higher ed web conference - web project management
DESCRIPTION
Presentation at Higher Ed Web in Milwaukee, WI in October 2009.TRANSCRIPT
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: [email protected]