Web Project Management

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Web Project Management

• INBS 540 DFA Winter 2008
• Barbaros Ozdogan
• Bozdogan_at_mercy.edu

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Course Requirements

• Class Participation 10
• Online Discussion 20
• Assignments 30
• Course Project 40

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What well learn

• What Project Management for the Web is
• What the Project Manager does
• Stages in a full website development
  project (you can apply these to any smaller
  project too)
• Deliverables for each stage
• Keys to Success, Obstacles to avoid
• Key documentation to make life easier

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What is a project?

• A project is a sequence of
• - Unique,
• - Complex
• - Connected activities
• - that has a beginning and an end (a deadline)
• - and is carried out to meet a given goal within
  budget, and according to specification.
• Wysocki, Beck, and Crane

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Comments on the definition(1/2)

• An activity is a chunk of work
• A project has never happened before, and is never
  likely to happen again under the same conditions
• While some tasks may overlap, many tasks are
  dependent on the completion of other tasks.
• The development of a system represents a goal.

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Comments on the definition (2/2)

• Projects have a completion date. The deadline is
  beyond the control of anybody working on the
  project.
• Projects have resource limits
• The System must satisfy the business, user, and
  management expectations and specifications.

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Illustration Work through Time
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A Pert Chart, or Network Diagram
Prepare Mailing Labels
This diagram shows the necessary sequence and
interdependencies of activities to achieve the
project objective.
RICHARD
4
Print Questionnaire
Mail Questionnaire /Get Responses
ID Target Customers
Develop Draft Questionnaire
Review Finalize Comments
RICHARD
5
ROBERT
8
1
SUSAN
2
SUSAN
3
SUSAN
Develop Data Analysis Software
Test Software
6
TOM J
9
ROBERT
Accountable Person
Activity Number
Develop Software Test Data
TOM J
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What is a project?

• SIMPLY, a project is a body of WORK accomplished
  through TIME, by specific people (and/or
  RESOURCES), that accomplishes a unique RESULT
• WORK TIME RESOURCES leads to RESULT

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Some Quick Vocabulary

• The PMs word for WORK is SCOPE
• TIME means you have a SCHEDULE
• RESOURCES have a COST, from the clients BUDGET
• In a successful project, the RESULT is CLIENT
  SATISFACTION

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In other words

• Scope Schedule Budget leads to Client
  Satisfaction ?
• The PMs goal is to complete the project
  ON-SCHEDULE and WITHIN BUDGET

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Scope Schedule Budget ?

• One of the biggest challenges is managing the
  Scope of a projectClients often request more
  features, Even little requests can creep up on
  youThis is called Feature Creep or
• you guessed it Scope Creep ?

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What does a Project Manager do?

• Manages the Scope, Schedule, and Budget of a
  Project
• Facilitates communication with the Client and the
  Development Team
• Protects the team from the client ( vice
  versa)
• Takes responsibility for successful delivery

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What is Project Management?

• For any systems development project, effective
  project management is necessary to ensure that
• the project meets the deadline,
• is developed within an acceptable budget,
• and fulfills expectations and specifications.
• Project management is the process of defining,
  planning, directing, monitoring, and controlling
  the development of an acceptable system at a
  minimum cost within a specified time frame.

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Project Management
Objectives of Project Management To effectively
manage time, costs, and resources while providing
high-quality solutions and deliverables.

• Scope and Objectives What?
• Project Approach How?
• Work Effort and Schedule When?
• Organization and Staffing Who?
• Professional Fees How Much?
• Key Risks and Action Plan What Can Go Wrong?

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Project Management

• Scope and Objectives (What?) - What kind of
  engagement is it and what are the desired
  business outcomes of the engagement?
• Approach to Completing Work and Key Deliverables
  (How?) - What structured approaches,
  methodologies, and tools will be employed to get
  the work done, what is the sequence of the work,
  and what are the key deliverables the work will
  produce?
• Work Effort and Schedule (When?)- What is the
  estimated workday effort by skillset required to
  complete the work and what is the timeframe?
• Organization and Staffing (Who?) - How will the
  members be organized and what are the different
  roles and responsibilities?
• Professional Fees and Out-of-Pocket Expenses(How
  much?) - Is the engagement fixed fee or time and
  materials, what is the billing schedule, and what
  out-of-pocket expenses will the client incur?
• Key Risks and Action Plan (What can go wrong?)-
  What are the key engagement risks that could
  impede the desired outcome and what are the
  mitigating strategies to be employed?

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The Project Management Process
planning the work and then working the plan
1-Define the Project Objective
Clear definition of the deliverables between the
customer and project manager
Divide and sub-divide the project into manageable
pieces. WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE.
2-Breakdown the Work Structure
Define the specific activities and place them in
order of execution.
Work Packages
3-Sequence the Work Packages
Create a network diagram that has an activity
number and a responsible person.
4-Develop a Network Diagram
A roadmap to ensure that the project is completed
on time and within budget.
5-Make a Time Cost Estimate for each Activity
6-Develop a baseline plan
Estimate a cost and time for each activity
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Project Management

• Different organizations take different approaches
  to project management.
• One approach is to appoint a project manager from
  the ranks of the team (once it has been formed).
• This approach is a result of the self-directed
  team paradigm.
• But many organizations have found that successful
  project managers apply a unique body of knowledge
  and skills that must be learned.
• These organizations tend to hire and/or develop
  professional project managers who are assigned to
  one or more projects at any given time.

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How the PM fits in

• Different organizations have different ways of
  working
• Team of 1 youre the PM, designer developer
• Team of many you have dedicated designers
  programmers

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Types of Web Projects

• Design develop a complete web site
• Redesign an existing web site
• Add functionality to a web site
• registered users area with login
• E-commerce functionality
• Add new section of content
• Your ideas?

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Stages of a Web Project

• Strategy what are the business goals? What is
  the project plan?
• Discovery what does the team need to know to
  create the solution?
• Design design the architecture look of the
  web site create the graphics
• Technical Build create the backend and program
  the front-end
• QA make sure everything works as it should
• Launch get client sign-off and go live! Review
  the project for lessons learned
• Maintenance keeping the site fresh

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Strategy Phase

• This was your Marketing class
• Establish the business goals for the web project

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Definition Phase

• Starts with a Kickoff Meeting, with people from
  each group present
• Design, Technical, and QA teams need to learn
  about the client business goals
• Should lead to documents such asCreative Brief,
  User Experience, Functional Requirements,
  Technical Requirements

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Project Definition

• PM creates a Project Plan, including Schedule
  Budget
• This phase defines the Scope of the Project

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Design Phase

• Information Architecture, Graphic Design, and
  Content Development (typically, copy writing
  and/or merchandising)
• May also include the Technical Design(but well
  talk about that in the Technical Phase)
• The PM needs to ensure each group is in close
  communication What if you design something
  that cant be built in the time/budget alloted?

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Information Architecture

• IA is the structure of the web site what goes
  where, how they connect, and how usable the site
  will be
• Needs a Creative Brief or User Experience
  document to work from
• Creates User Scenarios, Site Map, and Wireframes
  (or schematics)

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The Value of IA

• While discovery documents are verbal descriptions
  of the projects goals, the Site Map and
  Wireframes (aka Schematics) are a visual
  presentation of the web site
• These blueprints are useful to client, PM,
  designers, technical team, QA team
• A tangible document that gives everyone a common
  direction

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Added Value of IA - Usability

• Works with Usability Principles Usability
  Testing to create a design that helps site
  visitors accomplish their tasks
• Happy visitors achieving business goals

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Graphic Design - Purpose

• Graphic designers create the look feel of the
  site
• Ensure that the site supports the clients brand
  identity image
• Work closely with IAs to make the site easy to
  use ?

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Graphic Design - Process

• Typically presents 2-3 design directions to the
  client (aka design comps or compositions)
• May take 2-3 revision cycles to gain clients
  sign-off you need to manage this!
• Produce all the graphics for the site build
  (graphic production stage)
• May require a Style Guide, instructions on future
  additions to the site

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Technical Phase

• Includes server configuration, database design,
  programming, and html coding
• Technicians, DBAs, Programmers, and Sitebuilders
• Works with IA to develop systems Inputs
  Outputs, and usable interactivity

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Technical documentation

• Technical Requirements are based on User
  Experience or Functional Requirements
• Used to communicate with programmers, DBA, etc.
• May need Process Flows from IA

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QA Phase Quality Assurance

• Nothing works until QA says it does
• QA creates a Test Plan from the User Experience
  and the IA
• Uses a QA Issue Log to document issues/bugs/flaws
  to the team
• PM needs to use QA to ensure a quality product

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Launch Phase

• Time to get client sign-off on the project
• Soft-launch
• Full launch often coordinated with a marketing
  campaign, press releases, etc.
• Your team has worked hard to get here time to
  throw a party!
• And dont forget to get paid!

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Site Maintenance

• One of the Webs strengths is the ability to
  update a site quickly and often
• Who will update the site?
• Will they use hand-coded HTML? A full
  content-management system? A simple back-end
  tool? Remember this in your Project Plan!

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The Keys to Successful Projects

• (and the pitfalls to avoid)

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Successful Project Management Implies

• The cooperative efforts of a team
• The use of certain managerial techniques
• The use of specialized communication software
  when the team is composed of distant partners
• The use of a common language to communicate...

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Causes of Failed Projects

• Failures and limited successes far outnumber
  successful systems. Why?
• Many systems analysts and information
  technologists are unfamiliar with or
  undisciplined in the tools and techniques of
  systems analysis and design.
• Many projects suffer from poor leadership and
  management.
• Project mismanagement can sabotage the best
  application of the systems analysis and design
  methods.

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Causes of Failed Projects

• One of the most common causes of project failure
  is taking shortcuts through or around the
  methodology.
• Project teams often take shortcuts for one or
  more of the following reasons
• The project gets behind schedule and the team
  wants to catch up.
• The project is over budget and the team wants to
  make up costs by skipping methodology steps.
• The team is not trained or skilled in some of the
  methodologies activities and requirements, so
  they skip them.

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Causes of Failed Projects

• Another common cause of project failures is poor
  expectations management.
• All users and managers have expectations of the
  project.
• Over time, these expectations change and takes
  the form of scope creep.
• Scope creep is the unexpected growth of user
  expectations and business requirements for an
  information system as the project progresses.
• Unfortunately, the schedule and budget are rarely
  modified at the same time.
• The project manager is ultimately held
  accountable for the inevitable and unavoidable
  schedule and budget overruns.
• The users' expectations of schedule and budget
  does not change as the scope changes.

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Causes of Failed Projects

• A similar problem is caused by feature creep.
• Feature creep is the uncontrolled addition of
  technical features to a system under development
  without regards to schedule and budget.
• Each unplanned feature, however impressive, adds
  time and costs to the overall schedule.
• Cost overrun problems
• Many methodologies or project plans call for an
  unreasonably precise estimate of costs before the
  project begins.
• Poor estimating techniques.
• Schedule delays.

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Causes of Failed Projects

• Poor people management can also cause projects to
  fail.
• Another cause of project failure is that the
  business is in a constant state of change.
• If the projects importance changes, or if the
  management and business reorganizes, all projects
  should be reassessed for compatibility with
  changes, and importance to the business.

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Standard Project Problems

• Lack of a particular competence, needed to
  achieve the goal, in the team members
• Lack of an equipment or component
• Technical solution not known
• Individual lack of motivation to achieve project
  goal (the productivity of a workgroup seems to
  depend on how the group members see their own
  goals in relation to the goals of the
  organization)
• Project member does not communicate his
  difficulties. (hope creep)
• A task overrun the task deadline (work but no
  progress)
• Conflicts between project members
• Team member add features or functions to the
  deliverables...

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Reasons for IT Project Failure(based on 1000 IT
managers, Standish Group 1995)

• Incomplete requirements
• Lack of user involvement
• Lack of resources
• Unrealistic expectations
• Lack of executive support
• Changing requirements and specifications
• Lack of planning
• Elimination of need for the project
• Lack of IT management
• Technology illiteracy

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SummaryHow to carry out a project successfully

• Defining the scope of the project
• Planning the Project
• Implementing the plan (executing)
• Controling and monitoring progress
• Completing the project

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The Actions in Project Management The four C

• Communicate
• Coordinate
• Cooperate
• Control

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Communicate and Motivate

• To generate a common desire to reach the
  objective
• To transform the goal into reality
• To provide a reward system coherent with project
  goals

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Need to Coordinate (organize)

• To avoid the dispersion of efforts (bad use of
  resources)
• to define the task of each project participant
• to have clear responsibility for the project and
  for each tasks right from the beginning
• to plan the necessary resources in terms of
  manpower, competencies , equipment, finance, .

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Task of Project Control

• Motivate participants
• Control realization of tasks (budget, time,
  quality)
• Project scheduling
• Estimate consequences of incidents (
  rescheduling,)

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To solve all the above problems we need a
talented PROJECT MANAGER

• This section provides an overview of the
  responsibilities of the project manager, the
  skills needed to successfully manage projects,
  and how these skills can be developed.
• Responsibilities of the Project Manager
• Skills of the Project Manager
• Developing the Skills of a Project Manager
• Approaches to Effective Delegation
• Methods a Project Manager can Manage and Control
  Changes to the Project
• To read more about talent read the attached
  presentation.PDF file.

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Dozen Rules For A Project Manager

• Understand the problems, opportunities, and
  expectations of a project manager.
• Recognize that project teams will have conflicts,
  but this is a natural part of group development.
• Understand who the stakeholders are and their
  agendas.
• Realize that organizations are very political and
  use politics to your advantage.
• Realize that project management is leader
  intensive but that you must be flexible.
• Understand that project success is defined by 4
  components budget, schedule, performance
  criteria, and customer satisfaction.

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• DOZEN RULES OF A PROJECT MANAGER
• 7) Realize that you must build a cohesive team by
  being a motivator, coach, cheerleader,
  peacemaker, and conflict resolver.
• 8) Notice that you team will develop attitudes
  based on the emotions you exhibit-both positive
  and negative.
• 9) Always ask what-if questions and avoid
  becoming comfortable with the status of the
  project.
• 10) Dont get bogged down in minutiae and lose
  site of the purpose of the project.
• 11) Manage your time efficiently.
• 12) Above all plan, plan, plan. Failing to
  plan, is planning to fail

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Failing to plan, is planning to fail
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The Course Project

• Describe the project, list the phases
  documentation students will deliver
• Guidelines for choosing the project they want to
  do scope requirements, if any
• Discuss student ideas for their project, so they
  have an idea how to write their proposal