Welcome!
- Introductions and Welcome
- Overview of day’s events
- Opening discussion
Old Profession, New Challenges
- Project management is historically a challenging profession
- Managing Web projects introduces an entirely new level of concerns
- Ideally, we first look to old wisdom to solve some of these concerns
- If no such widwom exists, it’s time to look for innovative solutions
General Skill, Multiple Tasks
- Web professionals often inherit the PMs role
- Within a team, each individual must really be a task leader as well as team member
- Leadership is critical, both for those folks working within teams as small as one and large as imaginable
Areas of Concern
- Determining a project management model
- Identifying stakeholders and getting them on board
- Understanding the individual and group skills available
- Having effective communication skills to moderate between diverse skills
- Ensuring breadth and well as depth knowledge for all PMs
- Pro-active versus passive management
- Add yours here
Determining the model
- What model will the project follow? (RAD, Xtreme programming, custom models)
- Defining roles within a model
- Selecting and implementing management software that fits the model
Identifying Stakeholders
- Who are the stakeholders within your project?
- Techniques for ensuring stakeholders and PMs are equally clear on project needs and scope
- Securing “sign off” multiple times throughout a project lifecycle
Understanding Skill Sets
- Know your people and what they can do!
- Be at least familiar each staff member’s role
- Foster an environment of open communication
Effective Communication
- Poor communication is possibly the singlemost reason projects are delayed or fail
- Meetings are always helpful so long as they enhance the process, not make people feel as they are being pulled away from the actual work
- PMs must have a working knowledge of the terms used by various staff and team members. How you speak to a marketing guy is different than the engineering gal
- Encourage constructive feedback and find activities to help reduce stress during intense project phases
Proactivity versus Passivity
- All the skills in the world do not a great PM make. Proactivity and leadership are a must
- Passive management is a grave danger
- Remember that behavior typically trickles down — a manager who does not lead will have more challenges during a project’s lifecycle