Managing Web Projects, Continued

Project Communication

Project communication begins with the first client contact and continues through the life of the project. It includes any contact among the project manager, client, and team -- everything from e-mail to meetings to shared documentation and project sites.

Team meetings
Whether your team is distributed across many locations or all in the same room, most projects will start and end with meetings of the full project team. (And if my mailbox is anything to judge by, much of the contact in between will be via e-mail.) For the duration of the project, the project manager should be the communications hub and the primary (and sometimes only) contact with the client.

If all major projects should start with a kickoff meeting, they should wrap up with a postmortem. A postmortem is held after all tasks have been completed and the project has been closed down. The project manager, development team, and, where appropriate, the client meet to discuss the project's successes and failures. This is particularly helpful if members of the team work together regularly on multiple projects. One project's success or failure can benefit the next project that comes down the pike.

Documentation
A shared set of project documentation gives the team a common reference as development moves forward. The project scope document outlines the project's goals. The project plan, or schedule, maps specific tasks against the project timeline (Microsoft Project is a commonly used tool for this function, but other tools are also available). Technical and production specifications make the developer's job easier, as do flowcharts and style guides.

Beyond this core set, a project's document library may include anything that's a useful reference document for the team or the client. It's important, though, to reflect changes in scope or specifications in the project documents. In order to be useful, they should be up to date.

Once formed, the project document library can become part of a project Web site. The project site can also host design comps, prototypes, team contact information, and any number of other things. David Siegel covers project sites in depth in his book Secrets of Successful Web Sites: Project Management on the World Wide Web.

Progress updates
One of the project manager's most basic responsibilities is to track the progress of the work. Are tasks being completed on time and in the right order? Are developers aware of what tasks they need to complete next, and when these tasks needs to be completed? Is the client completing tasks they're responsible for, such as providing content?

The project manager needs to be constantly aware of the current state of the project and the team. Progress updates should be provided to both the client and the team at regular checkpoints. These checkpoints allow the team to assess project status and air any concerns or problems.

view a printable version of this article