Knowing the delivery process helps a client make decisions at the right time. The activities below describe the work; they are not a promise that every site takes the same number of weeks or follows a fixed price package.
Discovery and the Brief
Define the visitor’s task, business goal, current problems and operating constraints. Identify content owners, reviewers and integrations. Review available evidence and mark unknowns that need investigation before the scope can be confirmed.
Structure and Interaction
Organise information around what visitors need to find. Sketch the main journeys and page types, including mobile navigation, error states and the content-editing workflow. Test whether the proposed structure supports the task before investing in detailed styling.
Visual Design
Apply the brand consistently to hierarchy, spacing, typography, controls and images. Review real content rather than placeholder paragraphs alone. Include focus, error, loading and empty states where relevant; accessibility is part of the interaction design.
Development and a Working MVP
Implement the agreed pages, content model and essential functions. Connect external services only with the necessary access and documented behaviour. A working minimum version should demonstrate the core journey, including how failures are handled.
Show progress against agreed acceptance criteria. A screenshot cannot demonstrate whether an enquiry reaches the backend or whether an editor can publish a change.
Testing and Deployment
Check functionality, keyboard access, mobile layouts, content, links, privacy-related behaviour and performance under agreed conditions. Test forms and integrations with controlled data. Fix and document issues before acceptance.
Plan the domain, deployment configuration, backups, rollback and URL redirects where an existing site is replaced. Confirm who approves publication and who can respond if a problem appears.
Training, Handover and Operation
Give the team a usable editing demonstration and documentation for its responsibilities. Record account access, repository arrangements, third-party licences and support contacts. Define maintenance, update and recovery duties after launch.
How the Activities Map to Q-Dev’s Gates
| Gate | Review focus |
|---|---|
| Design | The agreed project and how the user journey will work |
| MVP | A working implementation of the agreed core scope |
| Deployment | The release, checks and operating environment |
| Training and start of maintenance | The team’s operation of the delivered work |
The schedule depends on scope, content, integrations, approvals and technical findings. Record those dependencies rather than attaching an invented duration to each activity.
The Client’s Role
Name an authorised decision-maker, consolidate feedback and supply agreed materials. Keep unresolved questions visible. When a request changes scope or timing, document the decision before the work proceeds.
Working with Q-Dev
Q-Dev is QA10’s software house offering. Scope, price and schedule are agreed for each project. Four gates cover design, MVP, deployment, and training with the start of maintenance. Each gate has a review meeting and an agreed corrections document; after approval, two further rounds of changes to completed work are available at that gate. Changes may affect timing; price changes only outside the contract scope. The first six months of maintenance are included. Code rights transfer after full project payment.
Describe your website project.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are there six approval gates?
No. The article describes delivery activities. Q-Dev uses four gates: design, MVP, deployment, and training with the start of maintenance.
How long does a website take?
The schedule is agreed for the specific project and depends on scope, content, integrations, technical findings and approvals.
What happens after launch?
Training and the start of maintenance form the fourth gate. Q-Dev includes the first six months of maintenance, with the detailed scope agreed in the contract.