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.

•Using Twitter/Facebook/Ning for whatever specific reason*

•Extensive Content Management System.

A Project is… “ongoing, with many false starts and chronic scope creep. Governed by committee(s), 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 term

“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

Project definition

•First committee meeting needs a “memorandum of agreement”

•Define the goals, objectives, and/or outcomes

•Sign it.

Follow a process, deliver a product.

Triple Constraint

•Scope•Time•Cost

Triple Constraint

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

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”

Manage Resources•What are the 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?

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

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/18091975@N00/

From http://www.flickr.com/photos/orcmid/3879384912/

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.

PM software?

•Microsoft Project (larger teams)•OmniPlan (for the mac users)•Basecamp

Learn how to use version control software.

Version Control Software?

•Github•Subversion (svn)•Team Foundation Server•CVS•Google Code (svn)

Track the project.

Issue tracking

•Document milestones•Track conversations, changes,

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

Bugz

Issue tracking software

•Bugzilla•Trac•Team Foundation Server•Basecamp

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