Last Updated: 2024-11-21

I realized that the features I was asked to build for my client were open-ended, and this caused me to miss my deadlines. Part of the issue was that they had certain assumptions about the code which were not communicated.

Another part is that I give poor estimates when I don't consider the various components that go into building the full feature.

Lesson

From now on I will spend a few minutes itemizing a ticket with my client.

I will cover the following topics:

• authorization requirements (if any)
• what data must be persisted? Aside from the primary data, do we need to remember any work done (e.g. people emailed)
• does the admin need any overview or management features?
• do we need any notifications to our staff?
• testing?
• do we need translations?
• what must the URLs look like?
• do we need data validations? (front-end display thereof)
• seo requirements?
• are they any other parts of the system which I might risk breaking by going in here?