WEB105 > Defining the Project 4
I’m serious now… Defining the project is a step that most young web designers don’t realize they need to do. If you do not clearly define your project, you are doomed to fail.
B) Clarification
Clarification is the sub-phase where you deliver your terms of the project to the client.
The Communication Brief
The Communication Brief is a short and simple statement of the site objectives, from overall goals to targeted audience user perception. It should restate the client’s wishes by organizing the answers from the client survey in a professionally presentable document:
Web Redesign: Workflow that Works 2.0 - Communication Brief Worksheet
The Communication Brief will help to:
- clarify overall site goals
- align both the team and the client under the same terminology
- identify style, audience and message
Scope Creep – is the inevitable slow migration of a straightforward project to a nightmare. To avoid “Scope Creep” you should:
- Have a very clear list of deliverables
- Keep a meticulous track of hours
- Educate the client and clearly define what is within budget
The Task Estimate
The Task Estimate determines your time-frame and resources by multiplying scope hours by your hourly rate:
Sample Project Estimate
See Also:
- Web Development Project Estimator | Astuteo
- Effective Strategy To Estimate Time For Your Design Projects | Smashing Magazine
Tracking Time
Track your Hours! Organizations that track time and know where their project stands are profitable. Staying on top of project hours is crucial to maintaining budget and scope requirements:
- Submit accurate hours on a weekly basis
- Use whatever tracking system works for you.
See Also:
- HourGuard | NCH Software
C) Planning
Planning is the sub-phase where you start getting things together by assigning your project team and setting up staging areas.
Overview Schedule
People respond to deadlines and schedules. The Overview Schedule will keep you, your client and your team on track:
Web Redesign: Workflow that Works 2.0 - Overview Schedule
The Overview Schedule should contain:
- The whole project, complete with methodology and breakdown of major milestones
- the project broken into weeks and months as well into phases and steps
Detailed Schedule
Don’t you hate the question, “When is this due?”
The Detailed Schedule should contain:
- Action Item deliverables
- Individual milestones that need to be met
- Day-by-day list of what is happening
See Also: http://www.premiumdw.com/rehabilitation-institute-of-washington/?month=feb&yr=2010
Assigning Your Project Team
Your team is the engine that will keep a project running. To minimize potential breakdowns look for people with proven track-records.
- Clearly establish individual roles and responsibilities
- On the client side, establish one contact who has final sign-off responsibility (Multiple sign-offs always mean delays)
Client Staging Area
The Client Staging Area acts as the hub of communication between you and the Client:
Client Staging Area by Mike Sinkula
The Client Staging Area is where you will post all of your “deliverables” for the Client.
You should:
- Reserve a spot on your own server
- Password protect it if you can
- Make sure the client bookmarks their staging area
- Resend it in important emails
Development Team Staging Area
- Serves as a place for the team to work and access files
- Should be used as a place to test the alpha site before it is ready to be showed to the client
Kicking Off the Project
Bring everyone together to announce the guidelines and rules by introducing and distributing the:
- Communication Brief
- Contact lists
- Project Schedules
- Team Responsibilities
- Beer
This portion of the Premium Design Works website is written by Mike Sinkula and dedicated to the Web Design & Development students at Seattle Central Community College.
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here is a time tracking app that I found. that works great.
it does time tracking, estimates and invoices.
http://www.ballparkapp.com
these guys are talking about task based billing. http://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/10/10/kalzumeus-podcast-3-growing-consulting-practices-with-brennan-dunn/
it is kind of long. but there is a podcast of it as well. i found it interesting
No joke, scope creep is a nightmare kids. I just had a site launch delayed by a month, literally hours before we were supposed to go live. Get those sign-offs at every stage…
Here is a link to this great free tool for tracking your time spent on projects…
http://www.pivotaltracker.com/
I recently found this handy tool and have used it very effectively to define the various portions of a job for a couple of current clients.
http://estimator.astuteo.com/