It has been baking hot here at 16by9 HQ (aka my bedroom office). Hope you’ve all been managing okay in the heat.

I was chatting with a friend recently and we got onto why some website redesign projects fail (as you do).

Between us we’ve witnessed dozens of bad projects. It’s frustrating, not just because so much time and money is invested in them, but because these failures are almost always preventable.

Here are a few things I've observed:

1) No clear definition of success. It really helps to know what success looks like (otherwise you'll never know whether your redesign worked). Maybe you want more donations, or to sell more from your shop. Whatever it is, decide what you're trying to achieve, then measure it.

2) Skipping a discovery phase. Design is the fun part, so it's tempting to dive straight in. But discovery is what shapes the project. Skip it and you risk focusing on the wrong things.

3) Choosing the wrong digital partner. Few decisions matter more. Take your time and do your due diligence. Find an agency or freelancer who understands your organisation, who understands the web, and, just as importantly, find someone who you actually like working with.

4) Leadership doesn't buy in. When senior leaders aren't involved in the key decisions, they tend to overturn them at the eleventh hour. Someone senior needs to own the project and sign off important decisions.

5) Avoiding the difficult conversations. Websites are usually broken for a reason, often an organisational or political one. Have these conversations early and often.

6) An unrealistic budget or timeline. "How much does a website cost?" is always a hard question to answer, but your budget and timeline need to match your ambitions. Start these conversations as early as possible with your digital partner.

7) Content bottlenecks. Ask anyone who builds websites what causes the most delays and they'll invariably say content. Start working on content as soon as you can. Consider hiring a copywriter or content strategist (they’re often forgotten, but always make projects better).

8) Choosing the wrong platform. There are hundreds of CMSs. Most of them are pretty good. Pick one that fits your needs, your team’s capabilities, and your long-term plans.

9) Botching the migration. Old pages move, redirects get forgotten, and rankings disappear overnight. Content migrations require careful planning and oversight.

10) No plan for after launch. I see this too often: a redesign goes live, and then nothing. A website needs ongoing attention to stay useful. Keep reviewing, updating, and improving it.

If any of these resonate with you, hit reply and let me know.

What I've been writing

I published two new articles for The Website Redesign Handbook last month:

Change management
Your new website is likely to introduce new ways of working. Your team might need to learn a new CMS, follow a new content process, or take on responsibilities they didn’t have before. It’s worth thinking carefully about how to manage this transition.

Wireframing
Wireframing is a useful stage in the redesign process. This one covers why wireframes come before visual design, low- vs high-fidelity options, and testing with real users.

What I’ve been reading

Stéphanie Walter interview by Dave Smyth
Dave's started an interview series on the design process. I enjoyed Stéphanie’s insight into “enterprise UX”.

Google doesn't care about your website. Should you still care about SEO?
Google's shifting towards an AI experience, which changes things for site owners. I hadn't come across the phrase "the great decoupling" before, but it captures it well: you're seen more, clicked less.

Meetings are forcing functions
I used to be a meeting hater. Now I'm just a poorly run meeting hater. Dan Moore makes the case for the standing meeting as a way to keep momentum on a project.

We have a communication problem
There is something about in-person conversations that can’t be replicated online. As Justin Jackson puts it, "In person, it's easier to grok where someone's coming from. It’s simpler to see how they’re feeling. You look them in the eyes; you feel their humanity." It's why we still prefer to run our workshops in person where we can.

If you are requesting human attention, demonstrate human effort
Tom Bedor on the etiquette of working with AI: if you pass AI output to someone, label it and add your own thinking first. If reading it wasn’t worth your time, why is it worth theirs?

Two things before I go:

1) I’ve been pushing my unoffice hours more lately. Every Wednesday afternoon, my calendar's open for 30-minute calls with anyone who fancies a chat. I’ve recently had conversations with people from across the UK, France, the Netherlands, Thailand, even Nova Scotia. Come book a call. I'd love to talk shop or chat about working together.

2) If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with a friend or colleague.

Until next time,

Marc

PS. I've been messing with email styling in Buttondown. If it looks a bit funky to you, let me know, I'd appreciate it. Cheers.