How we think
The principles that guide how we approach our work with clients, and what they mean in practice.
Many website projects fail before a single line of code gets written
Not because the build was wrong, but because the wrong thing was built.
By the time a project lands on our agency’s desk, often many decisions have already been made. The platform has been chosen, the scope has been agreed, and the budget has been approved. The brief, by then, is less a question and more a set of answers looking for someone to implement them.
We do this work differently. Below are the four principles that guide our approach to every project and what they mean in reality.
Our principles
1. We start with the question, not the technology
Before we talk about WordPress, integrations or platforms, we want to understand what you’re actually trying to change or achieve. If we can’t together articulate the business benefits, the brief isn’t ready, and neither are we.
2. We’ll tell you when you don’t need what you’re asking for
Clients often arrive with a solution already decided, sometimes one they’ve been sold elsewhere. If we think you’re about to spend money on something that won’t help you meet your goals, we’ll say so, even when it costs us the opportunity to quote for additional work.
3. We build for the team that will run it, not just the team that signs it off
The people who use your site every day, the editor updating content, the fundraiser running a campaign, the membership manager processing renewals, are often not the decision makers when we’re selected. We’ll engage with them from the start and design with them in mind as well as your visitors and customers.
4. We’ll stay with you to keep on improving
Launch is a milestone, not an outcome. We structure our projects so the people who built your site are still around when real users visit, and so we can work with you to keep improving after launch.
How a project actually works
The first conversation is not always about the website. It’s about the organisation. What’s changing, what’s stuck, what’s been tried before, why now?
The most useful questions we know how to ask are
“What would have to be true for this to work?”
“What does good look like in 12 months’ time?”
Because these tend to highlight assumptions that nobody has named yet.
By the time we’re underway with strategy, we’ve usually pushed back on something. Sometimes it’s the key audiences or the timeline. Or it could be a feature that sounds essential in the brief, but once you trace it back to a real user need, it isn’t.
During design and development, we keep the people who will actually use the site close to the work. Their feedback is really valuable, because they’re the ones who will live with whatever we deliver.
After launch, our work does not end; it changes. We move from creating to listening, watching how real users behave, where the friction is, what we got right and what can be improved.
What we won’t do
- We won’t take a project where we don’t believe the brief will deliver the outcome.
- We won’t build something for you we wouldn’t be willing to run ourselves.
- We won’t disappear after launch.
- We won’t lead with technology we’re excited about that delivers no benefit to you or your customers.
Indigo Tree do more than just build websites, they live and breathe a project and really care what is created to ensure the client’s expectations are exceeded. We would highly recommend them.
FRAN MARTIN | DENS
If this resonates
We’re most useful to organisations that know something needs to change but aren’t yet sure what. Or to those with a brief in front of them and want a second opinion before they commit.
If that sounds like where you are, we’d be delighted to have a conversation about what you’re trying to figure out.