make the web development market more civilized?
- I treat web development as a business, not as creativity, and encourage others to do the same! We are all only at the beginning of the path to a civilized market, and I am ready to contribute to initiatives in this area.

- Igor, is your wish in one phrase for the whole web development market?
- I wish everyone a market tolerance participant! ;)

PS: Anyone can write to the WebProfessionals blog who has something to say on the subject of web development, pricing, personnel, standards in the web market! Write in person.