Web Design can be difficult to estimate the time it will take to complete a project. Your first few projects, no doubt, will go over your budget, it is all a part of the learning progress. When your working freelance this under quoting, (or slow working) affects only yourself, but, when you are working for someone else it tends to be a bit tricky.
The big thing I find, is that the boss, being the non-technical guy who runs the place, does not always understand how dynamic web projects can be. Webteam’s can be given KPI’s and targets within a business directly related to how much money they bring in for the month. This can be very difficult to commit to, and more often than not, the commitments cannot be kept for reasons beyond our control.
I’m am not saying web designers should be free from KPI’s and targets, I am simply saying the targets should be more than just how many dollars they bring in for the month. Not to mention that a month is a very tight deadline. The reason I think that straight dollar targets are unfair is because designers, who are in positions such as mine, do so much more than just work on projects that will bring money in for the month. Personally, I do an amazing amount of work other than revenue, 60% of my time last week was dedicated to non revenue work. Internal web design work, quoting, project managing and working on projects where the revenue belongs to departments other than my own.
Why is this work never accounted for?
Ultimately it comes down to the fact that I do not believe it to be an accurate measure to set monthly targets when it comes to Web Design. Rarely are any projects started on the 1st of the month and finished by the 31st, maybe a web projects profitability should be measured bimonthly?
If I set my team a target of $10,000 or $50,000 of revenue, surely all the in house work needs to be measured as a part of attaining this target. If I get to 3 weeks in the month and I am only sitting on 20% of my goal due to clients missing deadlines or overwhelming internal work, it is almost impossible to make it up. It is not like a sales team where you can go out and push to try and bring in new clients.
Unfortunately though, some people tend to forget that I am not a salesperson, I am a web designer.