9 Practical tips on Effective Web Project Management
Posted by Keith Tan in Project Management on December 5th, 2008
Ahh…Pure bliss! Fantasy or Fact?
One of our recent tender submissions required us to include a section on how we’d manage a project effectively. The client wanted to hear what we’d learnt from our past projects and what practical measures we could put in place to steer a project from budget and time overruns.
We’re all familiar with the standard project management stuff, but as with most things, sometimes we just need a little reminder or refresher. Well, I thought it’d be useful to share this information, and get any comments from you on your own experiences. Note: I’m just gonna copy and paste it here. So please pardon the slightly more formal-sounding tone. 
1.   Identify risks early and set realistic timelines - The kickstart meeting is the most important meeting for the project. In this meeting, we, together with the client, will review all possible risks associated with the project and propose appropriate mitigations. Running through the timeline and ensuring the availability of relevant personnel during the approval dates is also essential.
2.   Set clear expectations and define project scope - More often than not, one of the main reasons for project failures is that the client’s expectations are not in sync with the development team. To prevent this, a thorough walkthrough of the project deliverables and scope is done at the project kickstart meeting. Sometimes, depending on how web savvy a client is, a quick lesson on how the Internet is different from other traditional mediums may be required.
3.   Understand the client DNA - Not every client is the same. Each has its own style of working and corporate culture. Identifying the key decision makers/influencers and understanding their profiles at the beginning can help prevent possible clashes during the project.
4.   Ensure Technology compatibility - All technology requirements (server, database, web technology, etc) must be crystal clear and frozen during the requirements gathering stage. This is crucial for projects that require web development as certain types of applications (e.g. CMS) work optimally on selected platforms.
5.   Hold regular project review meetings - Meeting the client regularly to review the project status (either face-to-face or telecon) is a proven practice to ensure that timelines do not slip and follow-up actions are completed.
6.   Track and consolidate all actionable items – After every meeting, we upload and update the list of actionable items to a Google Docs spreadsheet. Once an item is closed, its status will be updated online. This provides a clear overview of all outstanding items and prevents them from getting “lostâ€.
7.   Assign tasks to individuals, not to departments or groups – This prevents any miscommunication on which party is supposed to deliver what.
8.   Emphasize importance and impact of signoffs – At every approval stage, the client will be briefed about the significance and impact of the signoffs. Changes, however minor, will undoubtedly impact the project time and costs.
9.   Allocate plenty of time for content creation/collation – Often overlooked, content is the key to any website development. Always establish the content owners and impose content freeze dates to avoid project delays.
