The technical task for the development of a website becomes the first and one of the most significant stages in the process of creating and launching any modern web project. The progress and quality of the work, as well as their agreement with the customer, depend on the literacy of its preparation.
The better the technical task is drawn up, the faster and easier all stages and work on launching and coordinating the site will be carried out. That is why the importance of this document should not be underestimated.
To ensure that the time spent on compiling the task is not wasted, it is necessary to start with its definition. The meaning of the technical task and its specifics should be understood not only by the specialists working on the web resource, but also by its future owners. Therefore, we recommend starting with the concept of the technical task and considering all its features. And then figure out what it should include and how to write it correctly.
This article will be of interest to all specialists involved in website development (layout designers, developers, designers), project managers, heads of digital agencies and business owners who contact web studios.
What is a technical specification?
As promised, we begin with a definition. A technical task is one or more documents that specify the requirements for a web resource and outline its goals. In addition, it contains the structure and methods for developing a website .
All these and other points of the technical task must be written very clearly and understandably, so that all participants can understand how the whole process is going without unnecessary questions. The speed of the project launch, its quality and success in the future depend on the correctness of the task.
The main objective of the technical task is the complete coordination of all types and stages of work between the customer and the contractors. In the future, the benefits of the technical task will be noticeable for both parties.
Let’s give some examples. With the help of the technical specifications, the contractor can:
- Understand what the client needs. To do this, feedback is established with the customer and all responses received from him are recorded in the document.
- Clearly define the list of requirements, wishes of the client and the list of works . During the development, the customer will no longer be able to radically change the project. All this is agreed upon and signed by both parties at the initial stages of drafting the document.
- Prove your competence. A technical task that is written correctly and clearly will show your clients your professional level. This document will relieve the client’s company of any doubts about working with you.
- Speed
up development. The TOR specifies the structure of the future site and all elements. All that remains is to implement them according to the prepared action plan.
For the client, the document’s usefulness is also undeniable. With its help, he will be able to:
- Know what you are paying for and what you will get in the end. The structure of the resource will be written down at the preliminary stage. At this time, the customer can make their own edits and understand and see on the layouts what their site will be like.
- Ensure the agency’s competence. The technical task at CASTCOM is drawn up with the participation of the entire team that will work with the site. This allows us to clearly and understandably describe all the stages for the customer and provide him with all the necessary comments from specialists.
- Protect yourself from poor quality services. All types of services and guarantees of their performance are specified in the document and signed by both parties.
Who is it?
The technical task for website development is the task of such specialists as a business analyst, developer and project manager. They are the ones who can describe the entire course of work in detail and competently.
You can even entrust the technical task and its preparation to the client, but in this case it is unlikely to perform its functions. However, the customer’s participation in the preparation of the technical task is welcomed and consists of the following:
- familiarizing specialists with the company and business;
- setting the tasks that the website will perform;
- telling about your wishes regarding the design or functionality of the resource;
- demonstrations of examples of sites you liked;
- providing all the information necessary for the performer.
Establish good feedback between the client and the agency to create a web resource that will meet all the needs of the client’s business.
Write clearly and precisely
In order for the client and contractors to understand each other and the specifics of the project, it is necessary to write the TOR for website development clearly and simply. Otherwise, the parties may not reach an agreement.
You should not use subjective adjectives such as “beautiful”, “modern”, etc. in the technical specifications. Avoid such general formulations as “the site should please the customer” or “posting only expert content”. Instead of such general and unsubstantiated statements, add information or figures that are proven by facts.
It is better to remove all inaccurate and unverified statements from the technical task or reformulate them. For example, instead of the phrase “heavy loads”, use specifics “up to 70 thousand visitors at the same time”.
General Information and Complex Terms
When drawing up a technical task, it is necessary to write down not only the list of works, but also general information that will be useful for the entire team. It is better to place general information about the customer’s company, its product, audience and the goals of creating the site at the beginning of the document.
To ensure that the task is clear and accessible to all project participants, complex terms must be further explained. A professionally written document necessarily includes definitions of complex terms.
Site Requirements
The technical task can specify that the website should work smoothly and display correctly in all browsers and smartphones. But this is a generalized formulation that every developer already knows. It is better to write specific data and figures about the performance and capabilities of the developed website.
You can write in detail about the technological requirements of the system, the site loading speed, the loads it can withstand, and protection against viruses and hacker attacks.
Specify the Structure of the Site
The structure of any web resource is its foundation. Therefore, it is necessary to coordinate it with the development team and the customer first of all.
The structure in the technical task can be shown schematically or as a list. The main thing is that it should contain available layouts of the site pages, their possible content and ways of switching between them.
Landing Pages
To correctly draw up a technical task, it is necessary to explain to the client what will be placed on each of the pages of the site. The content of the pages can be shown to the customer in two ways:
- Drawing page layouts with their content and demonstrating the sketches to the customer. The customer can approve the layout or suggest their own edits.
- Listing elements. For this method, it is enough to simply list the blocks of each page with a short explanation.
Describe the Goals of The Site
It is impossible to create a competent technical specification without a detailed description of the goals of the web resource. Scenarios for using the site by visitors must be demonstrated to the client using a diagram
- visitor action;
- site response;
- result.
This simple scheme is typical for technical specifications of websites with interactive services. In the case of simpler web resources such as landing pages or business cards, it is not required.
Filling the Site (content)
Content plays an important role for any web resource. It can be absolutely different. A technical task that does not specify the type of content and costs for it will not make the process of launching a website easier, but only complicate it. Therefore, the stage of content approval is simply necessary.
It is important to agree with the customer on the type of information that will be posted on their website and its cost if it is written by third-party authors at the initial stage. In the technical task, specify the type of content that will need to be prepared and the costs for it. Do not forget to indicate that the content will be unique to give the customer additional quality guarantees.
Conclusions and Structure of the Technical Specifications
The development of technical specifications for different types of projects can have a diverse structure. It should take into account the specifics of the project and the sections required for each type of website. For example, the same technical specifications will not work for a landing page and a full-fledged online store due to significant differences in the specifics of these web projects. After all, each of these types of sites has its own purpose for which they are created.
But there is also a general model for drawing up a technical task. The general structure of a technical task for website development looks like this:
- data about the organization and its audience;
- goals and objectives of the website;
- explanation of terms;
- system requirements for the layout and operation of the site;
- web resource structure;
- page sketches;
- landing pages;
- content types;
- list of technologies used to implement the site’s functionality.
The technical task may be shorter or contain even more sections depending on the type of project and additional wishes of the customer. As a Top Web Development Company, we ensure that each technical specification is fully customized to meet the project’s specific needs. We provide our clients with simple and clear technical tasks with a description of all types of work and their cost. You can see our successfully launched projects in the portfolio.