Web Project Management

Strategies for chaotic web projects in Higher ed.

A Project is… “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result”

– PMBOK Guide (2004)

A Web Project is...•Building a few web pages for a

department.•Developing a simple web

application that collects student information.

•Extensive Content Management System.

A Project is… ongoing, with many false starts and chronic scope creep. Governed by committee, success is not often tangible.

– Higher Ed.

The Chaos•Developer comes in sometime after

noon.•Designer that doesn’t answer email.•Department wants to see the

“pedagogy” on something aimed at parents.

•Committees.•Never ending change requests.

Learn a little from Software

Engineering•Pick a dev strategy: understand

clearly what you are doing•Version control•Issue tracking

Triple Constraint

•Scope•Time•Cost

Triple Constraint

•What am I building?•How long will it take?•How much will it cost to develop?

Manage Resources•What are skills and people

available to this project•How much time do they have?•Is there a line of communication

between you and your resources even when not working together in the same place?

Dealing with the “what”

•Project sponsor asks for something that needs to be built

•Meet with committee and develop a clear scope along with timeline

•Sketch out application•Call in resources you need•Develop application, get feedback,

tweak, done.

What really happens

•“I would like a web site that looks like (insert newsworthy site of the week)”

•“Next week would be perfect”•“Oh and can we have video?”•“And a live chat?”•“We want social media”

Identify risks

•What could cause this project to be delayed or fail?

•What will you do about them?•How much will it cost

(time/money)?

Break Project down

Two week chunks

Critical path

# S: (adj) agile, nimble, quick, spry (moving quickly and lightly) "sleek and agile as a gymnast"; "as nimble as a deer"; "nimble fingers"; "quick of foot"; "the old dog was so spry it was halfway up the stairs before we could stop it"- http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=agile

Agile process

Agile process

Get involved•Use Basecamp or excel or a word

document•Break down the project for the

sponsor (and you)•Provide time estimates for each

phase•Follow-up with daily/weekly updates

on progress•Share information.

Learn how to use version control software.

Track the project.

Issue tracking

•Document milestones•Track conversations, changes,

rationale•Generate reports (if you want)•Control your scope.

Bugz

Use a process that works for you.

About me.Jesse RodgersAssociate Director, VeloCity -- University of WaterlooBlog: http://whoyoucallingajesse.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/jrodgers Email: jrodgers@uwaterloo.ca