Lecture 6 - Project Planning

Lecture 6: Project Planning Overview Creating an outline plan –Work Breakdown Structure –Identifying tasks Waterfall and Iterative methods of planning Use of a Project Management tool –Setting up task flow –Creating work packets –Tracking plans against work done

Planning Overview "If you fail to plan you plan to fail" Lack of adequate planning causes the most problems in any web site project through: –No view of tasks required to build products –No view of time and resources for project –No overall view of project So projects start and then need to be revised at a later date It is estimated that a change at the planning stage costs 10 times less than at the build stage

Overview 2 In an unplanned project –The client has no expectation of deadlines –The site creators will not have an idea of when they get paid! Creating a plan forces a team to estimate the effects of: –Task duration –Cost –Resources required (i.e. specialist skills, techniques or technologies)

Overview 3 I provide an overview of Project Planning in this module We will not cover Risk Management –But you should be aware of the potential risks to your project We will not cover Project management methodologies such as Prince 2, SSADM etc. –As new media development tends to borrow from lots of disciplines But I would advise you to read up on these (see links on website)

Outline Project To overview a project you start with a broad scope and drill down So the first step of project planning is to identify the major areas of the project From the outline of the project in Week 1 we have an outline of the project stages These can be broken down into their constituent tasks Web projects tend to go through an iterative process where stages repeat

Project Flow Analysis Definition Information Architecture Design & Prototype Testing Build Release Post Release Management

Identifying Tasks – Major High level tasks should be identifiable in each of the key project stages Breakdown from here to the lower levels Identify Major tasks e.g. –Analysis contains major tasks of User Analysis Competitor Analysis Client requirement

Identify Tasks Once the Major tasks are completed then identify the Minor tasks –Competitor Analysis Identify potential competitors Consult Client Marketing Dept. Perform Research etc.. Continue this breakdown until all tasks are identified But do not go to a minute level of detail! Be aware that some stages and tasks repeat

Work Breakdown Structure Work breakdown structure is a method to address the different level of tasks in a project Tasks are numbered in outline format e.g. –Project Task = 1 Analysis phase = 1.1 –User Analysis = Audience Survey =

WBS Example

Waterfall Method Of Planning This method is taken from software design It provides a method of sequencing tasks The stages (and their tasks) follow logical steps The output from one stage should be the input into the next We use this as a guideline as some stages provide output that feed into higher stages (such as the testing and build stages)

Waterfall Example

Iterative Method Of Planning This method is borrowed from product design In this method later stages feedback into earlier, higher stages –E.g. the testing and build stages The stages (and their tasks) repeat round in a loop The outcome from one stage is fed into previous stages

Iterative Project Flow Analysis Definition Information Architecture Design & Prototype Testing Build Release Post Release Management

Project Monitoring Once you have created a plan you must keep it up to date Monitor the time spent on tasks and compare it to the originally estimated duration If the estimates are shorter than the actuals (generally by anything more than 10%) you should re-create the plan by –Re-scoping the project –Extending deadline –Utilising more resources

Use Of A Project Management Tool Tool used in Industry is Microsoft Project You are free to use MS Project, available on the LS&D network, or a similar ( but free for personal use) product called Smartworks Project Planner PE –This is available at This can be used to –Create an outline plan –Set up task flow –Create work packets –Track plans against work done