Managing Web Projects, Part 1 - Introduction
| Category: Website Design and Development | Date: 2003-10-30 |
This article introduces a series of articles on the management of web projects. The techniques to be described in this series apply to the development of new web sites, updates to existing web sites, custom software development, and many other areas in technology management.
THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT DISCIPLINE
The field of project management applies not only to managing technology projects but managing anything which could be considered a "project". This could include construction projects, architecture projects, or the next launch of the space shuttle.
Recognizing that project managers in many different industries faced a common set of problems and that a set of "best practices" could be determined, five volunteers founded the Project Management Institute (PMI) in 1969. The PMI now has over 86,000 members around the world. It publishes books and periodicals, including the "Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge" (the "PMBOK Guide"), which is the primary source of information for the certification offered by the PMI: the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
Since the field of project management is applicable to endeavors in many different fields, the general guidelines accepted by the project management community serve as an invaluable source of knowledge on topics such as scope management, time management, cost management and so on, but it has little to say on topics such as when to build a web page mockup, how to deploy a database, or when to conduct usability testing. For answers to these questions, specific industry knowledge and, perhaps more importantly, depth of experience are irreplaceable.
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT AND WEB DEVELOPMENT
You may have made the leap and learned enough about the web to build your own home page, or you may be a skilled developer. In either case, the question "What do I do next?" inevitably comes up at some point. There are many tasks which must be completed in order to have a product ready for its intended use. When working alone, on a simple project, it is easy to work "by the seat of your pants", just working on whatever is the most fun or easiest to work on at any given time. But as the complexity of the project increases, and especially when the number of people working on the project increases, the need increases for doing things in a relatively orderly and rational manner.
If you build something before having a clear design for what it is you are building, how do you know that what you are building will do what is desired, or even if it will work? If you create a design for a product without having a common understanding of the underlying business processes taking place, how do you know your designs reflect the reality of the situation? If you conduct a business analysis without having a client agree on the specific type of work you are going to be performing, how do you know that you are asking the right questions or even talking with the right people?
Building web sites and custom software requires that all of these tasks be done in a logical progression. What the "right" logical progression happens to be is not commonly agreed to by all parties in the software industry. The "accepted" methods of building software have changed significantly over the years. One of the methods which is currently used by many organizations is known as the "Rational Unified Process" or RUP, promulgated by Rational Software. It has many good points to it, but several drawbacks as well. A fairly recent development is another method known as "Extreme Programming".
I am not going to describe any of these massive methodologies in any detail. Nor am I going to lay out a blueprint for a new, radical manner of managing technology projects. The knowledge I possess regarding how to do this comes to me through years of doing it. It is not an exact science, and while there are general guidelines to follow, each project will be unique and have unique needs. But having an idea of the type of work which must be done in what order is an invaluable aid in making technology projects run more smoothly and complete more successfully.
THE PHASES
The following articles in this series will describe in detail the basic phases of a software project. In summary, those phases are:
Initiate: Lay the foundations for the project and create an outline of what the completed project will do.
Analyze: Come to a common understanding of the underlying business processes and the issues which are to be addressed.
Design: Create a detailed blueprint for exactly how the end product will function, what it will look like, and how it will be put together.
Build: Do the work of actually assembling the product, all the while testing it to ensure that it does what it is supposed to do and does it correctly.
Deploy: Roll the product out for use and monitor its usage. Review: Once the product is in place, review what was done, how it was done, what else could or should be done, and how it could all have been done better.
These phases are not always done in the same order or the same way, and in some projects they will be repeated several times. I will be discussing in a later installment of this series how these phases may be customized based on the demands of the project.
FINAL WORDS
In order to learn the techniques of managing web projects or technology projects in general, the best teacher is experience. However, the well-documented methods of project management and software engineering can be studied to provide a good background on which to sucessfully build the beginnings of that experience. This series will explore these methods in more detail.
LINKS:
The Project Management Institute: http://www.pmi.org
The Rational Unified Process: http://www.rational.com/rup
Extreme Programming: http://www.xprogramming.org
Article Copyright (c) Jeremy Warach 2002
About the Author
Jeremy Warach is the Founder and Principal Consultant of J. Warach Consulting Services (JWCS), a full service software and web development consultancy based in the New York City area. He has worked in the technology field for over fifteen years, designing, building, and managing technology projects.
jeremy@warach.com
http://www.warach.com
THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT DISCIPLINE
The field of project management applies not only to managing technology projects but managing anything which could be considered a "project". This could include construction projects, architecture projects, or the next launch of the space shuttle.
Recognizing that project managers in many different industries faced a common set of problems and that a set of "best practices" could be determined, five volunteers founded the Project Management Institute (PMI) in 1969. The PMI now has over 86,000 members around the world. It publishes books and periodicals, including the "Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge" (the "PMBOK Guide"), which is the primary source of information for the certification offered by the PMI: the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
Since the field of project management is applicable to endeavors in many different fields, the general guidelines accepted by the project management community serve as an invaluable source of knowledge on topics such as scope management, time management, cost management and so on, but it has little to say on topics such as when to build a web page mockup, how to deploy a database, or when to conduct usability testing. For answers to these questions, specific industry knowledge and, perhaps more importantly, depth of experience are irreplaceable.
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT AND WEB DEVELOPMENT
You may have made the leap and learned enough about the web to build your own home page, or you may be a skilled developer. In either case, the question "What do I do next?" inevitably comes up at some point. There are many tasks which must be completed in order to have a product ready for its intended use. When working alone, on a simple project, it is easy to work "by the seat of your pants", just working on whatever is the most fun or easiest to work on at any given time. But as the complexity of the project increases, and especially when the number of people working on the project increases, the need increases for doing things in a relatively orderly and rational manner.
If you build something before having a clear design for what it is you are building, how do you know that what you are building will do what is desired, or even if it will work? If you create a design for a product without having a common understanding of the underlying business processes taking place, how do you know your designs reflect the reality of the situation? If you conduct a business analysis without having a client agree on the specific type of work you are going to be performing, how do you know that you are asking the right questions or even talking with the right people?
Building web sites and custom software requires that all of these tasks be done in a logical progression. What the "right" logical progression happens to be is not commonly agreed to by all parties in the software industry. The "accepted" methods of building software have changed significantly over the years. One of the methods which is currently used by many organizations is known as the "Rational Unified Process" or RUP, promulgated by Rational Software. It has many good points to it, but several drawbacks as well. A fairly recent development is another method known as "Extreme Programming".
I am not going to describe any of these massive methodologies in any detail. Nor am I going to lay out a blueprint for a new, radical manner of managing technology projects. The knowledge I possess regarding how to do this comes to me through years of doing it. It is not an exact science, and while there are general guidelines to follow, each project will be unique and have unique needs. But having an idea of the type of work which must be done in what order is an invaluable aid in making technology projects run more smoothly and complete more successfully.
THE PHASES
The following articles in this series will describe in detail the basic phases of a software project. In summary, those phases are:
Initiate: Lay the foundations for the project and create an outline of what the completed project will do.
Analyze: Come to a common understanding of the underlying business processes and the issues which are to be addressed.
Design: Create a detailed blueprint for exactly how the end product will function, what it will look like, and how it will be put together.
Build: Do the work of actually assembling the product, all the while testing it to ensure that it does what it is supposed to do and does it correctly.
Deploy: Roll the product out for use and monitor its usage. Review: Once the product is in place, review what was done, how it was done, what else could or should be done, and how it could all have been done better.
These phases are not always done in the same order or the same way, and in some projects they will be repeated several times. I will be discussing in a later installment of this series how these phases may be customized based on the demands of the project.
FINAL WORDS
In order to learn the techniques of managing web projects or technology projects in general, the best teacher is experience. However, the well-documented methods of project management and software engineering can be studied to provide a good background on which to sucessfully build the beginnings of that experience. This series will explore these methods in more detail.
LINKS:
The Project Management Institute: http://www.pmi.org
The Rational Unified Process: http://www.rational.com/rup
Extreme Programming: http://www.xprogramming.org
Article Copyright (c) Jeremy Warach 2002
About the Author
Jeremy Warach is the Founder and Principal Consultant of J. Warach Consulting Services (JWCS), a full service software and web development consultancy based in the New York City area. He has worked in the technology field for over fifteen years, designing, building, and managing technology projects.
jeremy@warach.com
http://www.warach.com
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