Web Project Management - DIT 36025
| DIT 36025 | 30 hours |
During this course, students will learn the basics of Web Project Management by reading a client RFP, responding to it, and planning all the work involved to bring a Website to completion. This is not a traditional Project Management course. Instead, this is a practical, hands-on guide to kicking a Web project into gear, moving it forward, and getting it finished. The course is designed specifically to prepare you for the projects you will face during the ISSD program (at least five major projects), but the principles you learn here have real-world applications.
This course does not teach you how to design, how to code, how to program, or any of the many other technical details involved in publishing a Website. Those skills will be learned over the next year. Instead, this course aims to give you to the tools you need to plan the work you’re going to face. We don’t assume you know anything about Web design, coding, programming, or anything else at this point.
Programs
Prerequisites
- Computer and internet access at home
Outcomes
Students will gain the knowledge to plan/manage complex web projects in smaller, manageable steps that can be completed successfully one at a time. They will learn the skills to:
- Read and understand a Request For Proposal (RFP)
- Formulate questions for the client to help clarify project requirements
- Identify and understand the target audience for the Website
- Develop a content outline, sitemap, and block composite based on client requirements
- Develop an estimate of time/expenses for the work involved
- Develop a workback (timeline) that includes key project milestones and approval points
- Plan/outline a proposal that incorporate all of the above for client approval
Additional Comments
Tools/resources the student takes away:
- Step by step checklist for responding to RFP
- Checklist of planning steps
- Sample documents
- Client Questions (checklist)
- Audience Definition (checklist)
- Content Outline / Sitemap
- Wireframe / Block composite
- Estimate worksheet (for non CMS sites)
- Workback sample
- RFP
- Ability to answer the question: What do I do next?
Topic Outline
- Day 1 - What's in a website / reading and writing an RFP
- Introduction
- What's involved in building a website?
- Simplifying the process - the phases of Web development
- Where do we start?
- What is an RFP?
- How to read an RFP
- Understanding the requirements/deliverables
- Writing an RFP
- Day 2 - Building the foundation / questioning and responding to an RFP
- Questioning the client
- What do you need to know before planning?
- Investing time and resources up front (unpaid)
- Defining the audience
- Information Architecture (IA) and Sitemap
- The block composite
- Day 3 - Estimating and planning the work
- Estimate the amount of work/time required
- How fast do you work?
- Give yourself time for up-front work/planning
- Students create sample time estimate per phase
- Planning for approvals and revisions
- Developing a timeline / workback
- Day 4 - Putting it all together
- The proposal
- Sample proposals
- What's in a proposal?
- Use the RFP as an outline
- Filling in the blanks
- Day 5 - What do I do next?
- The Web development road map
- You are here
- Follow the roadmap
- Using checklists
- Build upon completed phases
- Treat yourself as the client
- Working with a team
- Apply time management principles
Important point
This is NOT a project management course in the traditional sense. We will not cover or touch upon formal principles or approaches to project management. Instead, this course will present a practical, hands-on approach for individuals to manage small to medium sized Web projects. It is designed specifically so that students can learn how to break larger projects into smaller, more manageable components without becoming overwhelmed. Ideally, the course will allow the student to answer the question "What do I do next?" at any stage in a Web project.
