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Smashing eBook_ Professional Workflow for Web Designers - Luke Reimer [8]

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PM’s assigned to help them along and make sure that everyone involved is striking off those items on their task list. Often weekly conference calls or meetings are held to gather status reports from each individual. Time is tracked and analyzed to discover actual vs. projected effort in order to reach maximum efficiency for the development team. The usefulness of Project Management to whip a project into shape will never be lost on me through this experience – these skills are premiere in the business community, and can be carried to any industry. The following elements of project management are useful to include in all levels of web design business:

Time Tracking

• Chronicle the time spent by all individuals on a project.

• Break down the time spent on certain tasks and form task categories.

• Analyze the total time spent per task type and later use it to estimate and formulate process efficiency directives.

Budget Tracking

• The use of time tracking and financial data lets you ascertain costs for certain specific features as well as overall projects.

• The financial analysis of past projects can be used to quote future proposals and minimize the risk of false estimation and misjudgment.

• Budget tracking as a part of your project management strategy saves you a lot of time since it also provides organized data for financial reporting, payroll, and the filing of taxes.

Estimation

• Break down tasks and allocate capacities.

• Use data from past projects and the tools available to accurately create deadlines and project required time for tasks.

• Plan your capacities ahead of time, keeping track of idle potential.

• Employ these useful Estimation Techniques

Goals and Milestones

• Set specific goals for specific time periods.

• Track progress of these goals on a regular basis throughout the project.

• Milestones can be used as touch points to update clients and understand how much progress has been made, as well as required time and effort for completion.

Issue & Risk Assessment

• Potential risks can be identified at various points of the project and managed accordingly.

• The identification of common issues can promote the finding of solutions to avoid them in the future.

Constant Analysis

• The recording of data and its use to increase efficiency is the key to project management.

• An effective analysis of the data produces efficiency in future projects, the ability to avoid problems, and the means to quote proposals with confidence.

Tools and Software

• Effectively create, collaborate and deliver with Microsoft Project

• A nice open source multiple project support tool called RedMine

• An easy all-in-one project management tool EasyProjects

• This online project collaboration tool calls itself Basecamp

• Get an overview of the available project management software using Wikipedia’s comparison chart of PM tools

Through engaging with project management tactics you’ll be able to better manage your time and effort to find that sweet spot of productivity. It will speed up your projects, trim off wasted time, allow you to estimate time and costs more efficiently, and provide records of your work for use in future projects. For anyone interested in professional project management certification (such as a Professional Project Manager or Certified Associate of Project Management) web design work can often qualify as project management hours and aid in the requirements for certification. However, the hours required for qualification must be recorded in a certain level of detail – and project management strategies can help in ensuring that you have this information on hand.

Further Resources

• Project Management Institute

The Project Management Institute (PMI) offers globally recognized certifications of various types

• ProjectManagement.com

Free webinars, downloads, tools, and discussions regarding project management techniques and core principles

• Michael Greer’s Project Management Blog

A project management resource and training blog by Michael Greer

• VisiTask

Newsletters, resources, tips,

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