Recently, someone from Germany connected with me. He’s a developer himself and setting up a pretty cool travel site, mostly written using the Symphony Framework. They wanted to integrate a WordPress blog and he had a hard time designing the flow of this Hybrid system. This is not the first time someone has emailed me about Hybrid systems.
Now, we are not talking about adding a WordPress blog to a HTML site. That can be pretty simple to do. But I just have to ask “Why do you still have a HTML site?” If you need help transitioning from an HTML site to a WordPress site, let me know and I will send you a list of people who can help you with that.
Back to Hybrid sites. We are talking about Hybrid web application sites. Before you decide to create a Hybrid site, let’s talk about architecture a bit. You’ve heard success is 90% planning and 10% execution? Hiring someone to build it is easy. Designing it as the difficult part.
1. What’s the goal?
Not what do you want to build but what are your goals? Are you trying to make a difference in the world? Make a gazillion dollars in 24 hours? Whatever it is, I don’t judge. But it will help me in providing possibilities of how I can help get you there the quickest using modern web technologies.
2. What’s the budget?
We talk about budget a lot here. It’s not because we are money hungry. We focus a lot of evaluation based on ROI. We want to make sure the investment you’re putting into your technology is worth it. If it was our project, we’d want people to tell us when it’s not worth it. Sometimes there are cheaper ways to get you to where you want to go. It’s as simple as that. Remember: Solutions first, technology second.
3. Why Hybrid?
Don’t tell me because that’s what developers have been telling you. I love my fellow developers very much but there are times we (myself included) get wrapped into the technology side of things and forget that technology is here to back a company’s bottom line; not the other way around. So being attached to needing a Hybrid solution may not be the right decision. Ask “What will it accomplish that a single platform couldn’t do by itself?”
4. Is there an easier way?
Many times people are stuck in the mode of needing a Hybrid because it’s common practice. Based on your company goals and budget, it may not be the most efficient solution for you right now. Perhaps you need an easier and faster way to get up and running first, planning to refactor in two years when you have a larger budget, a proven track record and know your market better.
Answers to these questions can help a lot in figuring out what the best path is.