The most critical part of cross-functional teams simultaneously executing on small and large projects is the right process. Proper setup and management include four key areas: team, time, tools, and process. Earlier in this blog series, we talked about the basics in building a website and how to turn your wishes into an actual plan. In this blog, I’ll cover the four key areas you should focus on to set your project and team up for success: team, time, tools, and process. TeamWe start with your team because it’s the most important. People write the code. People create the design. People manage customers. People that have families, lives, hobbies… Remembering that people are the most important piece of the puzzle will keep you grounded in what matters and ensure you hit your timelines. Having clear team roles and responsibilities is important to avoid confusion on who handles what. This means assigning someone to handle requests not related to the current project —such as support requests. If you already have a website or other digital products, this new build will not be the only thing that requires your team’s time. Having clear paths for other inbound requests will minimize the distractions (and delays) caused by managing big and small projects side by side in your sprints. The team should include the following roles and responsibilities. Sometimes these responsibilities will be shared on one project, but it’s best to avoid if possible. Product Owner The product owner or (PO) leads product strategy and project management, as well as design and engineering prioritization. Their job is to:
Not sure what UAT or QA is? UAT is short for User Acceptance Testing QA is short for Quality Assurance. First Comes QA QA typically includes a regression test to check each feature and function detailed in the specification and previously available on the site to ensure it’s all working properly. Regression tests are a quick way to check each use case and note what passed and failed. A good regression test makes a difference between QA representing 5% and 40% of the project time. I use Google Sheets for the regression plan and Google Forms for the reported issues. I then update the regression plan for the development and design team noting what has passed, failed and why. Next Comes UAT UAT is a form of QA focused on stakeholders, allowing them to go through the product or website the way they would naturally. I use Google Forms to collect feedback from stakeholders and Google Sheets to organize feedback into categories: functional, formatting, and content. You might wonder why use so many tools to organize this information? Why not use JIRA?
Google forms are easy to complete on any device. JIRA is the tool for support requests and tickets for sprint planning. Prioritizing and organizing feedback directly in the regression plan or the JIRA tickets in the sprint will create a nightmare of confusing inputs. Using external tools, I can communicate with the stakeholder, make sure I understand the issue, then provide the details necessary to the dev or design team to prioritize and address each reported issue. Technical Captain The technical captain (or technical team lead) is in charge of the day to day management of your dev team. Their job is to:
Design Captain The design captain (or design team lead) is in charge of delivery for all project design needs. Their job is to:
Support Captain The support captain is in charge of managing all stakeholder and user support requests for existing sites or products. Their job is to:
It doesn’t matter if the team is four or 40, clear roles and responsibilities are critical to meeting product release schedules. TimeTime comes next. Time management is the simplest but most overlooked part of project planning. Tools and processes impact time management, of course, but here are a few simple practices to reduce distractions.
ToolsThe tools you use should be flexible by project and team. Use what your team is comfortable with. I do not force all of the tools and processes I prefer on any team. Focus on the requirements and make the team part of the process. It’s important to be inclusive, and you’ll also learn from them. Here is a list of the tools I use by requirement:
Enforcing or reinforcing the processes are a key part of the POs job. Once the project has started, for the most part, your job consists of keeping the train on the tracks and clearing the paths. Keeping the Train on the TracksDaily Standups Daily standups are your most important tool in understanding if the train will be on time and if not—what’s getting in its way. During the standups, each team member should be reporting what’s done, next, any blockers, and anything out of the process. Out of the process refers to stakeholders sending them direct messages about a change to the project or an existing product. Review progress after daily standups to identify any barriers in meeting goals. Product and project management means paying attention to potential delays. Listen to complaints about blockers or communications issues with stakeholders. Look at what each person is working on and make sure it’s critical to this phase of the project. Many talented people work ahead. Their mind goes off to the ideal, and they forget what’s needed and who’s waiting. It’s the POs job to make sure the team is focused. Clearing the Tracks Clearing the tracks means being a great filter. No requests, “bugs” that aren’t really bugs, it’s your job as PO to clear as many things from the tracks as you can to eliminate clutter in the team’s slack, email, or mind. Here are some examples of dos and don’ts that are useful for setting expectations and transparent processes for stakeholders and team members. The example is based on a company that has several websites used by their marketing and product teams.
Sharing the Load Sharing information across sprint planning, support planning, and reporting, and project planning with the team exposes them to the details important to the success of the project. It also gives them authority in the group and experience that’s valuable to their professional development. TeamYes, I am repeating team. There’s nothing more important than your team. Here are a few of the things that I do to make sure the team is happy:
A lot can happen once you start a project. We’ve given you the foundation for a successful build, and in my next post, I will walk you through the day to day to preparing for a commercial launch. The post Build a Business Around Your Website: How to Set Your Project & Team Up for Success appeared first on Marketo Marketing Blog - Best Practices and Thought Leadership. from https://blog.marketo.com/2018/10/how-to-set-your-website-project-team-up-for-success.html
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