Ensure your web site is on time and budget
A common problem that is rampant with businesses is that projects either:
a. Do not get completed on time, or
b. Provide poor visibility on completion status
Why is this? In my opinion, a project plan that is planned and executed well will alleviate most of the problems that may arise with your web development group.
But how do you go about creating a good project plan. Let me provide you some simple tips.
Start off by writing high-level tasks you will need to get your web site created. For example:
i. Conduct kick-off meeting – in 2 days
ii. Receive draft 1 of web site – 10 days after i
iii. Complete testing and provide feedback on web site – 2 days after ii
iv. Make necessary changes to web site – 4 days after iii
v. Finalize production release – 2 days after iv
vi. Launch web site
Note: this is a very high-level simplistic plan. However, you should be able to get a fair idea of what I mean. As well, after each of the tasks I have had a timeline (expected) which is linked to the previous task. I normally call this as “dependency”. Your plan may not have such dependencies in the manner that I have laid. However, it is important to identify all dependencies in your plan so you can track progress and highlight trouble spots early on.
Depending on your level of comfort (and the amount of control you would like to exercise), take each high-level task and create sub tasks that contribute to this high-level task. For example, in (i) above, I may have the following sub-tasks:
a. Identify stakeholders for meeting
b. Send meeting invitations
c. Plan agenda for meeting
d. Book meeting room/refreshments
e. Prepare handouts/material for discussion
This gets indented inside (i) above to show that they all belong to (i).
The next step to undertake is to identify the necessary resources (i.e. people who will actually do the work). Write down the names next to each task/sub task. This will instantly tell you who is doing what.
If you would like to go further, also identify the start and end dates as well as the effort it will take to do the task.
What’s the difference, you say? Well, start and end dates merely give you the duration of the task (for example 3 days), but the effort will actually tell you what it takes to do the task (for example, 6 hours). The reason it is important to identify both is so that you know what is involved in doing a particular task and when it is expected to be completed.
This will also tell you a lot more, if you would like to read into it. If I see a task like,
Prepare web design prototype – John Doe – Jan12 – Jan 16 – 5 hours
And John Doe isn’t included in any other tasks, that would tell me that either John is working on some other project, not mine or is planned to go on a holiday or something else. This would then lead me to use gentle probing questions which might flag other questions. The reason for such questions is that you get a fair idea of who is doing what on your web site.
Think about it. If you had not created the plan in the first place, you wouldn’t have a clue who is working on your web site. As such, you then wouldn’t be able to ask any questions except take a back seat and pray everything goes smoothly. Then when the first hurdle hits you, you get surprised.
A project plan is easy to create. There’s a variety of software that will let you create all sorts of fancy charts etc. However, if you don’t have the budget or the time to familiarize yourself, or if your project plan is small enough, even a simple spreadsheet will do. I love spreadsheets because you can very quickly create a template and sort/filter the information to create your own custom reports or queries.
I will end with the famous quote, “You don’t plan to fail, you fail to plan”. A project plan should be your first step towards a successful web site.
Elvin Picardo
Delivering Net Results to Small Business
Author of numerous articles on web development and Internet Marketing for small business
10723 159th St, Surrey, BC V4N 3J1 Canada
NetMedian.com
Contact Elvin
a. Do not get completed on time, or
b. Provide poor visibility on completion status
Why is this? In my opinion, a project plan that is planned and executed well will alleviate most of the problems that may arise with your web development group.
But how do you go about creating a good project plan. Let me provide you some simple tips.
Start off by writing high-level tasks you will need to get your web site created. For example:
i. Conduct kick-off meeting – in 2 days
ii. Receive draft 1 of web site – 10 days after i
iii. Complete testing and provide feedback on web site – 2 days after ii
iv. Make necessary changes to web site – 4 days after iii
v. Finalize production release – 2 days after iv
vi. Launch web site
Note: this is a very high-level simplistic plan. However, you should be able to get a fair idea of what I mean. As well, after each of the tasks I have had a timeline (expected) which is linked to the previous task. I normally call this as “dependency”. Your plan may not have such dependencies in the manner that I have laid. However, it is important to identify all dependencies in your plan so you can track progress and highlight trouble spots early on.
Depending on your level of comfort (and the amount of control you would like to exercise), take each high-level task and create sub tasks that contribute to this high-level task. For example, in (i) above, I may have the following sub-tasks:
a. Identify stakeholders for meeting
b. Send meeting invitations
c. Plan agenda for meeting
d. Book meeting room/refreshments
e. Prepare handouts/material for discussion
This gets indented inside (i) above to show that they all belong to (i).
The next step to undertake is to identify the necessary resources (i.e. people who will actually do the work). Write down the names next to each task/sub task. This will instantly tell you who is doing what.
If you would like to go further, also identify the start and end dates as well as the effort it will take to do the task.
What’s the difference, you say? Well, start and end dates merely give you the duration of the task (for example 3 days), but the effort will actually tell you what it takes to do the task (for example, 6 hours). The reason it is important to identify both is so that you know what is involved in doing a particular task and when it is expected to be completed.
This will also tell you a lot more, if you would like to read into it. If I see a task like,
Prepare web design prototype – John Doe – Jan12 – Jan 16 – 5 hours
And John Doe isn’t included in any other tasks, that would tell me that either John is working on some other project, not mine or is planned to go on a holiday or something else. This would then lead me to use gentle probing questions which might flag other questions. The reason for such questions is that you get a fair idea of who is doing what on your web site.
Think about it. If you had not created the plan in the first place, you wouldn’t have a clue who is working on your web site. As such, you then wouldn’t be able to ask any questions except take a back seat and pray everything goes smoothly. Then when the first hurdle hits you, you get surprised.
A project plan is easy to create. There’s a variety of software that will let you create all sorts of fancy charts etc. However, if you don’t have the budget or the time to familiarize yourself, or if your project plan is small enough, even a simple spreadsheet will do. I love spreadsheets because you can very quickly create a template and sort/filter the information to create your own custom reports or queries.
I will end with the famous quote, “You don’t plan to fail, you fail to plan”. A project plan should be your first step towards a successful web site.
Elvin Picardo
Delivering Net Results to Small Business
Author of numerous articles on web development and Internet Marketing for small business
10723 159th St, Surrey, BC V4N 3J1 Canada
NetMedian.com
Contact Elvin
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