Managing Web Projects, Continued

Building the Team

By now you've begun to develop a relationship with the client and you've hammered out the project scope and goals. This should give you a sense of the tasks that will be necessary to complete the project, and what roles those tasks are associated with. You're ready to form the project team.

Project roles
In the early days of the Web, all your web development needs could be met by that one-person wonder, the Webmaster. These days there's much more specialization. A major web project these days might include not only a graphic designer but also an information architect and a usability engineer. Instead of a single Webmaster performing all technical functions, you might now see around the project table an HTML production specialist, a Perl programmer, a database developer, and a systems administrator.

The more roles there are, the more distributed project tasks become. The more this happens, the more you need a project manager to pull the pieces together.

Assigning staff
The process of assigning people to a project is different from company to company, but whether you use in-house staff, independent contractors, a design firm, or a combination of these to fill the roles on your team, all team members must understand what's expected of them. That means understanding not only the project's scope and goals, but also specific team tasks and responsibilities at every point in the development process.

Particularly when working with independent contractors or outside firms, take the time to go over your expectations. Will team members have access to the servers? Will they work on-site or remotely? Will they QA their work or will someone else? These little questions can add up to big headaches if team expectations differ.

The kickoff
Once the team is formed, get the project off the ground with a kickoff meeting. This is a good opportunity to review the scope in detail, assemble detailed specifications, create preliminary project schedules, and build enthusiasm for the project and a sense of team identity.

If you have no other meetings in the course of the project, have the kickoff meeting. When it goes well, it can give the project a large push in the right direction.

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