Insights
8th April 2019

Why we believe in continuous improvement

At Cursor, we don’t believe that the web development process ends the moment the website goes live. We support businesses throughout the website’s life cycle, ensuring that they continue to reap the benefits for years to come.

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Factories not rockets

It may be a simple case of semantics, but we don’t like to use the phrase “launch a website”. It evokes images of rockets or satellites, expensively assembled over the course of months if not years, only to be launched into space and never touched again.

Many businesses take the same approach to websites. They plough time and resources into the development of a new site, but once it is launched and they have seen that business outcomes are positive, everyone goes back to their jobs, reassured that the project has been a success and delivered on its objectives.

But without ongoing improvements, the website quickly becomes outdated. Potential clients and shareholders see a business which doesn’t care about its online presence, and so the website defeats the very purpose for which it was created - it starts to damage business outcomes, and eventually a new website is called for and the cycle begins again.

At Cursor, we prefer to think of websites as factories which get built, not launched, and which continue to grow and change even after initial completion. With regular updates we can extend a website’s longevity and ensure that it continues to provide positive outcomes for a longer period of time.

You wouldn’t demolish a factory just to build another unless absolutely necessary, and you wouldn’t replace a website unless it could no longer serve its purpose. What you can do is make changes to improve business outcomes, efficiency and productivity. This is what we call continuous improvement.

The principles of continuous improvement

Continuous improvement is not just an idea, it’s a mindset. Also known as kaizen or product thinking, it refers to an attitude of continually seeking changes to a platform or product which can better meet the needs of its users.

Under old ways of working, projects would be determined by a brief, agreed upon at the outset. The best ideas usually come from a long and productive business relationship, but with the brief in place it can be difficult to implement these ideas. The objective becomes meeting the brief, not adding value.

Continuous improvement shifts the emphasis away from deadlines, budgets and briefs, focusing instead on creating flexible and sustainable products which can be adapted to meet new challenges, requirements and ideas as the project progresses.

A mindset of continuous improvement can increase productivity, improve quality and reduce costs. That’s why we have made it an integral part of our company culture.

Our approach

In software development, we use the term agile to refer to the adaptive approaches of continuous improvement. We maintain conversations with our clients throughout the development process and always strive to produce solutions which are driven by outcomes rather than deliverables.

By maintaining a policy of continuous improvement, we can extend the lifespan of a website by several years without going through the long-winded process of building a new one from scratch. We improve business productivity through small, inexpensive, sustainable changes, rather than radical, costly, short-term ones.

Our work doesn’t end once a website goes live. We provide clients with the support and continuous improvement needed to ensure that their website reflects the changing face of the business and continues to deliver value for years to come.

Our continuous improvement approach could be exactly what your business needs. Contact Cursor today to see what we can do for you.