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Revamp of my general project management talk with a specific emphasis for freelancers or small teams doing drupal sites.
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Project Management for Freelancers
Crystal WilliamsVP Business Development
workhabit
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So, who am I?
I’ve run a few conferences… (BarCamp Vancouver, BarCamp Shanghai, BarCampLA 3, 4 & 5, DrupalCamp Seattle 2006, DrupalCampLA 2007 & 2008, CloudCamp Seattle)
I’ve contributed User Experience Design and Project Management to projects for MySpace Mobile, Hearst Magazines, Fonality, Nonesuch Records, Wasserman Media Group, Logitech, Symantec, Metallica, and Madonna.
I’ve been working in (and evangelizing) Drupal since 2006 and I don’t plan to stop.
I’m also a fan of: great design, accessibility, open standards, and security.
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All projects start with a bunch of blank screens….
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Where do great websites come from?
1.Planning2.Talent3.Great Clients
(you may only have control over #1, so work with it)
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The Talking StageGood projects require a lot of communication. There’s noshortcut.
Clients are the experts on their needs, but you’re the expert ongetting them there. Show what you know, but listen.
You can’t afford to save time on planning or communication.
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ProcessYour process is your toolbox. Keep it light enough to be agile, but it should provide structure.
Process should minimize the “…and what now?” and the “where is that file?” and the “when is it due?” questions.
If it doesn’t, re-examine until you have a structural ecosystem that works.
If it gets in the way, don’t be afraid to try something lighter.
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Checklist
ContractsMSA, Work for Hire Contract, SOW, Technical Spec, Creative Brief
EstimationsSpreadsheets, Merlin/Project
Project PlanImplementation plan, module list, dependency-mapped schedule, payment schedule
Project Management SoftwareCommunication, Document Sharing, Tasking, Time Tracking
InvoicingBlinksale, FreshBooks
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Toolbox
• Scheduling, gantt charts – Merlin, MS Project
• Wireframes and Sitemaps – Omnigraffle, Visio
• Shared notes, estimation worksheets, proposal drafts – Intranet, Wikis, Google Docs
• Task and time tracking – Intervals, Open Atrium, Basecamp, Unfuddle, Harvest, LiquidPlanner, dozens more. Most not so good.
• Bug tracking – Mantis, trac, JIRA, case tracker module, many.
• Whiteboards (physical ones)
• The Phone (Don’t ignore this one – it works shockingly well)
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The Challenge of Freelance
You have a unique challenge – you have to be (at least) two people.
As your own project manager and your own most valuable resource, you have to think about your time differently. Remember to allocate time specifically for project management. In your project management role, remember to protect your development time and be reasonable about your own limits of availability and output.
You are going to have to be schizophrenic in order to manage both sides well.
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Agile VS WaterfallNeither is appropriate for ALL projects or all developers, so be careful.
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What is agile?The primary focus of agile methodology is defined in the four main bullet points of the Agile manifesto:
• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan
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What is Waterfall?Standard sequential design and development process that relies on phases to be completed before beginning the next phase. 1.Requirements specification2.Design3.Construction (AKA implementation or coding)4.Integration5.Testing and debugging (AKA Validation)6.Installation7.Maintenance
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Agile VS WaterfallAgile:User-centric social networking sitesWeb Apps
WaterfallCorporate Sites and other informational sites, even with interactivity
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Agile Requires
EXTREMELY talented and motivated developers
Constant access to design resources.
Progressive clients who are willing to invest continuous resources in the project and actively THINK about the direction.
If you lack any of the above, plan well, lock it down with wireframes and milestones and proceed.
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And even with agile, wireframes are a good place to start – you just get to responsibly override them if needs change.
(you can do the same with waterfall if it makes sense for all involved)
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EstimatingEstimating is hard. CivicActions released a lovely tool earlier this year, maintained by Owen Barton, from their own process at: http://civicactions.com/estimating-worksheet
They also provide some excellent advice. Some of my favorite points…
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From CivicActions…
“Think about, and state each assumption you make when estimating.”
“Estimate each area of work (engineering, theming, configuration, communication) separately, and make sure you include adequate time for communication, both with the client to clarify the requirements, and also internal communication between team members.”
“If the work includes new, untested code, e.g., writing a new module or including a (non-standard) contrib module, add time in the estimate for unit testing which could include the writing of simpletests and flag this to the QA team as a place that will require additional QA.”
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“Vary the amount or research with the size of the line item - if you are not sure about something, but it would only take 5 hours to build from scratch, just put 5 hours - if you need to integrate with some 3rd party system, and it might be a weeks work make sure that you understand the requirements very well (ask the client questions toclarify where needed) and research things fully.”
“Never (ever!) estimate 'to' a budget - your estimates for each line item should disregard any information we have about the available budget. Instead think purely in terms of how long it will take to get the job done. If the hours exceed the budget we will discuss a reduced feature set (at least initially) with the client. If the overall costs look like they will massively exceed the budget then ask the client to prioritize first and estimate a subset of the items.”
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SchedulingWhen its time to make that magical “this is how and when it’s going to get done” document, just keep the following points in mind:
• The mythical man-hour – A task that takes one person 8 hours does not necessarily take 2 people 4 hours. Allow for ramp time and knowledge transfer.
• Order of Operations – Theming can’t start until design is delivered, many QA tasks don’t make sense until the theme is completed, etc. Remember to
look for possible gaps caused by dependencies and see where you can schedule tasks to counter them.
• Client Approval Time – Remember to give clients ample time to review and submit feedback – otherwise you’ll see delays and/or unnecessary extra rounds of changes.
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DesignDesign matters. A lot.
Most people won’t know the site is built on Drupal – nor will they care. They will, however, notice the design and usability of the site. Invest in these things – budget and schedule for them. Push for best practices and innovative designs with your clients.
Just because there IS a default design for an element in Drupal doesn’t mean it’s appropriate to use it.
Improving the overall aesthetics of sites built on Drupal is crucial to the growth and sustainability of the platform and the community, and few have more power to make that change than the project managers.
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Clients
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Great Projects do Not Happen In Spite of Bad ClientsGood projects can, but truly world-class work that you want to show everyone takes clients who ‘get it’ – and are stable enough to support their end of the deal.
Know who to say “No” to.
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Warning Signs
“I don’t care, just get it done”
“I don’t need project management”
“I need it this week”
“I could get a freelancer for $__”
“My neighbor says…”
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Good Clients Know They’re InvestingSome Basic Qualifying Questions
Immediate goal or critical business issue. Is there a good reason for this project? Can they articulate it?
Budget: what is this budget for the project or the estimated cost of the solution? Have they budgeted ample funds for their scope? Ambition is good, all clients SHOULD want a little more than they have funds for.
Timeline. When does the project need to go live? Is it reasonable? Is there an external event that drives that date?
Key metrics of success? Who decides them? It’s important for all involved to have a solid idea of the goals for the project – otherwise they will not be reached.
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Basic Client ManagementAdvice from Baseball - Keep your eyes on the ball and keep it front of you
Have a central contact and make sure that person is vetting everything through all necessary stakeholders.
You are now the General for the web aspect of their brand – act like it. Do well, and you’ll have their trust.
This means: Demonstrating expertise Doing your research and knowing their market, their objectives, and their
history Providing real value and expertise that results in quantifiable wins for them (keep an eye on that data!) Bringing your A-game and delivering on schedule
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“But it needs to happen NOW”
Know your limits – don’t over promise
Determine the reason for the urgency, if it’s valid, and whether a compromise can be reached that makes sense
More budget doesn’t always help (some projects can’t be distributed) – but if it does, present the option and be prepared to take it
Have a plan. Schedule everything. Show WHY you need the time you do
Something WILL go wrong. PLAN FOR IT. QA is not optional.
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Manage Expectations (with an Iron Grip)
Be constantly clear on: What you’re going to do
Every single deadline (give them the full schedule, to the hour, at least a week in advance)
WHY this project is important
And if you can (or still want to) plant the ideas for the next opportunity to work together
COMMUNICATE COMMUNICATE COMMUNICATE
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How to Say No
Voice your concerns early – and calmly. Have good reasons and appeal to business reasons that matter to them. Example: Forked Modules
Protect your team (and/or yourself) – this sometimes involves heavily managed expectations, which usually means lots of saying ‘no’
Be ready to offer alternative options – be HELPFUL
LISTEN to their reasons and understand the pain they need met – their request may not be reasonable, but there may be other alternatives.
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“Bless and Release”When all else fails – it’s OK to end it.
Bad business is bad for ALL of your business. Letting one client pollute the overall mindset of your team is toxic.
Be open with the client about where and why your business relationship isn’t working. If compromises can’t be met – work out a way to refer them to someone who might be better suited, but keep the communication open.
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Drupal Specifics
Know your modules. This takes time and constant investment – but it’s crucial for project planning. Invest regular time to review what’s new and good (or not so good) out there
If you can bring on help, consider balancing your development load across developers and non developers for site configuration tasks. Get a consistent method for initial site configuration.
Work closely with IA/UE Designers so that they know what’s possible with Drupal. The taxonomy system and Views make functionality possible on Drupal sites that would be prohibitively expensive to build elsewhere.
Know how it works.
Give Back.
