Keep asking those questions. And don’t stop until they are answered satisfactorily. Producers and project managers especially are very often brought into a project in the early formative stages, even before a proposal is approved. Yet savvy clients understand the value this role brings to the eventual on time delivery and profitability of a given project. So those are the kinds of clients you want. You want clients who will pay you for your time on the conference call and any follow up work you do (such as writing a detailed proposal) before the project gets the green light.

If the project gets approved, everyone on the team will benefit from the up front project planning and know what to expect going forward. And what if the project doesn’t get approved? That happens occasionally. But if you’ve set expectations appropriately by not doing any discovery work or proposal writing on spec you’ll at least get compensated for whatever time you have invested in the project to date. And this might do the whole industry a big favor.

The schedule seemed a little out of balance this year. It was as if all the good sessions were scheduled together at the same time. The two best sessions IMHO were Tim Ferriss’ The Art of Speed and Bloggers Who Made It. At both of these presentations the moderators were organized and gave each panelist a fair shake to express themselves. And the panelists were good!

And the Mark Zuckerberg keynote? No comment. If you were there you know the deal. If you weren’t check out Tech Crunch’s video and link to all the hubbub here.

Now to be fair - I missed the Friday sessions due to a flight delay, so I can’t comment on those. All I know is that if I’m gonna shell out this kind of cash next year the session content needs to improve. SXSW has amazing potential to be one of the premier thought leadership events in the interactive space. It’s time for it to step up again like it did in 2007.

At this point you’ll be ready to call a meeting of your core team. As we learned in Defining Web Project Roles and Responsibilities, your core team consists of the “Fantastic Four” model – you as project lead, your account lead and your creative and tech leads. Immediately getting your core team leaders on the same page will help get your project off on the right foot.

I like to call this meeting a “pre-kickoff” gathering, where the core team leaders have the opportunity to vet all the available information, start formally defining the project scope and identify any holes that may impede progress. This is where you add the most value to the project by capturing the vision of execution in the final statement of work and creative brief.

Once you and your core team are in agreement with what you believe the project scope to be you’re ready to present this information to the client. This will be your opportunity to get key questions answered before you officially move forward. It is critical that the client is involved from the very beginning. This will avoid miscommunications going forward and give them a feeling of higher investment and empowerment in the project.

In one of the pivotal scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones says “I don’t know, I’m making this up as I go along.” Everyone should realize you’ll never get all the information you need at the beginning of a project because it doesn’t exist yet. It’s the ongoing chicken and egg dilemma of project management, so your goal is to make the most educated guess and best assumptions you can. Imagine as much as possible the way you think your project should be framed out and document your assumptions along the way. When your core team has ideally confirmed or imagined 80% of the project scope, you’ve documented the remaining 20% as assumptions and your client has approved it all you’re ready to call a project kickoff meeting with your larger team.

Marketing people don’t like traditional software practices or phrases, and marketing people are usually web project sponsors. So they’ll look at you cross-eyed if you say, “Hey, what are the requirements?” Instead, it’s often better to say something like, “Let’s get everyone’s ideas down on paper so we can figure out what this thing needs to be”. You don’t need to tell them it’s a requirements gathering session. What’s important is that you, the web project manager, know this and are starting to document the features and functionality of your web initiative. You’re the only one who needs to know the official name of this critical process step.

The best way to start gathering requirements is with a simple outline. By the time you’re ready for this you should have a well defined, client-approved site strategy in place that will guide what should and should not be included in the requirements. Schedule a meeting with the client and project team to create this outline together. Don’t do it yourself in a vacuum. Websites are all about people and politics. Don’t forget the people or you’ll be forced to deal with the politics.

Sometimes it’s helpful to walk into a meeting with a draft outline to get the conversation going. Just make sure everyone knows that’s why you drafted it and that you’re not trying to take over. Your draft outline is merely a tool to start the conversation and is open for revisions and rejection if necessary. Bring handouts of the site strategy to the meeting and write your draft outline on a whiteboard. A whiteboard or eisel is ideal because you’ll be doing a lot of brainstorming with your team as you discuss what is and is not required. Hard copy handouts of the approved site strategy will help keep everyone on task and subtly remind them that the approved strategy is not up for discussion.

As you work through the requirements most people will be thinking only about the front end, so make sure any backend issues or third party features and functionality are also included in the discussion. When everyone’s had a chance to offer up ideas, take a break and review everything together. What’s really necessary and what’s nice to have? If it’s “really cool” but doesn’t satisfy the site strategy, put that in the nice to have category. Be ruthless in this exercise. Nice to have features are one of the main causes of scope creep so be on guard.

Is everyone in agreement on what’s really necessary and what’s nice to have? If there are any disagreements, set these items aside on a separate list along with descriptions of the disagreements and table the discussion for now. Focus on what’s working and agree to work through the issues at a later time. Likewise set aside the nice to have list and agree to revisit it if and when the schedule and budget allow for it.

Next you need to prioritize your requirements. What’s most important of everything you’ve written down? What’s the least important? Is that least important item (or items) really a nice to have in disguise? If so, take it off the requirements list. Again, be thorough, direct and ruthless in your approach. Your team will thank you and so will the budget and schedule.

A thorough requirements gathering process may take more than one meeting and often requires consistent follow up to make sure all open issues are fully resolved. The final, approved requirements will serve as the basis of the creative brief, statement of work, technical specifications and ultimately the project’s profit or loss. Devote the appropriate amount of time to this due diligence step and educate your teammates on its importance. You will have more successful and profitable web projects as a result.

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!

1) What do I want the site to be?
2) What do my users want?

Many web projects fail because no one answers these two little questions up front. A solid site strategy tells you why you’re building your site and will serve as a touchstone throughout the project lifecycle. As Anthony Robbins is fond of saying, “With a strong enough why you can figure out any how”.

A clearly articulated site strategy includes business requirements, an audience analysis, competitive analysis, feature set analysis, and sometimes a branding analysis. This information is critical and helps you accurately define the project scope. All subsequent project components will depend on it. The creative brief, statement of work, information architecture, interaction design, content, creative design and technical requirements will all ultimately be driven by the site strategy.

Often the desire for speed to market draws critics of taking the time to craft an effective strategy. “Just get it up there and we’ll figure it out later” is the mantra of many rushed marketing managers. As the project lead you need to combat this tendency with all your might. Slapping up a website without a strategy is sloppy, ill-conceived and just plain bad manners. Aiming to please an often impatient client does not always serve their best interests. You can still get to market quickly with a site strategy. Take the extra time.

Your clearly defined, client-approved strategy will also help you control scope creep by easily identifying any features or functionality requests that do not directly support the approved site strategy. It doesn’t mean you won’t have to implement these requests – some clients will insist on it, but at least you’ll be able to identify and communicate any extra timing or cost implications.

On any given day it’s pretty obvious there are plenty of sites on the web without a clear strategy. Don’t let yours be one of them. We’re here to build a better web, so start your project on the right foot with a well-defined strategy and use it. Your business will thrive and your users will thank you.

First determine whether or not you really need a meeting. Can the topic be handled via email or 1-1 conversations? If it really is necessary to gather the troops together, the key to effective meetings is effective preparation. You must have a pre-planned agenda. Slapping one together haphazardly before gathering your colleagues is not acceptable. As the project lead, you need to lead, and that means knowing what’s going to happen in your own mind before you get a bunch of people in a room.

To create an effective agenda, define the purpose of the meeting clearly on paper. What do you want to specifically accomplish? What is the desired outcome? As Steven Covey writes in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “Begin with the end in mind”.

The best presentations follow the three-tiered approach of “Tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em, tell ‘em, and then tell ‘em what you told ‘em”. Effective meeting agendas should follow this same formula.

Next, identify who should attend and when they are available. People should only attend your meeting if they add value. What is each person’s role in the meeting and how will it help you achieve your desired outcome? Many times you’ll need to include project sponsors, vendors, or even upper management for political reasons. Do you need to have a 1-1 conversation with any of these individuals beforehand to diffuse any potential conflicts? The last thing you want is the heated distraction of conflict in a conference room.

Speaking of conference rooms, are yours easy to book? The best situation in large companies is to have an automated conference room booking system integrated with an email/calendar application such as Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes. Ah, the luxury of finding out schedules and available rooms online! However, if you’re one of the few who still have to call Helen the receptionist to get conference room A-27 make sure you call her and reserve the room BEFORE you confirm all the details with your team.

Get on everyone’s calendar at least three days in advance if possible, but no further out than a week. Most people have very short attention spans and will completely forget about your meeting if you book it too far out. If the topic is urgent and you have to gather everyone on short notice, so be it. Chances are you won’t get everyone you need to attend at the last minute. If that happens make sure you give them every opportunity to provide input either before or after the meeting.

Do you need any special equipment? Are people calling in remotely? If so, you’ll need a decent Polycom speakerphone or its equivalent. A regular office phone rarely cuts it in a large group setting. Will you need a projector? Will you need a whiteboard or eisel and markers? Will you need an internet connection or a virtual meeting like GoToWebinar or Webex? Do you need to provide lunch or snacks?

If you’re asking people to show up to an early meeting on or before 9am please budget for coffee and bagels. They might wake up before the end of your meeting. If your meeting goes into the lunch hour provide lunch. And, God forbid, if your meeting is 4pm or later, provide healthy snacks and drinks! This is all just common sense, folks. People need carbohydrates to think clearly.

Ok, you’ve prepared your agenda, you’ve invited people and gotten confirmation on whether or not they can attend, you’ve booked your special equipment, internet access, and you’ve got a meeting room. On the day before your meeting send a reminder to everyone that afternoon. Print out enough copies of your agenda for everyone plus 2-3 extras for surprise attendees. Now you’re ready.

Now it’s time to conduct your meeting. Start your meeting within 10 minutes of your planned start time. If not enough people show up within 15 minutes, leave the room and take the snacks with you. Your time is valuable and people need to know it.

Assuming people show up within 10 minutes pass out copies of the agenda, invite people to get something to eat/drink. When people are settled in make any necessary introductions and get going with your agenda. Sometimes people take advantage of pre-meeting chit-chat, so you may need to sound your own gavel to get everyone’s attention.

Now’s it’s time to tell ‘em what your gonna tell them. Review the agenda and set any ground rules, such has hold all questions until the end or turn off all cell phones & Blackberries.

Now it’s time to tell ‘em. As you step through your agenda make sure everyone has an opportunity to participate. Often there are one or two people who dominate the conversation and one or two people who hold back. Good facilitators recognize these group dynamics and referee the natural give and take during these discussions.

Once all agenda items have been discussed it’s time to recap (yep, tell ‘em what you told ‘em). It doesn’t need to take long and it’s important that everyone reviews the agreements made and next steps together. This minimizes the chances for miscommunication later.

After your recap, close the meeting by saying “that’s it”, or “that’s all I got”, signaling that everyone can leave. Make sure you document and distribute meeting notes that same day.

Follow up with everyone assigned a to-do list to make sure they understand the next actions needed to move the project forward.

Effective meetings take lots of pre-planning and focus to execute properly. Using these tips and tricks will help you become an effective meeting maven.

When I was a newbie web project manager back in 1996 there was no roadmap for how to build great websites. Everything was hit or miss in the early days of the web. It shouldn’t be that way anymore, but in my consulting practice I see it at all the time. Sure things keep changing, but consistent web project management principles produce a superior product every time.

My main theme is clear communication. Once you know the language of web production, make sure your teammates understand it too and talk to them regularly. If people would just talk to each other a little more the Web would be much improved.

Please feel free to comment on what you like and don’t like about this site so it can become the best resource possible. Thanks!