I’d like to salute all web designers and developers who are on call during the holidays. I read and study quite a bit on the topic of web design and development and see a distinct difference between website owners and developers who have production responsibilities and those who don’t. One famous blogger and web design agency principal, whom I follow online, recently took a month of holiday time off from his blog and podcasts. While I’m envious that someone could do that, it struck me as odd that anyone could be away from a web-related job for that length of time. Having code and production management responsibilities means that somone is always on call.

If you run production and e-commerce web sites, someone is on call on 24×7. If a web design agency is engaged for a particular website rewrite or update, they go home at the end of the project. Scheduling, updating, and making sure that everything is up and running is the responsibility of the in-house team. This usually involves making code updates during off-hours, such as a Sunday morning or a weekday at 6:00am. It also involves client sign-off, QA verification, and compliance with audit requirements. This is the “happy path” case, when requirements and delivery dates are met, and stockings are hung by the chimney with care.

So – if you’re in a position to help a client with a website project, you might consider why in-house teams seem overly cautious and maybe not as enthusiastic as you’d expect about certain web site changes. It’s because they will own, and be on call 24×7, for new features that get implemented.

It takes a lot of people to make the web what it is today. Many have their day-job disrupted and extended into evenings, weekends and on call. So – if you are a web practitioner with weekends off and holidays without on call, say thanks to those who support web sites 24×7.

“Focus on appreciation as much as achievement”
~Tim Ferriss