DEPHA: An Anecdote on the $30,000 Wireframe
Several years ago I did some in-house web development work for the now defunct Tasmanian Department of the Environment, Parks, Heritage and the Arts (DEPHA). I should be open and say that for a short time at the end of the period I was an employee rather than a contractor – I chose to leave for professional reasons.
The Design Team Meeting
Our manager called the design team – the team leader, an ex-employee turned contractor and myself – into his office. In front of him were five sheets of paper that I had never seen before… they were wireframes for the proposed Port Arthur website redesign being produced by a local premium corporate web design agency.
Usability and Fitt’s Law
This was how the story went. The manager wanted to know why, after DEPHA had spent AUD$30,000 on these 5 pages of wireframes, the external design agency had changed them? That’s a fair question until your mind goes into What-the-Fuck mode and works out that the man just said $30,000 without batting much of an eye. That’s a lot of cabbage, right?
The answer was simple – the new wireframes were more usable and took account of Fitts Law – noting the age of many tourists who visit the historic Port Arthur venue. So I had no problems with the new wireframes. The lead designer – owner of the previous wireframe iteration – was in her usual furious South African response mode. Say no more on that subject… I resigned shortly afterwards.
Appreciate the Bureaucratic Structure
So how did $30,000 get spent on five pages of wireframing by a public sector department? That’s a more than fair question and it drives at the inefficiencies that thrive in that bureaucratic environment. Know the monster you’re dealing with… so they say.
Each meeting racked up a bill for the in-house designers and managers as well as the external design team. Plus the client, another public sector organisation. The public sector thrives on meetings. And meetings and phone calls and iterations are the bread and butter of the premium corporate web design agency… God bless ‘em. I don’t fault the agency in this case because they were just going with the flow.
Wireframes aren’t always the Correct Tool
Which brings me to a valid point about the need for (and effectiveness of) using wireframes in every project. If they are costing your team tens of thousands of dollars to produce then you are either doing something dramatically wrong or they are the wrong tool for the job.
Port Arthur Redesign Launched 2 Years Later
This DEPHA meeting was exactly two years ago and I notice the Port Arthur website has recently achieved its redesign. It’s not quite the same design as those wireframes but there were two years of meetings between then and now and the web team migrated over to the Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment (PIWE). I’d be interested in reading the full cost between DEPHA, PIWE, the external web design agency and the Port Arthur administration.
