Project Management for All:

1
Project Management for All

• How to plan for your next Web project

2
Introductions

• Michael Weiss CEO Imagistic
• Internet Software and Services Company
• 10 Years experience developing Web sites for
  Non-Profits
• Robert Rose VP Product Strategy CrownPeak
• 10 Years working with organizations of all sizes
  web infrastructure design and strategy
• Specialization in Internet marketing and
  communications

3
How to plan for your next Web project

• The Development Process
• What should the phases of a Web project look
  like?
• What are the deliverables?
• How long should they take?
• Most Important How involved do you need to be?
• Managing Your Site
• Proper care and feeding of your new site
• Is everybody involved?
• Budget
• General budgets we're seeing for these processes
• Resources

4
The Development Process RFP

• How do I get started
• Start by looking in. What do you need? Not
  want, BUT REALLY need?
• Assemble requirements from stakeholders. Broad
  business strokes not a 500 page document
• Out of this document comes an RFP
• This assumes youre going to outsource
• Not terribly different if youre not just
  different audience you should still get people
  committed to a timeframe and budget.
• RFP Selection Process
• Limit yourself to a short list of firms.
  Remember, a 50 page proposal from 5 firms is 250
  pages of bed time reading.
• Request solutions not a feature/function
  matrix
• Youll have your own criteria select a firm
  thats fits your needs.

5
The Development Process Discovery

• Then, get ready to do it all again. Discovery
• Youve missed something guaranteed.
• You and your firm (or internal team) need to be
  on the same page about whats going to get built.
  
• Again, not a 500 page document but an agreed
  framework of solutions, and tactics.
• The deliverable The Statement of Work
• Details the BREADTH of the scope.
• Top Level needs and priorities
• Parking Lot set up for phase 2 wishes, wants and
  needs
• Only the beginning of paperwork.
• No Pretty Pictures yet.

6
Development Process Functional Spec.

• The Functional Specifications comes out of
  Discovery
• Takes the breadth of the Scope and details the
  DEPTH
• Defines the what is going to be built
• Identifies the audience for your site
• Identifies the browsers and platforms
• Identifies each piece of functionality and how
  they will work
• Includes Wire Frames, results of Content
  Inventory
• Helps to define the requirements for any software
  applications that will be purchased or subscribed
  to

7
The Development Process IA

• Probably the most important step in Web site
  design
• Can make or break your site 6 months down the
  road
• Dont skip this step!
• Firm should deliver Wire frames that detail out
  the function.
• Wireframes are not a site map and theyre not
  hand-drawn.
• Walk through the wire frames with your partner
• Sign off on the wire frames your designer will
  love you

8
The Development Process Design

• Now come the pretty pictures
• Based on wire frames, design should go very
  quickly
• With little or no surprises (at least bad ones)
• Resist the urge to pick elements from each
  design Theres usually a good reason
• By far the most emotional and difficult phase
• The people who said I dont care about this
  suddenly do
• Keep the cooks in the kitchen to a small group

9
The Development Process Development

• The longest phase of the project and least
  interesting (for you)
• What do you during this phase? Nothing.just
  kidding. But really, you sit back and watch the
  magic.
• Your role is to be available for reviews,
  questions and a little QA
• Software selection can also be part of this
  phase

10
The Development Process Typical Timeline

• Func Spec sign off Development begins
• Integration
• 2-4 weeks
• HTML Pages
• Content Migration
• 4-6 weeks
• Move current site to new system (more on this
  later)
• Custom Development
• 4-6 weeks
• Build any tools, hooks, custom apps that new
  software cannot handle
• QA
• 4-6 weeks CANNOT STRESS HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS
• Stabilization
• 2 months
• There WILL be bugs this is software

11
Managing Your Web Site Now we have it now what?

• Is it a new site or a newly designed site
• Most are the latter so content migration will
  be a challenge?
• Have you budgeted the time for testing and
  migration of the old site into the new site
  design
• What is your partner delivering as an end
  deliverable
• You could wind up with a nicely designed set of
  templates and nothing to do with them..
• Choosing solutions to manage your site ongoing is
  just as important as the design aspect
• CMS Solutions
• CRM Solutions
• Custom Application Development
• Web Site Analytics
• Web Hosting
• And so much more.

12
Managing Your WebSite Migration

• Dont underestimate the effort here No matter
  what a vendor tells you.
• No, its not as easy as pointing a system at
  the old site.
• Content migration is hard no matter what system
  you have or are getting
• CMS Selection
• There are a number of solutions out there from
  Open Source, to Installed solutions and Hosted
• Utilize the work youve done to know which one is
  for you.
• Similar process to your development partner
• Other Solutions for other elements will be unique
  to your needs
• In general, use best-of-breed solutions, rather
  than a software suite.
• Web 2.0 makes Internet integration easier, not
  harder

13
Managing Your WebSite Rollout

• Arguably the MOST important step in your whole
  project
• Rolling out to users who will take ownership of
  aspects of the site is very very important
• Dont give your project a bad rap just when
  its about to succeed
• 5 Things to keep in mind
• Usability for all the applications for managing.
  Make sure that whatever solutions you pick, the
  interfaces are easy to use. Sometimes less
  features is better.
• Sufficient training and support. Have a plan for
  training and support on ALL of the applications
  and how they work together.
• Organizational communication. Whos responsible
  for what. Make sure that ongoing everybody
  from IT to Marketing to Communications knows whs
  responsible for the apps
• Review and Iterate The Web Site is a process
  not a product make sure that ALL through your
  development process and your Rollout that phase
  two items are noted and then iterated. Start
  small, and grow.

14
Managing Your Web Site Back To Dev

• When youre ready to iterate the web site, start
  again
• Your partner should now know the system and will
  be your trusted advisor.
• Your solutions can be plugged in and out based on
  the value they are creating.

15
Budgets

• Sample Development Budgets
• Small Project Dev 10,000 to 50,000
• Big Project Dev 50,000 to 100,000
• The bottom linetime is money. These projects
  take time.
• You can quibble on rates but hours are hours.
  Make sure the bids include hours estimates. This
  is the real apples to apples.
• With outsourcing and smaller shops rates can
  range from 20 an hour to 200 an hour.
• Web Site Management Application Budgets
• Open Source isnt free.
• Site Management Application
• CMS and/or CRM - 20K-100K annually
• Web Analytics Free to 500 and more annually
• Web Site Hosting - 50/mo to 1,500/mo and more
  depends on your needs

16
Mike Robs Top 10 Never Do This.

• 10. Never think this going to take 4 weeks
• 9. Never think you can do this alone
• 8. Never skip the IA Phase
• 7. Never do this without an RFP
• 6. Never send the RFP to more than 5 firms
• 5. Never choose your vendor based on price
  alone
• 4. Never ask your IT Manager to manage this
  process this alone
• 3. Never start this process without a budget in
  mind
• 2. Never start this process without key
  stakeholders involved
• 1. Never hire your boss nephew

17
Q/A

• Rob Rose
• rob.rose_at_crownpeak.com
• Mike Weiss
• michaelw_at_imagistic.com