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Transcript of 1 Understanding Web Project Management Build a better relationship with IT Christina Zeller...
1
Understanding Web Project Management
Build a better relationship with IT
Christina ZellerInfoAction, Vancouver Public Library
SLA NorthWest Regional Conference, October 6, 2006
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Goals
Understand the steps in a CMS project using a project management approach
Understand basic terminology of project management and software development
Be able to communicate with your systems staff or contractor effectively about a project
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Why use project management?
Identify when you’ll finish a project Avoid setting impossible deadlines Discover issues early/manage risks Know how much it will really cost Identify whether the product is worth the cost
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What’s most important?
Planning Communication Milestones
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Why plan?
It’s easier to work on small parts of a major project
People feel more in control You can identify time/budget issues earlier Avoid multiple people on the same task,
forgetting items, or starting too late
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CMS project plan
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Phases in a web project
Define Design Build Deploy
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Planning Process
Break down each phase into smaller parts Assign each part (work package) to a leader
with expertise in that area Create the “work breakdown structure”
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Gather requirements
List each desired feature, then document: Who uses it When someone uses it What steps must come first (inputs) What happens after (outputs) Characteristics or rules that apply
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Produce estimates
“Work package” leader identifies the tasks to complete their part of the project
Estimate time in days or hours to complete each task
Identify resources (people) needed
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Estimating
How many days do you think it will take? Who needs to be involved? How many people will work on this at once? Will each person work full time, or only part of
the day on this task?
Best practice: do not assign anyone for more than 85% of their time
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Budget
Software license Server/hardware needs Consultants/contract staff In-house staff (agree on a value)
Get approval from “sponsor” for the final budget
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Scheduling
Decide if your project must finish on a certain date, or if it starts now and the finish date is flexible
Identify resource constraints, like experts who must be present for the project to progress, or holidays of main resources
Identify reporting “milestones” if needed
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Create project plan
Enter WBS into project management software, e.g. Microsoft Project (or Excel)
As needed, break down each item into tasks Assign tasks to people Look for over-allocation and adjust schedule
Best practice: Each task should be no shorter than 1% and no longer than 10% of the project duration.
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Resources, effort, duration
Resources = people or equipment Work = number of hours to complete Duration = length of time to complete
Can be fixed or variable Fixed: a meeting that is 1 hour has 1 hour
duration, no matter how many people attend Variable: filing 100 documents takes ½ the time if
you assign 2 people rather than 1
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Dependencies
What needs to happen before this task can start? (finish to start)
Can this task happen at the same time as another task? (start to start)
Do these tasks need to end at the same time? (Finish to finish)
Tip: later in the project, these tend to change
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Deliverables
What identifiable product does each group of tasks produce?
For example, the deliverables of the define stage are the approved requirements document and project plan.
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Gantt chart
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Project kick-off
Bring all team members together Review schedule Identify risk areas Adjust schedule as needed
Contingency: building in extra time for the unexpected
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Design phase
Information architecture Flow charts Wireframes of the templates Initial content plan Permission levels/groups
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Build Phase
Project manager’s role? Remove obstacles that prevent team
members from completing tasks Update project plan to keep track of issues
with time and budget Watch for team members who work long
hours and find out why
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Project Communication
Status meetings Frequency? one per week
Status reports Accomplishments in past week Goals/tasks for upcoming week Risk areas Milestone schedule (deadlines)
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Install
This can often begin before design completes: Set up server Install CMS Configure CMS settings Basic test of functions
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Develop and Customize
Create templates to apply your design to the content
Customize built-in features of CMS Set up administration
Risk area: even though a CMS has “features” you may need to install them or customize them
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Create test plan
Identify every feature you install Itemize process to check that it works Identify who will test it – you may need
multiple people
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Test
Use content from your existing site, or use test content
Best way to test is with real content
Be prepared for frequent outages and interruptions
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Deliverables
Empty version of your website (with some test content)
Functioning content management system Test plan Implementation plan
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Deploy
Content transfer Testing/Quality Assurance Launch Training
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Content Transfer
When? During second round of testing in QA
Why not first? First round has too many bugs/interruptions Environment isn’t yet stable
Why not later? You’ll find bugs during the transfer
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Test
Follow the test plan you created during the Build phase
Test every process and feature Involve new users
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Launch
Review schedule of tasks Draft timing Plan a celebration
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Training
When? Core user group should participate in the
content transfer Secondary users should be trained after
launch Consider waiting until the next “release”
before training so bugs are worked out
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Lessons Learned
Review problem areas Identify successes Record
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Resources
CMPros www.cmprofessionals.org Project Management Institute www.pmi.org Nokes, Sebastian, et al. 2003. The Definitive Guide
to Project Management: the fast track to getting the job done on time and on budget, Prentice-Hall: 2003.
Wysocki, Robert K. and Rudd McGary. 2003. Effective Project Management: Traditional, Adaptive, Extreme, 3rd ed. Indianapolis: Wiley.
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Questions
?