If Magellan hired shipwrights instead of sailors, we would remember him for having the most seaworthy ships lost at sea. If you tried to get your oil changed at an assembly line instead of an auto body shop, the factory would turn you down, or worse do a slipshod job to get you out of the way and get back to building cars.

Similarly, most web development shops create their process around building websites, not supporting them. Aten built a dedicated Support Team out of recognition that maintaining and extending websites requires its own skill set and organizational structure.

At BADCamp 2014, Sandra and I, both Technical Account Managers and developers on Aten’s Support Team, will present “Old dogs, new tricks: Supporting websites after launch”, Saturday, November 8, 2014 at 1:30pm.

We’ll discuss why it’s important for clients to work with a development team specifically designed to support existing sites, and how Aten’s support approach:

• keeps aging sites relevant with new features;
• keeps sites running longer with less technical debt;
• gives us enormous insight throughout a project’s lifecycle so we can consult on a client’s high level objectives and real world challenges;
• and makes us a flexible partner who can puts clients’ minds at ease, with both a rapid response team for hot fixes, and a technical and strategic resource at the ready for larger blocks of work.

We will also discuss how viewing support and maintenance as an opportunity — not an opportunity cost — benefits Aten as well as our clients, and why we think our approach incentivizes great work from developers while building enduring client relationships.

See you at BADCamp!