How to Document a Web Project From Brief to Handover

A project that lacks proper documentation from the get-go is doomed, if not to failure, then to suffering from a litany of avoidable issues as it progresses, and risks leaving those involved thoroughly demoralized.

Avoiding this is comparatively straightforward, at least in principle. You just need a structured approach to documenting, and the rest will fall into place, both for in-house team members and external stakeholders.

With that in mind, here’s the lowdown on the various steps and solutions involved, as well as why they’re worth adopting in your own web projects, regardless of scope.

The intake brief is the jumping-off point for your web project, setting out what you want to achieve, how you intend to approach it, and what you’ll be benchmarking along the way to measure progress. Given that there are almost 2 billion other websites out there, you want to give your project the strongest possible start.

While each project is unique, a few facets unify most intake briefs. These include:

The overarching objectives of the project are:

• The audience you’re aiming to appeal to, and what defines it
• The features and functions that will form the basis of the project
• The branding guidelines that must be adhered to
• The budget you’re working within and the timeframe that’s available for project completion

If you plan to run multiple projects over the coming months and years, it makes sense to standardize intake briefs. This can be as simple as setting up a questionnaire based on the facets discussed above or creating a text template that the project lead can fill out on day one.

Multiple people will need to be involved in putting together intake briefs, so hosting them in collaborative environments makes sense. Thankfully, you don’t need an all-singing-all-dancing solution for this purpose, as a free text editor like Canva can provide an excellent place for team members and clients to contribute.

Once complete, your intake brief provides a clear direction for all stakeholders, thereby reducing the likelihood of missteps or miscommunications once the project is underway.

Defining the technical and functional aspects of your web project is handled within feature specification documentation, which aligns understanding and facilitates collaboration between developers and designers.

Typical feature specs cover:

• Detailed descriptions of features and functions, going above and beyond the scope of the intake brief
• User stories explaining how end-users interact with each feature, providing much-needed context
• Technical requirements, such as API interoperability and any frameworks needed
• Edge cases or scenarios that might impact usability, so you aren’t sideswiped by something unexpected post-launch

At this point, the ideas expressed will inevitably become complex, so visualization is your friend. That means factoring in things like diagrams to detail features, flowcharts to plot the user journey, and screenshots to showcase specific talking points is a must.

Likewise, avoid being bogged down by technical speak and obscure jargon, especially if you want your feature specifications to be comprehensible to non-technical readers. In other words, plain language perpetuates cross-department collaboration.

You also need to be seeking feedback from stakeholders as you draft the feature specifications, as this is another opportunity to iron out any kinks. Roll this into the document as it develops so everyone’s on the same page.

Following on from the relevance of visualization in feature specs, their impact is identical in terms of why embedding mockups is a must. It’s a way of previewing your web project with clarity, giving developers a chance to check that both the appearance and layout have aesthetic and usability-focused benefits.

Embedded mockups need to:

• Be interactive so that they demonstrate functionality in addition to appearance
• Include clear labeling for lynchpin elements to prevent uncertainty and ensure nothing gets overlooked
• Be aligned with the brand guidelines established in the intake brief
• Indicate version differences, if they exist. This typically comes about in the case of responsive design projects, which will inevitably look and function differently depending on whether the user is accessing them from a mobile or desktop device

At this point, embed mockups in documentation and make them accessible to everyone who requires them to fulfill their role in the project. Again, collaboration platforms are well-suited to this and avoids the likelihood of information fragmentation that comes from relying on old-school approaches like email chains.

Change logs are self-explanatory, as they track any adjustments made throughout a project, creating a paper trail that you can refer to at any point.

Change logs should include:

• The details of every change, recorded the moment it is implemented
• The name of the person who asked for the alteration, and info on any other parties that were involved in approving it
• The reasons for and context behind the tweak

Establishing a consistent format for change log entries is clearly essential, and ideally, you’ll be using a platform that has built-in version control features, which make this largely automated.

It’s also sensible to draw attention to change logs and provide more detail about any significant updates or alterations that occur as the project moves forward. This brings all stakeholders into the fold, rather than making them feel excluded.

A phased web project benefits from having regular checks in place to confirm that it’s moving in the right direction, rather than reviews only taking place at the end when revisions are much tougher to implement.

To ensure that administrative annoyances do not hinder your approval processes, document them thoroughly.

This involves:

• Clarifying who’s responsible for signing off on each stage of the project as you reach milestones
• Setting deadlines for when responsible parties must give feedback to prevent the whole thing from grinding to a halt
• Summarizing what’s expected of decision-makers during the approval process to make their lives easier

Most importantly, keep things as lean as possible, rather than requiring every stakeholder to have a part to play when approval processes are underway.

Last but not least, your web project must have a final delivery pack in place to oversee how it gets deployed, maintained, and updated later on. This is especially important if you’re handing it over to clients rather than managing the ongoing project oversight in-house.

Your final delivery pack should cover:

• Fully commented source code with clear folder structures
• User guides detailing how to manage and update the website, along with other relevant details, such as the desired content structure
• Credentials for hosting platforms, CMS access, and third-party integrations
• Documentation of workflows like automated processes and custom configurations

Once again, visualization is your ally here, so incorporate screenshots or other visual explanations at points where it makes sense to illustrate a complex concept clearly.

Once your final delivery pack is catwalk-ready, don’t just hand it over without ceremony. Instead, conduct a walkthrough session with the individuals who will receive it, so you can explain the various aspects it covers in detail and address any questions that arise during this process.

There’s no getting around the fact that for a web project to move from inception to completion, documentation must be managed with as much care and attention as any other part of the development process.

Turning to collaboration tools, templates, and workflows defined by their transparency and scrutability will put you in the best position to prevent bottlenecks, avoid consternation, and reach your goals.