Pro Web Project Management

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 4
About the Authors......Page 241
Acknowledgments......Page 242
Is This Guide for You?......Page 5
About the Document Examples......Page 6
The Project Life Cycle......Page 8
What Is the Problem?......Page 11
Be a Trusted Advisor......Page 12
Be Honest. Really.......Page 13
Can We Help Solve the Problem?......Page 14
Date and Version......Page 15
Scope of Work......Page 16
Investment Budget......Page 17
Don’t Go Chasing Methodologies......Page 18
Waterfall Methodology......Page 20
The Document Formats Rule......Page 21
Double-Check the Attachment......Page 22
Customizing Software......Page 23
Wrapping Up......Page 25
Don’t Do This: A Disastrous Kickoff Meeting......Page 26
What Should Be Covered?......Page 29
One Hour or Five Days?......Page 30
Traveling for a Big Project?......Page 31
Preparing for a Meeting......Page 32
Don’t Waste Time: Write an Agenda......Page 33
Agenda Throwdown......Page 36
Take Charge......Page 39
Introduce the Agenda......Page 40
Guiding the Meeting......Page 41
Winding Down the Meeting......Page 42
Meeting Wrap-Up......Page 43
What About Minutes?......Page 44
Wrap-Up E-mail Example......Page 45
Wrapping Up......Page 46
Why Discovery?......Page 47
Example Questions......Page 49
Sitemap Workflow......Page 50
About Requirements......Page 51
How to Gather Requirements for Fun and Profit......Page 52
The Requirements Document Structure......Page 55
Principle #3: Mention the Audit Logging......Page 57
Principle #5: Specify the Compatible Browsers......Page 58
The 80/20 Rule......Page 59
Getting the Requirements Approved......Page 60
Wrapping Up......Page 61
Oh, the Horror of Just One More Delay......Page 63
Estimating Time (It’s Hard!)......Page 64
Principle #4: Ask a Developer (But Add Time)......Page 65
Principle #7: Resist the Temptation to Underestimate......Page 66
Preparing the Project Schedule......Page 67
Principle #3: Add Some Padding......Page 68
Formatting the Schedule......Page 69
Keeping a Close Eye on the Project (without Micromanaging)......Page 71
Handling Out-of-Scope Client Requests......Page 73
Principle #4: Maintain a Feature Request List......Page 74
Principle #8: Do Not Feel Bad......Page 75
Understanding Change Orders......Page 76
Be Transparent......Page 78
Negotiating......Page 79
What to Do in the Worst Case?......Page 80
Wrapping Up......Page 81
The Blindsided IT Manager......Page 82
Technique #1: One-a-day Productivity......Page 84
Technique #2: The Monday Morning Checklist......Page 85
Proactive Project Management......Page 87
What Defensive Driving Teaches Us About Project Management......Page 88
Quick Tips for Getting Work from Clients......Page 90
Wrapping Up......Page 91
Technical Documentation......Page 92
Design Mock-Up, Wireframes, and HTML Mock-Ups......Page 93
Don’t Mock Me Up......Page 94
When to Write a Technical Specification......Page 96
All Together Now......Page 100
Preparing Screen Mock-Ups......Page 101
Sharing Your Work with the Client......Page 108
The Design Process......Page 109
Creating a Database......Page 112
The Meat and Potatoes......Page 114
Think Through a Feature......Page 115
Be Specific: An Example......Page 116
The Side Dishes......Page 118
Wrapping Up......Page 119
A Developer Out of Control......Page 120
Keeping the Client Updated......Page 122
Professionalism......Page 123
Your Vacation Auto-Response Message Is Probably Wrong......Page 124
The Power of Checklists......Page 125
Don’t Avoid the Pain; Go Toward It......Page 128
Documenting Code......Page 129
Documenting the System Architecture......Page 130
Documenting System Administration Settings......Page 131
Use Version Control......Page 133
Case Tracking......Page 134
The Weekly Developer Meeting......Page 135
Wrapping Up......Page 137
The Developer Who Refused to Test......Page 138
About Testing......Page 139
Your Software Is Only as Good as Your Testing......Page 140
Creating a Testing Checklist......Page 141
Testing Checklist Format......Page 144
How to Manage a Beta Test with a Client......Page 146
Homework Is for the Little People......Page 147
Horror Story: Who Is the Real Client?......Page 148
Usability Testing......Page 150
So What Do You Test?......Page 151
Wrapping Up......Page 153
A Failed Deployment......Page 154
Deployment Process and Planning......Page 155
Pointer #1: Create a Launch-day Checklist......Page 156
Pointer #5: Meet with the Development Team Several Days Before Launch......Page 157
Pointer #8: Test!......Page 158
Training......Page 159
The Web Site Launch Checklist......Page 160
The Importance of Defining Post-Launch Support......Page 163
Wrapping Up......Page 164
Sam the Entrepreneur......Page 165
Providing Support......Page 167
Long-term Support......Page 168
Support Orientation......Page 170
Supporting Projects Developed by Someone Else......Page 173
Challenge #5: The Client is Not Well Informed......Page 174
Pointer #2: Don’t Overtly Blame the Previous Development Team......Page 175
Pointer #5: Provide Regular Updates......Page 176
Pretend You’re Leaving......Page 177
Wrapping Up......Page 178
Project Management Software......Page 180
Reading List......Page 181
Client Name......Page 182
Client Name......Page 183
Section 1: Purpose of Web Site......Page 184
Section 2: Features......Page 185
Section 3: Creative Brief......Page 187
Section 4: Information Architecture Brief......Page 190
Section 5: Technical Brief......Page 192
Section 6: Search Engine Optimization Brief......Page 194
Section 7: Other Considerations......Page 196
Client Name......Page 197
Project Risks......Page 0
Appendix......Page 203
Client Name......Page 204
Overview......Page 205
Homepage Templates and Box Types......Page 206
Working with Storyboards......Page 209
Client Name......Page 212
3. Accessing the Site......Page 214
4. Training Outline......Page 215
Testing Checklist......Page 217
Pre-Launch......Page 223
Launch......Page 226
Post-Launch......Page 228
Client Name......Page 230
Weekly Checklist......Page 234
D......Page 235
P......Page 236
T......Page 238
Z......Page 239