JavaScript is an extremely popular language that has been used to make thousands of applications and web sites. The versatility of the language and the immense amount of resources available attract more developers to it daily. Interaction with such developers will require us to understand how to work best with them on our JavaScript projects. We will cover some tips that are required for a good and healthy business engagement with the highest satisfaction rate.
1. The details clearly
When working with developers of any sort, it is important to have clarity of vision and instruction present. It’s very easy to poorly communicate details, it happens constantly. While something may seem obvious to us it doesn’t seem that way to others. The most frequent situation that both developers and clients can stumble into is misunderstandings of clarity, so mitigating those is always important.
The clarity can be reached through trial and error but it’s often best to try and properly bring our idea over in the first explanation. If you are the one delivering the demands, make sure they are very blunt. Make a checklist, as that can help the developer compartmentalize the tasks upfront and start planning for the whole project. Mentioning things, you don’t want can be as important as mentioning those that you do want. Removing potential resolutions or representations from the available options helps JavaScript developers write better and faster code, while managing to avoid any stops in their work due to inadequate clarity.
2. Give feedback
The most important part of any business interaction is feedback. With the amount of moving parts in each project, especially JavaScript ones, it’s important to give constant feedback of important information. This way, the flow of work won’t slow down and any bits you wish changed can be altered before they are further integrated into the design.
Even something as simple as a single method can have a considerable impact if it’s frequently invoked. That’s why addressing each iteration of the project that we get is important. Depending on the approach you take, this could mean pointing out parts of the in-progress design or giving a rough draft some more details to work with. Either will require adequate communication with the developer.
When the feedback is consistent, it’s simple to avoid pitfalls and achieve better understanding of client’s wishes. This practice is especially fruitful when you have a JavaScript developer who’s supposed to work with you for a longer period of time. Whenever there’s time, get down to checking out the current situation of the project and quickly update the developer on further directions.
3. Ask for clarifications about terms used
It’s best to keep up to date on the way interactions work between the developer and client. There are plentiful new terms cropping up in tech daily. This is another tip that will quickly resolve issues of communication. The communication between us is the most important part of every project.
The terms used can get confusing as sometimes the developers will express their workflow in more technical terms. These terms will be loosely tied to the regular language we all understand but occasional situations that lead to confusions can be rendered far worse even if we do communicate better in other areas of our interaction. The terms could be misunderstood and lead to expectations that aren’t correct nor properly formed between the two.
Ask directly when you aren’t sure about the meaning of a term. The developer will respect your willingness to learn and you’ll soon find yourself capable of understanding every talk far faster which can enhance the quality of the overall project.
Finding a mutual language is key. People will often feel somewhat insecure about revealing their lack of knowledge, which can hamper interactions. This shouldn’t be the case, there are so many intricacies with any job that learning never stops. When it comes to JavaScript projects, this is even more true. There are so many tools, libraries, terms, and extensions available to every developer so it’s very likely every developer we work with will have a different approach to the project.
It’s also good to do some reading on our own. Taking initiative is always respected and extra information is always useful. That’s why getting acquainted with some bits and pieces of the process can yield a lot of benefit towards realizing a project. Among the thousands of resources, we suggest you check this to orient yourself better.
4. Be flexible and transparent
Sometimes, things don’t go the way we expect them too, there are a lot of complications that may arise so being open to changes is key. While it is a developer’s job to take care of problems and resolve the whole project’s requirements, there are a few things that can’t be expected within a time frame or budget given.
The time frame is usually the biggest issue as most problems in code can be solved given enough time. Testing and bug fixing is a considerable part of the process, so having that extra space to engage with it is important for every developer. Be clear with the deadlines you have. Even when those may be somewhat inconvenient for the developer it’s better to be clear so the project doesn’t run out of time before being in a presentable state. This also means cutting corners if expectations for that time period are unrealistic.
Flexibility is important for this exact case. Knowing what can and can’t be done on time is what we will use the most in these cases. Having a preemptive plan while making sure it can be changed will help us greatly. By separating the project in this way, we can modify the functionality as time frame changes.
Of course, you’ll need to discuss these concerns with the developer too. They need to know what approach to take, putting in certain sections in certain order so the whole project doesn’t end up compromised with the removal or lack of a specific part. It will also make any extra planning more efficient when these concerns are solved early.
