Web project management
The skills required by a group of web developers.
- Responsibilities of web project manager.
Group structure for web developers
| A Good Web Development Team |
Whether they are used as a marketing tools or for eCommerce business, Web sites are more than just an addition to the corporate presence. They are a necessity. In many instances, a site can make-or-break a company's image. Visitors want simple, yet interesting sites with appealing graphics and user interaction. However, if the design is too busy or the pages take too long to download, you will lose potential clients. This is why a good Web development team is crucial to your business.
March 7, 2001
If your business uses its Web site as a marketing tool to present products and services, you may only need a static site that will be updated periodically. Your Web team may consist of a single skilled Web master. Just be careful of putting too much stock in one individual. A long-term absence could be catastrophic to the project. Other sites may require weekly, daily, and in some cases, up-to-the-minute updates requiring round the clock attention. This team may consist of multiple system administrators, Web application programmers, Web masters, and project managers.
For the sake of this article, I am going to discuss a team compiled for a small to medium-sized eCommerce company, and I offer this scheme not as a rule, rather as a guide.
Project Manager:
The project manager is the key to a successful team. He or she is responsible for more than just the site. They are responsible for the team's individual members, communication and follow-through. This position does not require specific programming or networking skills, however, a technical background is preferable. The project manager will be representing the team, and must be able to speak intelligently. One of their most important tasks is to gather the requirements of the site and understand the expectations of the client. They must understand the scope of the project to correctly convey the ideas to the team members. Good oral and written communication skills are essential, as are time management and organizational skills. They must possess the ability to lead team members, manage resources and be poised and confident to speak to management and clients regarding the progress of the team. Generally speaking, three to five years of project management experience is a good minimum requirement for this position.
Web Master:
A Web master is more than just someone who knows HTML and a few scripts. This person must also have good written skills, should be responsible for grammar and spelling, and will work closely with the client and Project Manager to determine the content of the site and layout. Depending on the size of the site, the Web master may also be responsible for graphic design. Knowledge of Flash animation, Adobe Photoshop, as well as VB Scripting is always desirable. Should a designer be available, the Web master should be the liaison to the team. A successful Web master must also be familiar with the operating system, and the internet server applications that run on the server. The two most common OS's are Windows NT/2000 running Internet Information Server, and Unix running Apache Web Server. A third up-and-comer is the Linux/Apache combination. The required skill set will depend on your environment. An understanding of SQL or another database engine, and how it communicates to the application server is desirable. Three to five years of experience is typical for a qualified Web master.
Application Developer:
The Web Applications Developer is responsible for developing server side functionality for Web-based applications. This involves working with all aspects of the server and database. Common Internet programming languages include PERL, CGI, ActiveX, ASP, and Java, among others. Experience with IP networks, database development and an understanding of the operating system are essential. They must be able to work with the project manager to analyze and interpret the client requirements and recommend solutions, so strong problem-solving and analytical skills are essential. Depending on the complexity of the applications, your developer should have anywhere from 2-4 years experience.
Systems Administrator
A good SysAdmin can make the difference in a successful site. The site is only good if it can operate in a secure and stable environment. System administrators are generally responsible for building, maintaining and securing the Web, application and database servers in the Internet architecture. A Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) with a background in Internet Information Server has the appropriate skill set for system administration in a Microsoft environment. If your environment runs on Unix, an individual with firewall and Apache Web server background, along with 4-6 years of network administration experience, should possess the necessary skills to complete any Web team.
Many times, system administration is outsourced. If you are a small company, you may not have the equipment necessary to host your own servers and provide 24/7 reliability. You have to account for backups, UPS, site monitoring, redundancy, server maintenance, security, and overall reliability. Sometimes it is more feasible to contract out to a hosting service like Virtualis or eHost.
Graphic Designer (if available)
As I mentioned before, Web masters often have the basics of graphic design. However, if you have the resources, a graphics designer will greatly enhance your Web development team. The designer can assist in the creation of images and other graphical needs of the development project. You should expect a minimum of a four-year degree in fine arts or related field, and least two years of graphical design experience in a Web environment. Additionally, they should be proficient with the latest multimedia tools. Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are recognized as the industry standard. Knowledge of layout, composition and color theory as well as experience with HTML is a plus.
Project Management
I said earlier that the Project Manager is responsible for managing the team's activities, especially communication among the team members. A solid plan is critical to accomplishing this task. The plan must be detailed, straightforward, and easy to understand. Regular project updates should occur so the members may interact and discuss various tasks in depth. Keep in mind, just as the project manager must provide the medium to communicate openly, all team members have a responsibility to be actively involved in the project. Most importantly, involve the members in the planning from the beginning. If not, you run the risk of team members not understanding the scope and the required result. A hardcopy of the plan should be readily available to each member, and displayed in an easy to reach area. I recommend Microsoft Project 2000 as an in-depth tool in the creation of the project plan. It allows you to create a calendar, Gantt chart, flow charts, and to track resources, plus other valuable features.
In closing, I want to stress the importance of communication among the members of any project team. Without clear guidance and leadership, project failure is inevitable. Without constant communication, details will be missed and tasks will be incomplete or wrong. In the end, the client will lose potential profits and the team will lose potential clients.
The Web Site Design and Development Process
There are numerous steps in the web site design and development process. From gathering initial information, to the creation of your web site, and finally to maintenance to keep your web site up to date and current.
The exact process will vary slightly from designer to designer, but the basics are generally the same.
Phase One: Information Gathering
The first step in designing a successful web site is to gather information. Many things need to be taken into consideration when the look and feel of your site is created.
This first step is actually the most important one, as it involves a solid understanding of the company it is created for. It involves a good understanding of you – what your business goals and dreams are, and how the web can be utilized to help you achieve those goals.
It is important that your web designer start off by asking a lot of questions to help them undersand your business and your needs in a web site.
Certain things to consider are:
- Purpose
What is the purpose of the site? Do you want to provide information, promote a service, sell a product… ? - Goals
What do you hope to accomplish by building this web site? Two of the more common goals are either to make money or share information. - Target Audience
Is there a specific group of people that will help you reach your goals? It is helpful to picture the “ideal” person you want to visit your web site. Consider their age, sex or interests – this will later help determine the best design style for your site. - Content
What kind of information will the target audience be looking for on your site? Are they looking for specific information, a particular product or service, online ordering…?
Phase Two: Planning
Using the information gathered from phase one, it is time to put together a plan for your web site. This is the point where a site map is developed.
The site map is a list of all main topic areas of the site, as well as sub-topics, if applicable. This serves as a guide as to what content will be on the site, and is essential to developing a consistent, easy to understand navigational system. The end-user of the web site – aka your customer – must be kept in mind when designing your site. These are, after all, the people who will be learning about your service or buying your product. A good user interface creates an easy to navigate web site, and is the basis for this.
During the planning phase, your web designer will also help you decide what technologies should be implemented. Elements such as interactive forms, ecommerce, flash, etc. are discussed when planning your web site.
Phase Three: Design
Drawing from the information gathered up to this point, it’s time to determine the look and feel of your site.
Target audience is one of the key factors taken into consideration. A site aimed at teenagers, for example, will look much different than one meant for a financial institution. As part of the design phase, it is also important to incorporate elements such as the company logo or colors to help strengthen the identity of your company on the web site.
Your web designer will create one or more prototype designs for your web site. This is typically a .jpg image of what the final design will look like. Often times you will be sent an email with the mock-ups for your web site, while other designers take it a step further by giving you access to a secure area of their web site meant for customers to view work in progress.
Either way, your designer should allow you to view your project throughout the design and development stages. The most important reason for this is that it gives you the opportunity to express your likes and dislikes on the site design.
In this phase, communication between both you and your designer is crucial to ensure that the final web site will match your needs and taste. It is important that you work closely with your designer, exchanging ideas, until you arrive at the final design for your web site.
Then development can begin…
Phase Four: Development
The developmental stage is the point where the web site itself is created. At this time, your web designer will take all of the individual graphic elements from the prototype and use them to create the actual, functional site.
This is typically done by first developing the home page, followed by a “shell” for the interior pages. The shell serves as a template for the content pages of your site, as it contains the main navigational structure for the web site. Once the shell has been created, your designer will take your content and distribute it throughout the site, in the appropriate areas.
Elements such as interactive contact forms, flash animations or ecommerce shopping carts are implemented and made functional during this phase, as well.
This entire time, your designer should continue to make your in-progress web site available to you for viewing, so that you can suggest any additional changes or corrections you would like to have done.
On the technical front, a successful web site requires an understanding of front-end web development. This involves writing valid XHTML / CSS code that complies to current web standards, maximizing functionality, as well as accessibility for as large an audience as possible.
This is tested in the next phase…
Phase Five: Testing and Delivery
At this point, your web designer will attend to the final details and test your web site. They will test things such as the complete functionality of forms or other scripts, as well last testing for last minute compatibility issues (viewing differences between different web browsers), ensuring that your web site is optimized to be viewed properly in the most recent browser versions.
A good web designer is one who is well versed in current standards for web site design and development. The basic technologies currently used are XHTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). As part of testing, your designer should check to be sure that all of the code written for your web site validates. Valid code means that your site meets the current web development standards – this is helpful when checking for issues such as cross-browser compatibility as mentioned above.
Once you give your web designer final approval, it is time to deliver the site. An FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program is used to upload the web site files to your server. Most web designers offer domain name registration and web hosting services as well. Once these accounts have been setup, and your web site uploaded to the server, the site should be put through one last run-through. This is just precautionary, to confirm that all files have been uploaded correctly, and that the site continues to be fully functional.
This marks the official launch of your site, as it is now viewable to the public.
Phase Six: Maintenance
The development of your web site is not necessarily over, though. One way to bring repeat visitors to your site is to offer new content or products on a regular basis. Most web designers will be more than happy to continue working together with you, to update the information on your web site. Many designers offer maintenance packages at reduced rates, based on how often you anticipate making changes or additions to your web site.
If you prefer to be more hands on, and update your own content, there is something called a CMS (Content Management System) that can be implemented to your web site. This is something that would be decided upon during the Planning stage. With a CMS, your designer will utilize online software to develop a database driven site for you.
A web site driven by a CMS gives you the ability to edit the content areas of the web site yourself. You are given access to a back-end administrative area, where you can use an online text editor (similar to a mini version of Microsoft Word). You’ll be able to edit existing content this way, or if you are feeling more adventurous, you can even add new pages and content yourself. The possibilities are endless!
It’s really up to you as far as how comfortable you feel as far as updating your own web site. Some people prefer to have all the control so that they can make updates to their own web site the minute they decide to do so. Others prefer to hand off the web site entirely, as they have enough tasks on-hand that are more important for them to handle directly.
That’s where the help of a your web designer comes in, once again, as they can take over the web site maintenance for you – one less thing for you to do is always a good thing in these busy times!
Other maintenance type items include SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SES (Search Engine Submission). This is the optimization of you web site with elements such as title, description and keyword tags which help your web site achieve higher rankings in the search engines. The previously mentioned code validation is something that plays a vital role in SEO, as well.
There are a lot of details involved in optimizing and submitting your web site to the search engines – enough to warrant it’s own post. This is a very important step, because even though you now have a web site, you need to make sure that people can find it!
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