1 Understanding Web Project Management Build a better relationship with IT Christina Zeller InfoAction, Vancouver Public Library SLA NorthWest Regional Conference, October 6, 2006

2 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

3 Why use project management? Identify when youll 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

4 Whats most important? Planning Communication Milestones

5 Why plan? Its 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

6 CMS project plan

7 Phases in a web project Define Design Build Deploy

8 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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10 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

11 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

12 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

13 Budget Software license Server/hardware needs Consultants/contract staff In-house staff (agree on a value) Get approval from sponsor for the final budget

14 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

15 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.

16 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

17 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

18 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.

19 Gantt chart

20 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

21 Design phase Information architecture Flow charts Wireframes of the templates Initial content plan Permission levels/groups

22 Build Phase Project managers 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

23 Project Communication Status meetings Frequency? one per week Status reports Accomplishments in past week Goals/tasks for upcoming week Risk areas Milestone schedule (deadlines)

24 Install This can often begin before design completes: Set up server Install CMS Configure CMS settings Basic test of functions

25 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

26 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

27 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

28 Deliverables Empty version of your website (with some test content) Functioning content management system Test plan Implementation plan

29 Deploy Content transfer Testing/Quality Assurance Launch Training

30 Content Transfer When? During second round of testing in QA Why not first? First round has too many bugs/interruptions Environment isnt yet stable Why not later? Youll find bugs during the transfer

31 Test Follow the test plan you created during the Build phase Test every process and feature Involve new users

32 Launch Review schedule of tasks Draft timing Plan a celebration

33 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

34 Lessons Learned Review problem areas Identify successes Record

35 Resources CMPros Project Management Institute Nokes, Sebastian, et al The Definitive Guide to Project Management: the fast track to getting the job done on time and on budget, Prentice-Hall: Wysocki, Robert K. and Rudd McGary Effective Project Management: Traditional, Adaptive, Extreme, 3rd ed. Indianapolis: Wiley.

36 Questions ?