planning

There is lots of talk about iterations in the world of Agile Software. What does it all mean? Read this post to find out.

Content entry and migration of existing content can be one of the toughest aspects of a website development project. With the steps outlined, your content migration will be nothing to fear!

So your content management driven website is a shiny new yacht sitting in port. Your vendor just built it. The outside is spit polished, the engine hums, and the navigation tools are state of the art. You imagine yourself as Donald Trump when you step aboard. But wait! There’s no fuel in it. The inside hasn’t been decorated yet. The galley doesn’t have a drop of champagne. And as you peer out into the rough seas of a CMS website launch, there are some mighty big waves. Sound familiar? Sound scary?

In the age of information overload, no one wants to read through text-heavy requirements documentation. I’ve adopted a strategy of “show don’t tell” which requires less stakeholder effort while improving the quality of feedback and participation in the analysis effort.

The cornerstone of this strategy is the wireframe – a universal communications tool that illustrates the user experience while providing implementation details that streamline the transition into the development effort.

What could be so dangerous about planning, you ask?

Most project managers see planning as the first and most helpful step they can take towards getting their projects off on the right foot.

Yet, in the process of planning, PMs often miss the forest for the trees. Forgetting to re-plan your project, missing the business case, or building a project plan that is too complicated for the effort it is meant to support can doom your plans to failure.

In this blog entry, I’ll talk a bit about each of these risks, and how to avoid them.