How to Make the Website Design Project Meet Deadlines
For every $1 billion invested in the United States, $122 million is wasted due to lacking project performance. – Project Management Institute
Assume you were to develop an e-commerce website for your client, a motor spare-parts company. How would you be doing it?
You will start by asking the client for a "Project Definition" which would be a complete description of the e-commerce website along with high-level requirements. The next step is to define the "Project Scope" with full details on the requirements and the tasks that must be performed to deliver the requirements. Next, create wire-frames and site architecture. Wire-frames provide a prototype of the site showing just the page layouts but with no other details.
Site architecture defines the data-flow and work-flow between different pages of the website as well as the other internal and external components. At this stage, you need to get the client's approval without which it would be risky to go ahead. Once obtained, you can start with the visual graphic design, site development, and site testing. After all the tests are completed, and bug fixes are implemented, you need to prepare for a launch and plan for the maintenance support.
This is the basic process outline to develop a website, and it is recommended to follow this process when you manage design projects. To complete the project successfully meeting the deadline, each of the phases discussed above must have its own turn around time, which is tighter than the client deadline. Now, how to manage deadlines? The best way to achieve this is to deploy a project management tool.
Defining milestones and working to meet them is an integral part of meeting project deadlines. The best way to handle this is to have a vision board that displays milestones. Some companies literally write milestones on sticky notes and stick them onto the walls of the room where they work. This creates a sense of urgency and improves the performance of the whole team. But, in today's world, virtual boards created using project management software keeps everything on track in a much efficient manner. Another advantage of virtual boards is that they allow keeping all projects in one place, thereby giving a view at the portfolio level. So, while choosing a project management software:
The main reason why projects fail is that they have vague requirements that don't help define deliverables. If the website design project or logo design are being executed without defining the scope and deliverables, there are high chances of clients rejecting it and asking you to rework. This will add to the cost as you will be required to pay for your team’s additional work, but the remuneration from the client is going to be the same. Thus, using a sound project management tool for managing design projects deadlines can save you costs in the long-term.
Mini-Deadlines are the internal deadlines that you give for activities or internal milestones. Without mini-deadlines, people tend to procrastinate the work until they reach the client's deadline. How to manage deadlines using mini-deadlines?
Collaboration and communication are critical to the success of any project. Especially to manage design projects that revolve around ideas and inputs, a PM tool is necessary. Most project management software facilitates collaboration features like:
It is clear that project management software is essential for the success of any website design project. Below are a few essential items you must insist on:
Author Bio
David is a Project Management expert. He has been published in Jeffbullas.com, HR.com, and eLearningIndustry. As a project planning and execution expert at ProProfs, he has offered a unique outlook on improving workflows and team efficiency.