By the time we joined the Spirit Rock project, it had been in redesign for over a year — and nothing had shipped. The problem wasn't technical. It was operational: designs changing during development, features estimated before being defined, and no clear path to delivery (via Solspace Inc.).
We took over as Project Lead, restructured the engagement from the ground up, and delivered on time and on budget.
The outcome
What we walked into
Spirit Rock is a meditation and retreat center. Their website redesign had consumed a year of effort with no clear path to completion. The issues were systemic:
- Designs kept changing during active development, causing constant rework
- No componentized design system — every page was unique and required custom work
- Features were estimated before being technically defined, producing unreliable timelines
- External e-commerce workarounds were planned instead of using platform-native capabilities
- No delivery milestones — developers spent time on rework instead of forward progress
The restructure
We started with technical research to map the gap between what had been estimated and what was actually required. That gave us the foundation for a realistic scope.
- Componentized design system: worked with their design team to replace one-off page layouts with reusable elements — making both design and development predictable
- Realistic 14-month delivery plan: features scoped to what could actually be delivered within budget, with clear milestones the whole team could track against
- Platform-native e-commerce: replaced planned workarounds with native Craft Commerce functionality, eliminating a category of technical risk entirely
- CMS architecture aligned to design: the content model was structured to match the component system, so new pages could be built quickly without custom development
The biggest shift was moving to a realistic scope based on what our platform could actually handle by launch. That clarity unblocked the project and helped us finish on time. After earlier delays, hitting our deadline restored confidence across the organization.
Before and after
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Designs changing during development | Componentized system — designs finalized before build |
| Features estimated without research | Technical research completed before scoping |
| No clear delivery path | 14-month plan with defined milestones |
| E-commerce workarounds planned | Native Craft Commerce solutions implemented |
| 1+ year of missed deadlines | Delivered on time and on budget |
Integrations
The new website connected two key systems for Spirit Rock's operations:
- Blackbaud CRM: integrated with their existing member and donor management system, ensuring continuity for their operations after launch
- Pardot: connected the website to their marketing automation platform for lead capture and campaign workflows
The website remains in production today. After launch, a post-project Algolia integration reduced their event calendar search from 10 seconds to under half a second — built on the stable architecture we delivered.
Need Similar Solutions?
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