Applying the Principles of Project Management

to Your Web Site

Stephan SpencerPresident, Internet Conceptssspencer@netconcepts.com

www.netconcepts.com

Project Management Applied To Your Web Site

• What we’ll be covering:– Strategic Planning: objectives, strategies, tactics– Traditional project management– Forming an Internet Team– Creating a timeline– Tracking project status– Measuring project success

Guiding Principles• This is the customer’s site, not yours!• A web site is something people do, not something

they view. – Events, not pages. Participants, not users.

• Make it easy for the customer to do business with you– Instant gratification– Web-enable your business processes

Where Did We Go Wrong?

• 42% of all high-traffic Web sites either don’t respond to email, don’t have a mechanism to respond, or take longer than five days to respond.(Source: Jupiter Communications, Nov. 1998)

• “90% of web sites have very poor usability. Since most other sites are bad, you can attract loads of customers if your site is easy to use and satisfies real user needs.” - Jakob Nielsen, usability expert

Seven False Economies of Web Design

• Web design is an extension of our current marketing collateral - we can reuse the text and graphics from our print pieces.

• If more people work on it, we’ll get it done faster.• The Web is a place where you just try things and see

what works - I have a friend who designs web sites in his spare time.

• Documentation is a waste of time and effort.

Seven False Economies of Web Design (cont.)

• We can design the site ourselves and save money. We just want a group that will make the web pages we sketch out.

• We’ll send out an RFP and get lots of good ideas back for free.

• Web sites don’t need much maintenance. We can do it ourselves. It’ll be fun!

- From Secrets of Successful Web Sites (Siegel)

The Process• Got a (site) map but no compass?• Two models:

– The Internet Marketing Plan (Kim Bayne)• Executive Summary, Statistics, Strategies, Budget, Task

Force, Program Implementation, Summary– Four Phase approach (David Siegel)

• Starts with a Project Profiler• The Briefs and the Specs

Specing out the Process

Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics

• What’s the difference?• The Vision vs. the action• Examples:

– Combat Blindness Foundation: uncovering the real objectives

– Seton: shifting objectives

Allocating Resources

• Balancing time, money, and quality (the budget, the team, the vendors), a.k.a. the “triple constraints”

• Basic principles of project management– What’s the driver?– Mapping out the project– Time estimating

Allocating Resources

• Budget could be based on:– Last year’s Internet marketing budget; % of company

sales; % of total marketing budget; reallocation of marketing dollars; what other companies in your industry are spending; creating an effective online presence; graduated plan tied into measurable results; combination

Allocating Resources• How much does everything cost?

– ISPs, in-house servers, Web design services, software, new hires, etc. etc.

– Forrester Research estimate (are you sitting down for this?)

• Assembling your Task Force

Assembling the Team

• Client– Team Leader– Decisionmakers– Contentmaster– Editor– Webmaster– Contributors

Assembling the Team

• Contractor– Producer (Project Manager)– Account Manager– Design staff– Production staff (Programmers and HTML)– System administrator

Selecting a Contractor

• Client Bill of Rights• Contractor Bill of Rights• Give the contractor a completed “project profiler”

and your budget• Use the “selection matrix” to help choose the

contractor

Project Profiler

• Goals, requirements, and constraints• Audience• Content• Functionality• “The Field Trip”

The Strategic Brief

• Describes the strategic direction for the site– Mission statement– Marketing goals– Competitive analysis– User requirements– Branding strategy– Measurements of success

The Technical Brief

• Describes the visitors’ equipment– Monitor size– Connection speed– Speed of computer processor, amount of RAM– Color depth– Plug-ins installed– etc.

The Functional Brief

• Describes what the site should do for visitors, now and in the future

• Separate functionality from execution• Keep technical constraints in mind• Avoid “feature creep” (use multiple “releases”)

The Creative Brief

• Describes visual directions to explore– Objectives of the upcoming creative exploration– Audience– Story the site should tell– Tone– Imagery

The Content Plan

• Lays out who is responsible for what content and when– Description of deliverable– Content provider– Writer/editor– Date content due– Date content sent– Priority

The Technical Spec

• Describes the basic approach and technologies used in the markup and layout of the site (not the functionality)– Database-driven?– Cascading style sheets? DHTML?– Plug-ins required?– Optimized for which color depth?– etc.

The Engineering Spec

• Explains how desired site functionality will be achieved

• Cost vs. benefit must be weighed• This document helps determine what

functionality will be included in the site• Keep this document up-to-date as the project

progresses

The Creative

• The “Comp Meeting”– Reiteration of goals– Site structure– Several versions of core page & a secondary page– First pass at navigation– Content Plan

• Choose the winning mock-up using a “Criteria Matrix”

The Markup and Layout Spec

• Describes how the mocked up pages are to be implemented in HTML– Dimensions– Approach to animation (animated GIFs, Flash, Java,

etc.)– Background vs. foreground– Font faces and sizes

The Functional Spec

• Details the actions of the site but not how those actions are to be accomplished

• A continuation of the Functional Brief• Avoid technical jargon• Keep this document up-to-date as the project

progresses

Work Breakdown Structure

• Map out the WBS at a Project Meeting• 3 (or 4) Levels: Project level, Phase level, and

Task level (and optionally Sub-task level)• Best to use a blank wall and a package of Post-It

notes

Network Diagram

• Peel off the Post-It notes at the task level from the WBS• Arrange them in chronological order, between “Start”

and “Finish”• = dependent relationship

• = independent relationship• Identify the critical path (“show stoppers”)

Task Analysis Forms

• The producer and relevant staff sit down and determine:– Time estimate (get three time estimates and use

statistics to improve accuracy of estimate)– Deliverables– Resource requirements– Milestones– Deadline

Estimating

• Three time estimates for each task -- T(optimistic), T(pessimistic), T(most likely)

• T(mean) = ( T(o) + T(p) + 4*T(m) ) / 6• Standard deviation = ( T(p) - T(o) ) / 6• Add 2 standard deviations to T(mean) to get a

95% accurate time estimate

Managing the Process

Communication Is Key• The one thing worse than bad news is no news • Calls and meetings between Producer (contractor) and

Internet Team Leader (client)• Project meetings• Project reports: actuals vs. budget; percent completed,

etc.• Extranet / “Project Site”• Ongoing maintenance requests responded to daily with

estimate & completion date?

Extranet

• Tasks and to-dos• Email archive• Mock-ups and works in-progress• Reports• Server monitoring

Extranet: Tasks and To-Dos

• Add work requests• Set task priorities• Set task budgets• View tasks pending client

input• Check progress on

current tasks

Extranet: Email Archive

• Archive of all email correspondence keeps everyone “in the loop”

Extranet: Mockups

• Links to mockups and pages pending approval should be easily accessible.

Extranet: Reports• Project reports

– Work breakdown structure– Network diagram– Gantt chart– Content plan– Briefs and specs

• After launch– Web site usage– Search engine rankings

Extranet: Server Monitoring

• Automated 24x7 server monitoring

• Real-time extranet status reports

• Pager gateway sends out a page if a site goes down

Other Considerations

• Internet Style Manual– How your Internet presence will be publicized through

traditional media, how traditional media elements will be incorporated into your Internet presence; footers; etc.

• Security Policy• Legal Notices

– Copyrights, Trademarks, Terms & Conditions• Contracts

We’ve Only Just Begun...

• Content Management• Workflow• Version Control• Gantt Charts• Focus Groups• 4-Quadrant Analysis

4-Quadrant Analysis

• Quadrant analysis increases repeat visitors

• Use a short feedback survey for users to rate site features and how likely it is they would return

In Summary

• You should walk away with:– A better understanding of project

management/product development for the Web– Novel ideas and tools to help you manage a large-

scale Web project– A concrete example of a successful extranet/project

site to pull from

Where to get more information• Books

– Secrets of Successful Web Sites (Siegel)– The Internet Marketing Plan (Bayne)– Unleashing the Killer App (Mui)– The Mythical Man-Month (Brooks)

Questions?

• Feel free to contact me at:sspencer@netconcepts.com