One of the many challenges facing both managers and developers in planning for and implementing a development project is choosing the right blend of technology to support and track the project lifecycle. I have experienced the same challenges over the past several years and have tried a number of off-the-shelf project management software applications, all with varying degrees of disappointment.
My requirements extended beyond the basic need for creating charts, graphs and timelines for the overall project, and as a result, the applications being evaluated either came up short in terms of functionality, or worse, became too complex to make the project management function effective.
What I really wanted was a better way to communicate (and not always in real time) with the project leaders and developers on the project team. I wanted an accurate picture of where the project was and an accurate history of what happened with the project over time.
What we decided to do at Ektron was produce a secure website built with CMS400.NET (using all out-of-the-box functions) where each project is represented by two or more web pages (project areas). These pages are now the central repository for all information associated with the project, as well as the collaboration workarea between the management team and the development team … allow me to share with you how we accomplished this:
- A project page with a content area that summarizes the project and all the principals and stakeholders working on the project
- A discussion board where team members can carry out threaded discussions about any issues, help each other with ideas and share code snippets
- A calendar that lists out the major milestones achieved, and more importantly, the ones that need to be achieved for the project to be a success
- A task display system, similar to that in the CMS Workarea, that shows any task that has been assigned to a developer. Since the assignment of a task is accompanied by an e-mail, the developer can be notified before even viewing the project pages
- A resource list that lists all the documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoints, PDFs, etc.) and all other assets that belong to the project.
This works out very well since one of these documents is the scope document. Have you ever wanted to track scope creep? Now you can since the document is under DMS control. A complete history of the document exists, including who added the items, who approved the changes and on what dates the changes occurred
- A blog to encourage overall communication. Now this is my favorite part of the project area and is what really makes it work. We use the blog as an online journal by the project leader or developer for the status and issues around the project as the project goes forward. At the end of every day, the project lead will fill out the daily blog, including current status, accomplishments and any issues. At any time, I can review the blog to get an understanding of the project, and I can even comment against the blog entry, allowing me to express my concerns about that day’s activity. The project lead can review those concerns any time he wants. This has turned out be a great, practical use of a blog.
The icing on the cake is our authentication mode. The project information is confidential, and therefore, requires the users to log in and be authenticated. Authenticating each individual user ensures the right people can view the project and make changes to the project, if needed.
So, if you have been struggling with project management ask yourself this question: Is the real problem communication? If it is, consider how CMS400.NET can help you today.
Sincerely,
Bill Rogers
Ektron CEO and Founder