Planning and executing effective web projects is a lot like producing a play, directing a movie, or even plotting a bank robbery. Everything needs to run like clockwork or the cops are gonna bust ya. Defining project roles and responsibilities early in the game will put a human face on your project and help establish an effective management framework.

Now that you’ve defined the project, who’s going do the work? Do they know they have to do it? Do they know what needs to be done? Can they do it in the assigned timeframe? Answering these questions clearly is critical to managing your web project effectively.

Most interactive marketing agencies use what I like to call “The Fantastic Four Model” to guide their project teams. This model consists of four key roles - a project lead, account lead, creative lead and tech lead. These may or may not be the official titles, but these four roles are almost always the critical players in any web development initiative. Together these four people provide the necessary foundation for a successful project. The project lead works closely with the other three to drive the wheels of production forward.

Project Lead
Yep, that’s you, assuming you’re the web project manager. You may or may not have formal project management training, but you’re responsible for making sure this baby goes live. You bring your organizational acumen, communication skills, good humor and dogged determination to the table. You also wear many hats as you work through the various political, creative and technical details of your projects. Ultimately you’ll have lots of responsibility and absolutely no authority. Ain’t that fun? Who wants this job? Lots of people! It’s exciting, exasperating and wonderful all at the same time. You’d miss it if you were doing something else.

Account Lead
The account lead is usually the rainmaker who brings in the business or someone who works for the rainmaker. This person is responsible for dealing directly with the client so you can focus on getting the project done internally. Do everything you can to get “in the pocket” of your account lead. A solid project/account leadership team gets everything off on the right foot and helps prevent conflicts down the road.

Creative Lead
The creative lead on a web project is often the Agency Creative Director or Associate Creative Director (ACD). This person is the heart and soul of your project. Take care of him or her to the very best of your ability. Your creative lead crafts the vision of your project and will be able to best sell it in to your client. He or she may not, however, know the best way to execute the program, and so the yin and yang of web project management begins to unfold. You will make sure your Creative Lead has all the information he or she needs, the appropriate creative resources lined up, and any questions answered. Creative leads are often under tremendous pressure with multiple project deadlines and staff, so be gentle when they get a little testy.

The creative lead has an entire team of people reporting into him or her. One of the most important is the Information Architect (IA). Helping your Creative Lead forge a productive partnership with a talented IA will pay huge dividends down the road. The IA is responsible for designing the overall site structure and making sure that the final user experience is a positive one. An Information Architect creates sitemaps, wireframes, and user flows to document site structure and functionality before any designs are created or code is written. Ideally the IA deliverables are reviewed and approved by the client before any creative work is done.

When the IA deliverables are approved by the client it’s time to get the creative team creating. Their first task is to come up with several creative concepts that will satisfy the creative brief. The task of creative concepting is usually assigned to an Art Director and Copywriter. This dynamic duo works with the Creative Director or ACD to brainstorm a variety of possible concepts to satisfy the vision and requirements laid out in the creative brief. This team usually works together until the creative work is handed off to the development team. Depending on the size of a given project they are often supplemented by production designers and Flash designers who will build out a prototype or “comps” of the site.

Tech Lead
Your tech lead is the calm, brilliant, quiet soul who guides your ship to port. Befriend your tech lead and accept that you will never know as much as he or she does about technology. Tech leads are often the Yodas of web development. They are creative, assertive, and always have the best interests of the project in mind.

Make sure your tech lead is involved at the outset of your project and include him in all creative review meetings. He or she will be instrumental in crafting an elegant technical solution that appropriately supports the creative vision. He or she will also provide a reality check if feasibility becomes an issue.

Depending on the size of your project, your tech lead may have additional staff reporting into him or her. The technical team often includes front end HTML/Flash and Javascript programmers, database administrators, and quality assurance (QA) testers. It’s always a good idea to have a dedicated QA tester on any size web project. This guarantees that a fresh set of eyes can review the project and identify any bugs before it goes live.

The Fantastic Four Model works well for most marketing driven websites and media campaigns. Having solid project, account, creative and tech leads in place at project initiation is absolutely critical. Now that you’ve defined your project scope and have a good understanding of who’s doing what, you’re ready to put your team to work. Next, read How To Conduct Effective Meetings and get everyone on the same page. May the web be with you!