Definition of the Project Team

A Web development team is made up of people. These people are not programming languages, skill sets, or marketing techniques. Rather, these people possess multidisciplinary experiences, which they must rely upon to converge with those of other team members and thus to build one Web site seamlessly. Therefore, despite multidisciplinary skills, each team member must be able to communicate and educate the others and have their own speciality, upon which they can be the last word.

Truly, the exciting point about project teams is their diversity. The various processes required when building a Web site involve different ways of thinking. This is an asset to a peer-to-peer supervised team, because these types of teams become goal oriented as opposed to self-oriented. Team members can appreciate one another's strengths without being threatened. Each team member has his or her own area of expertise, which cuts down on competition.

The graphic designer is concerned about how the Web site is going to look. The editor is focused on what the site communicates. The programmer wants to be sure that all of the programs work. Lastly, the marketing team leader is concerned about making users aware of the Web site's presence so that the client benefits from it.

People who specialize in these areas-graphic design, editing, programming, and marketing-rely primarily on different sides of their brains. People are primarily left- or righthanded, and many individuals favor different sides of their brain. The left brain hemisphere works primarily with analysis, language, reason, and computation; the right side processes intuitive, imaginative, and artistic operations.

Thus, the project manager must be aware of how the team is arriving at their conclusions and the process by which this happens.

The Whole Truth

A superior skill set for a project manager to possess would be writing, editing, graphic design, programming, and marketing experience. I often refer to someone who can accomplish all of these tasks well as being ambidextrous, in that the individual is equally comfortable with both left and right brain activity and does not seem to favor one over the other.

This ambidextrous trait can assist the project manager in understanding what is taking place within the project team. Considering the challenges each member faces and what motivates them allows the project manager to facilitate project tasks.

The project manager's job is not to supervise autocratically, but rather to coach, educate, and encourage team members, respecting each individual as an expert in his or her own field. By providing structure for the team to work as independently as possible, the project manager helps the team develop its mission and identify the goals it wishes to accomplish. As a football team has a coach and an orchestra has a conductor, a Web site development team has a project manager-a person with the view of the big picture, but who isn't necessarily running the ball or playing the violin. Thus, the project manager helps the team define its mission and provides benchmarks and clear goals through which the team can gauge its success.

The purpose of the following exercises is for the project manager to understand the various processes involved within the team. This by no means assumes that the project manager has to be an expert writer/editor/graphic designer/programmer/marketer, but rather that he or she gives thought to the challenges faced by team members performing these tasks.

Exercises

Define the Writing Process

a)

Write a simple paragraph that details the Internet services your brand new (fictional) Web firm offers. After the paragraph is complete, describe how you created it.

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Define the Artistic Process

a)

Draw a company logo for your brand new (fictional) Web firm. Describe how you created it.

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Define the Engineering Process

a)

If you wanted to show prospective customers how to your Web firm can produce cutting-edge programs, how would you accomplish this? Describe the process by which you determined the technical requirements.

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Define the Marketing Process

a)

If you were to market your new firm's Web site, how would you do so? Then detail the process through which you determined the marketing requirements.

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Determine How Divergent Processes Interface

a)

Describe strategies through which you would incorporate these writing, artistic, engineering, and marketing processes.

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Exercise Answers

Answers

a)

Write a simple paragraph that details the Internet services your brand new (fictional) Web firm offers. After the paragraph is complete, describe how you created it. __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________

Answer:

The purpose of this exercise is not to write the paragraph, but rather to identify the process involved in creating it. Often, the hardest thing about writing is to start. Inexperienced writers often develop a bad habit of self-editing while initially putting words to paper. However, this habit can inhibit the creative force within the writer. I notice that when clients try to develop copy, or even just talking points, for their Web site, it seems that they first need to give themselves permission to write. Most people have heard of math anxiety. There seems to be a writing component to this as well. Often, this is what the writing/editing team is dealing with when trying to procure copy from a client. When trying to motivate writers, I often tease them that it's best to adopt Nike's "Just Do It" philosophy. First, just get the words and ideas down on paper and worry about the editing later. It helps the writer first to define what it is that he or she wants to address in the piece and then decide which specific points to cover. After this is accomplished, writing the first draft is much easier. There's an outline to follow. It's best to have a team member edit the piece for clarity, spelling, grammar, and content. (As discussed inChapter 8, writing for the Web is different from writing for other mediums. Review that chapter and the appropriate links to helpful Web sites, if necessary.) Then the writer can add depth to the piece by incorporating the editor's suggestions into a final draft. The following link is very helpful to understanding the writing process: The Writer's Toolbox-http://dlc.tri-c.cc.oh.us/wb/write/docs/process.htm.

Answers

a)

Draw a company logo for your brand new (fictional) Web firm. Describe how you created it. __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________

Answer:

I've worked with several great graphic designers through the years, and given that graphic design seems to be my weakest Web talent, I look to graphic designers with a bit of awe. Somewhere along the way, a lot of us stop drawing, although we start out with the desire to create images. My house is littered with drawings that my elementary school-age sons create. The drawings hang on bulletin boards, on the refrigerator, and all over my office. There's no self-consciousness in their attempts at drawing. My sons think that their dinosaurs are the best, as I certainly do. However, I know the day may come when the supplies of crayons, construction paper, and watercolors may need to be replaced less often. Even kids, who have trouble with fine motor skills, can now use graphic programs on the computer, which allow them to unleash the pictures in their heads without struggling with the grip of a crayon. As people get older, they seem to become more self-conscious about their artwork and stop developing this talent. A lot of us decide, myself included, that we just can't draw-that we're not artistic-and hide any attempts with the caution that we hid our teenage journals. Therefore, I always ask the graphic designers I work with how they come up with their ideas. It may be that I need only look to my two sons, who have given themselves permission to draw without regard for other people's opinions. As with writing, this seems to be the first step. The consensus among designers that I've interviewed seems to be that they start with a picture in their head. Call it intuition or perception. Then they brainstorm with the client and with other team members to create their next visualization. Designers can then build prototypes for others to see so that there is a baseline for comments, allowing the designer to begin the refining the final product.

Answers

a)

If you wanted to show prospective customers how to your Web firm can produce cutting-edge programs, how would you accomplish this? Describe the process by which you determined the technical requirements. __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________

Answer:

While creative people need to listen to their hearts and seize upon their intuition, programmers come at their tasks from an entirely different perspective. Their world is black and white, as opposed to the 256 RGB palette that the Web has to offer graphic designers. As far as programmers are concerned, the Web site programming is either going to work or it isn't-end of story. A typical conflict between a graphic designer and a programmer may be the use of a complex animation. That animation might be the best thing the graphic designer has ever created, and it might run perfectly well on his or her local machine. However, the programmer isn't going to care for its artistic value. He or she is going to worry about how it loads over the Web, when many users are still using a 28.8-baud connection. Some graphic designers who are new to the Web often have trouble with creating graphics that are optimized for this medium. Therefore, the programmer is going to be interested in defining the technical requirements and risk analysis up front. Is that 90,000-record database going to work well on a middleware, such as MySQL, or does the client need to break down and get Oracle licensing? Can the requirements be completed on time? Many new software tools promise a quick and dirty approach and few of them actually deliver. As my primary training was in electrical engineering, I tend to take conservative, almost skeptical approaches to my Web sites. While other firms espouse their cutting-edge processes, I'm interested in providing the client with tried and true methods, which bring the Web site to implementation on time and on budget and, most important, working correctly. I'm focused on using cross-platform technologies, and while I may be beta testing XML and some of the newer languages, I wouldn't discuss them with a client until those environments are completely stable.

Answers

a)

If you were to market your new firm's Web site, how would you do so? Then detail the process through which you determined the marketing requirements. __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________

Answer:

Marketing is one of the most important pieces of Web site development. The marketing team is often dealing with a client who feels that the Web now puts him on a level playing field with his largest competitors. Making that clients understand that the amount of dollars budgeted to market the Web site will have a lot to do with its success can be touchy but not impossible. In my firm, we always state that a Web sitecomplements an overall marketing plan. If it's to be a standalone venture, then other forms of advertising will need to support it. What about branding? The marketing team must work closely with the creative team to be sure that company logos and tag lines are consistent throughout the site, reiterating the client's message. This reinforces the concept that most people must see an advertisement seven times before it finally sinks in. It also might explain the new marketing gimmick on television, in which one commercial is repeated consecutively and often during a specific time slot. The marketing team must determine which are the best ways to get that message out there about this new Web site, be it direct mail, targeted e-mails, banner advertising, links from other sites, radio, and/or television advertising. There are also the obvious, organic ways for a business to get the Web site address out to prospective customers. Items like business cards, brochures, and letterhead can become platforms for announcing the existence of the Web site. The marketing team is concerned with how we as human beings react subliminally to messages. What's a turnoff? What piques our interest? Have you ever seen a billboard with just a few words on it and wondered what it meant. The billboard grabs your curiosity as you drive by for a few weeks. Then the billboard is redone with the appropriate contact information. This certainly grabs interest. We've all seen teasers that may say, "It's Coming!" and nothing else. "Well," we say, "what's coming?" Then, in two weeks, we might see, "In three weeks, it'll be here!" "Well," we think, "what the heck will be here? I want to know!" Several messages later, we're involved. When the final announcement comes out that "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" is being staged at our local elementary school, it's effective-much more effective than if the promoters had initially just put up a flier that said, "Acme Elementary School presents Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." At this point, my kids are counting the days and giving me daily reminders. We'll be going, because we're invested. The marketing team has to psychoanalyze the target audience and determine how to pique their interest. Meeting with the company's marketing director and understanding how this business entity has been marketed in the past can help give the Web firm a jump start.

Answers

a)

Describe strategies through which you would incorporate these writing, artistic, engineering, and marketing processes. __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________

Answer:

As you can now see, there are many agendas among team members in a Web site project. How does it all fit together? It's simple. Each member has to respect the other's realm of expertise. If the engineering department says that the super-cool animation that the creative department hasdeveloped will slow down the site, the departments need to work together to come up with elements that will satisfy each constituency. If marketing feels that creative hasn't reinforced the company's branding enough within the site, there needs to be teamwork to solve the problem. If creative feels there isn't enough "eye candy" to grab the user's attention, the other departments need to respect this. Someone has to have the last say in all of this. It's usually the project manager. This is why it's important for the project manager to be familiar with the challenges each member is facing. This is not an easy process, but with a little respect and some savvy conflict resolution on the part of the project manager, it works. More on team building and conflict resolution will be discussed in the next lab.

Self-Review Questions

1)	The creative and technical teams can have differing objectives which the project manager must help to coordinate _____ True _____ False
2)	By understanding the various processes involved with creating a Web site, the project manager can help the project team to create the site faster. _____ True _____ False