Small Project?Small Team?Big Success!
Friday, February 22, 13
#bigideasHE
@Zablocki
Friday, February 22, 13
Fran ZablockiStrategist
Hello!
mStoner
Friday, February 22, 13
Big Project
vs
Small Project
Friday, February 22, 13
Big Project:
Institutional Redesign
Friday, February 22, 13
a.k.a.
“The 500 lb. Gorilla”
Friday, February 22, 13
Characteristics:
• Takes 10 - 14 months
• All consuming for 3 months
• Owns your world entirely
• But then leaves for like 3 to 5 years so
you can...
Friday, February 22, 13
Relax!
Friday, February 22, 13
Hm.. Not quite.
Friday, February 22, 13
Small Projects
Friday, February 22, 13
a.k.a.
“Hordes of 10 lb. monkeys”
Friday, February 22, 13
Friday, February 22, 13
Small Projects:
• Admission Microsite
• Professional school site
• Campus anniversary site
• Those “Hey I need a website” sites
• Those “Oh you didn’t know about that
site?” sites
Friday, February 22, 13
Small Projects:
• Admission Microsite
• Professional school site
• Campus anniversary site
• Those “Hey I need a website” sites
• Those “Oh you didn’t know about that
site?” sites
Friday, February 22, 13
What to do?a. Wrestle them all at the same time
b. Toss the lightest ones first
c. Shock them with an electrified t-shirt
d. Tackle them with lean, mean processes,
tools and communication
Friday, February 22, 13
What to do?a. Wrestle them all at the same time
b. Toss the lightest ones first
c. Shock them with an electrified t-shirt
d. Tackle them with lean, mean processes,
tools and communication
Friday, February 22, 13
Why?Because you don’t have unlimited:
Time You need it as quickly as possible.
Budget You aren’t minting money.
People Maybe it is just you! #higheredsolo
Friday, February 22, 13
How?By taking the project lifecycle and trimming
the fat.
Friday, February 22, 13
How?By taking the project lifecycle and trimming
the fat.
Friday, February 22, 13
ApproachLean processes
tools
communication
platform
Friday, February 22, 13
Lean means:Having the right tools
Collaborating as much as possible
Centralizing documentation
Being smart with time
Friday, February 22, 13
Break down the process:
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
Friday, February 22, 13
Tools
Communication
Process
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• Portfolio management - does this Project need to happen?• Does this meet a need?• Do we have the time/budget/resources to make this
happen?• Do we have those resources right now?
Strategy
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• Be realistic - if the answer is no, you won’t do yourself favors later on by saying yes
• Make more time for the right projects by never starting the wrong ones
• Ultimate goal is to become more proactive, less reactive
Strategy
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• Don’t skip it just because “oh my gosh can’t we just get this project done already?!”
• Give yourself time to think by scheduling meetings outside the office. Yes, I am suggesting you meet with yourself. Make it sound important.
Strategy
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
Need / Want / Wish Grid
• Identify what must be included and what can wait• Helps to define scope• Helps channel creative but distracting ideas
someplace useful
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• Set measurable goals• Don’t get paralyzed by the details• Don’t worry if there aren’t already metrics• Pick a number, shoot for it• Adjust later when you evaluate
Measurable Goals
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
Examples of measurable goals• Reach ___ people on Facebook.• Increase engagement ___ percent.• Drive ___ people to the website.• Prompt ___ people to inquire.• Get ___ people to apply.• Attract ___ views of a YouTube video.
Measurable Goals
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
SWOT Analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
ThreatsOpportunities
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
Strategy Brief
• Pull it all together in one lean document• 2-5 pages
• Business Case• Goals• Need / Want / Wish Requirements• SWOT
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
Friday, February 22, 13
• Planning is hard, particularly if you don’t have history on how long things take
• Be conservative and take your best guess.
Planning
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
Friday, February 22, 13
• Begin at the end.• When do you need it done?• Back it up from there.• Be realistic.
Planning
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
Friday, February 22, 13
• Identify resources, roles, responsibilities up front• Use collaborative tools to help save time• Track time (even if it is a really rough estimate)
Planning
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• Browser - based project and resource planning• Collaborative - allows sharing, commenting,
discussions• Current - dates adjust automatically • Compatible with MS excel, project• $160 / year
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• Free, Collaborative cloud scheduling• Integration with Google Drive and Business• Features similar to Smartsheet
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• Outlines roles and responsibilities for project teams• Map to position or individual• Helps set expectations from the start
Responsibilites List
Friday, February 22, 13
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• If you are having trouble estimating, this can help• Keep it simple and use tools to keep it lean
Time Tracking
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• If you are having trouble estimating, this can help• Keep it simple and use tools to keep it lean
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• Go back to the basics (paper prototyping, back of napkin).
• Online tools can save an enormous amount of time here on collaboration
Creative Production
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• Help quickly organize and weight information visually without needing heavy design work
• Allow focus on important elements such as information architecture, content organization, feature space
Wireframes & Prototypes
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• Don’t be fancy• Sketch it out - you don’t
need to be an artist• 5 minutes, 5 people• Quick, cheap way to test
visual ideas
Back of Napkin
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• One sheet (or napkin) for each page element
• Good for quickly rearranging page elements and testing different layouts
Paper Prototypes
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• Collaborative wireframing• Allows commenting, sharing, versioning• Let you discuss functionality in the context of the
design instead of separately• $14 / month for small teams
Hotgloo
Friday, February 22, 13
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• 10 minutes of silence• Cut the chatter and get everyone’s input at the same
time• Simply look at what is in front of you and write your
thoughts. • Use group chat to share ideas• Open to discussion afterward
Creative Review Meetings
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• Usability / IA / Wireframes / Designs• Beyond your core team• As efficiently as possible• Gives you real results to justify your decisions
Testing
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• Efficient - use your existing student/faculty/staff/alumni email lists
Surveys
• Free basic service, $17 / month for unlimited questions responses
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• OptimalSort: Online card sorting• TreeJack: IA pathing • Chalkmark: Wireframe / Design Heat Mapping• $109 / month for each
Optimal Workshop
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• www.responsinator.com• Lets you see what your site looks like on muliple
devices quickly• Free!
Responsive Design
Friday, February 22, 13
Responsive Design
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• Accessibility: cynthiasays.com • W3C compliance: validator.w3.org• Page performance: tools.pingdom.com/fpt • Page performance: www.webpagetest.org
Test, Test, Test
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• Can be one of the most time-consuming tasks in any project
• Centralizing your effort on the cloud can reduce coordination time considerably
Content Creation & Migration
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• Use bookmarks to allow users to quickly jump to different pages
• Eliminate tons of emails / attachments• Use your information architecture as the foundation• Track what copy is in, what is missing, when it’s due
Google Docs w/ Bookmarks
Friday, February 22, 13
Friday, February 22, 13
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• You want your code to be• in one place• shared with everyone who needs it• always current
Implementation
Friday, February 22, 13
• When more than one developer is working on the code, having version control is a must
• Subversion allows code segments to be ‘checked out’ so that no one else can alter them
• Allows collaboration and saves on code re-writes• www.subversion.com
Version Control:Subversion
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
Friday, February 22, 13
• Keeps the bug list up to date• Automatically tracks changes and allows reversions• Allows comments and live chat while viewing• Invaluable during crunch time when heads are down
and meetings can’t happen
Bug tracking:Google Docs (again)
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• So easy to skip because “Oh my gosh we just finished the project! Time for cake!”
• Crucially important to all the prior steps on the NEXT project you do.
Evaluation
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• So easy to skip because “Oh my gosh we just finished the project! Time for cake!”
• Crucially important to all the prior steps on the NEXT project you do.
Evaluation
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• Scheduled right after launch• Honest assessment:
• Did we meet our goals?• How close were our estimates?• What did we do right?• What did we do wrong?• What did we not see coming?
• Make it the first thing you look at the next time you do a project like this
Project Debrief
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize Plan Create Implement Evaluate
• Free, powerful. Get it.• Allow you to measure against past pages• Tons of options for goal setting
• Pathing and funnel reports• Visitor behavior• Device usage (ie mobile)
• If you have a brand new site, be sure this is installed!
Google Analytics
Friday, February 22, 13
Strategize
Plan Create
ImplementEvaluate
Communicate &Collaborate
Friday, February 22, 13
• Lean - cut out everything that is unnecessary, but don’t skip anything that is necessary
• Get away from email as much as possible• Reduce the time wasted on feedback loops (ie: the
endless reply all email thread from hell)
Communication & Collaboration
Friday, February 22, 13
• Don’t meet to discuss, meet to decide• Don’t have one if you don’t need one• Everyone reviews/comments before the meeting
starts
Meetings
Friday, February 22, 13
• Save time by getting the basics done right• Agendas• Note-taking• Minutes
Meetings
Friday, February 22, 13
Golden Rule: never have a meeting without one.Template:
• Date, time, connection method• Agenda items• Review deliverables from last meeting• Discuss open items• Add new items• Upcoming deliverables and responsibility• Upcoming milestones (next 3-5)• Next meeting (if known)
Agendas
Friday, February 22, 13
Golden Rule: always take notes. No, you won’t remember.
• Designate a meeting leader and note-taker • Have a note-taking buddy system (ie: Fran always
takes notes when Susan leads the meeting).
Meeting Notes
Friday, February 22, 13
Golden Rule: Copy and paste the agenda and you are halfway there!
• Date, time• Attendance• Agenda items• Review deliverables from last meeting (notes in italics)• Discuss open items (notes in italics)• Add new items• Repeat upcoming deliverables & milestones (next 3-5)• Schedule next meeting date while you have everyone’s
attention
Minutes
Friday, February 22, 13
Sometimes you need to pull your head up and see where you are in relation to where you should be.
• Can be monthly, quarterly. Less frequent than regular meetings
• Compare estimated timeline to actual• Let you flag slippage and discuss causes of and
solutions for issues
Periodic Status Reports
Friday, February 22, 13
Friday, February 22, 13
Collaboration Tools
Friday, February 22, 13
• Shared calendars allow different levels of detail, including showing anyone (the public) when you are busy
• Can share with those who don’t have Google accounts. • ‘Find a time’ allows you to quickly see what is open for
a group of people• Free.
Google Calendar
Friday, February 22, 13
Friday, February 22, 13
When in-person meetings aren’t possible
• Hangouts are a great way to see people who might be remotely located.
• Lots of tools • Chat room• Screen sharing• Document collaboration with Google Drive
• Still free.
Google Hangouts
Friday, February 22, 13
Friday, February 22, 13
Central location for all • project correspondence• files• agendas• notes• conversations• project calendar
• www.basecamp.com• $20 / month for 10 active projects
Basecamp
Friday, February 22, 13
Friday, February 22, 13
Bringing it all Together:
Lean Platform for Small Projects
Friday, February 22, 13
Lean Platform
• We’ve heard many times from clients about the need for an approach that is the right fit for small projects and small teams
• We’ve created a new approach tailored to provide a focused, nimble web solution
Friday, February 22, 13
Lean CMS Platform
WordpressFriday, February 22, 13
Why Wordpress?
• Powerful platform• Easy to use: industry standard for interface usability• Quick to implement• Saves time with parallel production of design and
content
Friday, February 22, 13
Why Wordpress?
• Strong base functionality• Strong development community with variety of plugins
and frameworks to meet different needs• Good fit for departments and schools with small web
teams that need a CMS sized for them
Friday, February 22, 13
Lean Platform, Process & Tools
• Using many of the tools, techniques and strategies you’ve seen here today• 5-6 month time to complete• Parallel tracking of phases• Tailored for smaller projects and smaller teams
Friday, February 22, 13
Lean Timeline
Friday, February 22, 13
We’re flexible.
This is only one approach. We can:
• Customize this one
• Customize an approach just for you
Friday, February 22, 13
Interested?
Let us know!
We’d love to work with you.
Friday, February 22, 13
Thanks!
Questions?
Friday, February 22, 13
Fran ZablockiStrategist
@Zablocki
585.300.4559
Mallory Wood
Director of Marketing
@mallorywood
802.457.9234
Contacts
Friday, February 22, 13
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