RX Japan approached our team to develop a complete website from scratch using Drupal, their preferred platform.
The client had already created the website designs and wanted a technical team capable of translating those designs into a fully functional, maintainable Drupal implementation.
I worked as the Technical Project Manager, coordinating the development team, supporting client communication and managing the technical delivery from development through QA and final launch.
- Location :Japan
- Project Type :Drupal Development
- Duration :6 Months
The Challenge
The project involved several technical and communication challenges.
The client had already established detailed designs that needed to be accurately translated into a Drupal website.
At the same time:
- Drupal was the client’s preferred platform
- The designs were provided in Japanese
- Client communication and development coordination were conducted in English
- Several required features were not available through standard Drupal functionality
- Custom business logic and modules were therefore required
- Client QA feedback was also provided in Japanese
Core challenge
How could we accurately translate Japanese designs and requirements into a scalable Drupal website while implementing functionality beyond Drupal’s standard capabilities?
My Role
Technical Project Manager
I managed the technical delivery and coordinated the development team throughout the project.
My responsibilities included:
- Managing the development team and technical delivery
- Coordinating project requirements and development activities
- Supporting communication between the client and technical team
- Reviewing designs and translating requirements into development tasks
- Planning custom technical solutions with the development team
- Coordinating custom Drupal module development
- Managing testing and QA activities
- Coordinating Japanese client feedback and translating it into actionable issues
- Managing fixes and final validation
- Supporting the project through successful launch
Design-to-Development
A major part of the project was translating the client’s existing Japanese website designs into a functional Drupal implementation.
We reviewed the designs and requirements with the team and broke them down into:
Design → Requirements → Technical Planning → Development → QA → Client Validation
The objective was to preserve the intended design experience while ensuring that the resulting website could be managed effectively through Drupal.
Custom Drupal Development
Not every required feature could be achieved using Drupal’s standard functionality.
We therefore worked with the development team to identify areas requiring custom solutions.
After discussing the requirements and technical approach, we developed custom Drupal modules and business logic to support the required functionality.
This allowed us to maintain Drupal as the core platform while extending it to meet the client’s specific requirements.
International Client Collaboration
The project required collaboration across a Japanese-language design and feedback environment and an English-speaking technical delivery team.
During development and QA, client feedback was reviewed and translated so that the development team could accurately understand the required changes.
This created an important communication workflow:
Client Feedback → Translation → Requirement Clarification → Development → QA → Client Validation
I coordinated this process throughout the project.
QA & Delivery
After the main development phase, the project entered a detailed QA and client-validation stage.
The client continued providing feedback in Japanese, which was translated and converted into actionable development tasks.
The team then worked through the required fixes and validation cycles until the website was ready for launch.
The project took longer than initially expected because of the complexity of the requirements and custom functionality, but the complete website was successfully delivered.
Outcome
The complete Drupal website was successfully delivered and launched.
Key outcomes
- Complete website developed from scratch
- Client-provided Japanese designs translated into Drupal
- Custom Drupal modules developed for specific functionality
- International client communication coordinated
- Japanese-language QA feedback managed
- Development and validation cycles successfully completed
- Website delivered and launched successfully
- Client was satisfied with the final result