Choose outcomes, not promises
Great work starts with sharp thinking:
- What problem are we solving?
- What should the site or system do for the business?
- What should the user feel at each step?
What to check
- Process: Do they define scope, timeline, and constraints clearly?
- Quality: Is the UI restrained and consistent, or busy and fragile?
- Ownership: Can you maintain and extend it without starting from scratch?
- Performance: Are pages fast, accessible, and SEO-ready?
The best signal
A developer who builds for themselves understands the operational cost of poor systems — and designs around it.
Author: Tom Holland