How We Work
A documented process,
not a black box.
Nerd Stack runs every project through a documented six-phase process — Discovery, Strategy and Wireframes, Visual Design, Development, Content/QA/Launch, and ongoing Partnership. Each phase has a defined scope, deliverables, and price, and ships something real and reviewable before the next phase starts. You see progress weekly, you own everything at the end, and there are no surprise invoices.
The Six Phases
What actually happens, week by week.
Week 1
Discovery
We learn your business before we design anything.
We spend the first 90 minutes understanding your business — your customers, your competitors, what makes you genuinely different, and what success looks like in concrete terms. Every design decision that follows is anchored to what we learn here. We document the strategy in writing so both sides start from the same understanding.
Deliverables
- Strategy document outlining audience, positioning, and goals
- Project scope and timeline in writing
- Itemized estimate — no surprise costs later
Week 2
Strategy & Wireframes
We map the user journey before we design pixels.
We design low-fidelity wireframes for every key page, focused on layout, hierarchy, and the conversion path through the site. You see how visitors will move from landing to action before any pixel of visual design is built — which makes course-corrections at this stage almost free, and disagreements later almost nonexistent.
Deliverables
- Wireframes for every key page
- Documented conversion flow
- Sign-off before visual design begins
Weeks 3–4
Visual Design
Custom design system, never a template with your logo dropped in.
We design a complete visual system around your brand — typography, color, layout patterns, imagery direction, interaction details — then apply it across every page in high-fidelity Figma designs. You review and approve before anything gets built. The site that lands in development is the site you signed off on.
Deliverables
- High-fidelity Figma designs (desktop + mobile)
- Complete visual design system
- Final design approval before development
Weeks 4–7
Development
Built fast, built right — production-ready, not template-ready.
We build the approved designs into a fast, production-ready site on a modern stack — Next.js by default, WordPress with custom themes when the project calls for it. Performance, accessibility, and SEO are built in from the first commit, not bolted on at the end. You get a staging URL to review progress every step of the way.
Deliverables
- Pixel-perfect implementation of approved designs
- Sub-1.5 second mobile load times, 90+ Lighthouse scores
- Full technical SEO foundation (schema, metadata, sitemap, robots)
- Staging environment for ongoing review
Week 8
Content, QA & Launch
Real testing across real devices before anything goes live.
We migrate content, run QA across browsers and devices, optimize Core Web Vitals, and verify the entire conversion path works end-to-end. Then we coordinate the launch — DNS, redirects from the old site, analytics and Search Console setup, the works. Going live is a non-event because everything is verified before the flip.
Deliverables
- Full cross-device and cross-browser QA
- Analytics and Search Console configured
- 301 redirects from the old site preserved
- Coordinated launch with zero downtime
Ongoing
Post-Launch & Ongoing Partnership
We don't disappear at launch.
The first 30 days post-launch include monitoring, performance tuning, and any bug fixes — included. From there, an optional maintenance partnership covers security updates, performance, content changes, and new features as your business evolves. The site stays healthy and current for years instead of slowly drifting out of date.
Deliverables
- 30 days of post-launch monitoring and support included
- Optional ongoing maintenance partnership
- Performance and security stays maintained
How We Operate
Five principles we don’t bend on.
Scope is sacred
We define scope in writing before the project starts. If something needs to change mid-project — and it sometimes does — we discuss it and update the agreement before we do the work, never after. No surprise invoices.
Phases ship something real
Every phase ends with a real, reviewable artifact — a strategy document, wireframes, designs, working pages. Nothing happens in a black box where you wait three months and hope.
You see progress weekly
Weekly check-in or update through the project, depending on what fits your schedule. Async updates by default; calls when a real decision needs discussion.
We tell you when not to build
A real share of our discovery conversations end with us recommending you don't need what you came in asking for. We say so. A good process includes the option to stop or shift.
You own everything at the end
Code, design files, content, domain — all yours at handover. No proprietary platform lock-in. No subscriptions you can't leave. If you ever take the site to another agency, the handoff is clean.
Ready to see how this works for your project?
Book a free 20-minute call. We’ll walk through your goals and how the process applies to your specific situation — including whether you actually need the full process or a tighter scope.
Book a Free Call