4 maintaining website...

Maintaining and Enhancing Your Website Investment

Daniel V. Gomez Director of Informa.on Technology, Roundabout Theatre Company

danielg@roundabou<heatre.org

Thursday, October 25, 2012


Website Redesign Survey 1.  Redesigned your website in the past 1–2 years?

2.  In the process of redesigning your website?

3.  Planning to redesign your website in the next 1–2 years?

4.  Maintaining the current website with no plans to redesign; don’t know; none of the above?


Web·site Re·de·sign noun 1.  An ins.tu.on-‐wide project of great importance that brings together many diverse

departments 2.  A period of great enthusiasm during which

i.  Anything and everything seems possible, and ii.  Many, many promises are made

3.  A very expensive investment

Main·te·nance noun 1.  A period of despair and frustra.on beginning the day aPer the new website is launched 2.  A mysterious, slow, expensive process by which

i.  Bugs on the website are addressed, oPen one or two at a .me ii.  Features and func.onality are added


The Past: Websites (ca. Early-Mid ‘00s)


The Past: Websites (ca. Early-Mid ‘00s) CMS? •  Sta.c HTML Webpages Online TickeCng? •  Separate website or basic

integra.on Technologies: •  Flat site •  HTML •  Javascript •  Flash and Ac.onScript •  ColdFusion, CGI, ASP


The Present: Website Applications What’s a Website ApplicaCon? •  Dynamic •  Database-‐driven •  CMS •  eCommerce PlaYorm •  Social Media Integra.on •  Personalized Customer Portal


The Present: Website Applications CMS •  Dynamic webpages Online TickeCng & CRM •  Fully integrated into the site

Technologies & IntegraCon Points •  Tiered site •  Databases, APIs •  XHTML, CSS •  JavaScript (AJAX) Libraries &

Frameworks •  ASP.NET / MVC, PHP •  Social Media


The Past vs. the Present Advantages: •  CMS makes it easier to create

content and keep website up-‐to-‐date

•  New technologies make just about anything possible

Challenges: •  Web applica.ons are much more

complex •  Mul.tude of components

requires wide variety of skills and lots more .me


Website Stakeholders

Website

Marke.ng

Development

Educa.on

Ticke.ng

IT

•  Each department has a stake in the website

•  Each department has different needs

•  The web team will ul.mately support all stakeholders.

•  Iden.fy and work with stakeholders in each department


Staffing Strategy •  Your website is important.

•  eCommerce PlaYorm processing 25% to more than 50% of all sales

•  Online Fundraising PlaYorm

•  The Face of All Marke.ng and Branding Campaigns

•  Your organiza.on’s commitment to the website should reflect that importance.

?

Marke.ng

Development

Educa.on

Ticke.ng

IT


Staffing Strategy

Web Produc.on Director

Web & Content Producer

Departmental Web Producers

Web Director

Web Project Manager / Analyst

Vendors

Web Architect / Senior Developer Junior Web Developer


Staffing Strategy: Vendors •  Vendors are your friends …

•  … but they aren’t staff and don’t know your organiza.on as well as you and your team …

•  … s.ll, they can offer great and valuable insight.

•  Being dependent on outside developers / programmers shouldn’t be a nega.ve.

•  Communica.ng effec.vely – especially project requirements – with vendors is essen.al.

Web

Development

Marke.ng

Educa.on

Ticke.ng

IT

Vendors


Champagne Tastes Wants

•  What exci.ng “wants” did you discuss during your last website redesign, but weren’t able to afford?

An acCve organizaCon is always ideaCng:

•  At least 2 or 3 “big ideas” per year •  6-‐8 “medium” projects per year •  12-‐14 “small” projects per year

Full Website Redesigns •  How long will your current website serve your

organiza.on’s needs? 3 years? 5 years?


Beer Budget What expenses are absolutely necessary?

1.  Staff 2.  Costs to Operate Website (Hardware, etc.) 3.  Buffer for Emergencies & Unforeseen Expenses 4.  Maintenance

•  Bugs are oPen difficult to troubleshoot and fix •  May include small projects •  40+ hours per month just to maintain, debug,

and keep the website running.

Now, what’s leS?


Managing Maintenance and Web Projects Maintenance givens:

•  Expensive – .me and/or $$ •  Prone to scope creep (“One more thing …”) •  Maintenance and projects difficult (and

more $$) to do in parallel Not all projects are equal

•  Presenta.on or Code? What do we do?

•  Bring “Discovery” phase in-‐house •  Test and reproduce •  Break larger projects into smaller, more

easily developed projects or phases

Discovery

Design

Code / Develop

Document & Test

• Maintain Launch


Web Produc.on Director

Web & Content Producer

Departmental Web Producers

Web Director

Web Project Manager / Analyst

Vendors

Web Architect / Senior Developer Junior Web Developer

Web

Marke.ng

Development

Educa.on

Ticke.ng

IT

Discovery

Design

Code / Develop

Document & Test

• Maintain Launch


Top 10 Takeaways 10. Meet. Gather website stakeholders together regularly

to review web projects and priori.es. 9.  Know Thyself. Ensure that someone at your

organiza.on knows or is learning the website applica.on.

8.  Balance. Pair one or more important back-‐end

updates or bug fixes with each new, shiny feature or upgrade.

7.  Break “big ideas” and large projects down into smaller

components or phases.

Web

Marke.ng

Development

Educa.on

Ticke.ng

IT


Top 10 Takeaways 6.  Insist that everyone regularly visit and use the

website! •  Set your website as everyone’s default

homepage. Now. Go ahead, I’ll wait. •  Test website func.onality, including making

purchases and searching for info 5.  Work together to improve communica.on

•  Challenge your teams to learn to speak the same language, be “web-‐speak” or English

4.  Bring “discovery” in-‐house for projects of all

sizes. •  Work with your outside developers to

create a Project Specifica.on template.


Top 10 Takeaways 3.  Once you’ve decided on a project’s priority,

s.ck to it as best as possible. •  Don’t let the enthusiasm for a brand new

idea undo the .me and effort your web team has spent on yesterday’s priority.

2.  Let your customers know that you’re working to

improve their website experience whenever possible •  If you fix, improve, or release something,

say so. •  Use these opportuni.es to engage

customers without a hard sell.


Top 10 Takeaways 1.  Don’t give up!

•  If your organiza.on is healthy, there should always be more ideas than you can implement.

•  Progress may seem slow, but don’t neglect your site – it will only make your next redesign project that much more expensive and difficult

•  Social Media sites are great resources and important presences for your organiza.on, but they aren’t your website.

Thank You!

Daniel V. Gomez Director of Informa.on Technology, Roundabout Theatre Company

danielg@roundabou<heatre.org


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