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| posted at 14:49:13 By Flipping Heck! | Posted In Project Management |
In my new book "Managing Web Projects" I discuss the process of quoting for projects and project management techniques so I thought I'd provide an additional resource for you all (as I'm nice ;)) to tie the two subjects together in a nice, handy bundle.
Managing a project and keeping all of the information together in one place can be a right pain in the behind; We've all been there with stacks of project folders and bits of paper with FTP details floating around the place (and you can never find it when you need it of course!). Then there's the task lists, the quote and all the associated stuff important project resources - it can get quite a hand full.
As an antidote to this, I created the Quote/Project Planner Spreadsheet:
| posted at 08:26:03 By Flipping Heck! | Posted In Project Management |
Update: I've re-worked this post as I noticed all of the links were broken - sorry for any inconvienience caused.
Don't forget to check out the e-book version and download your free sample chapter!
So, we've come to the end of the road 
Still, we've had fun along the way, haven't we (that was a rhetorical question by the way 
)
In this last post in the Managing Web Projects series, I'll take a brief look back at what we've covered and then offer a few more hints and tips to help all you budding freelancers out there - aren't I nice?!
Managing Web Projects #1 - The Brainstorm
This is where it all began with a brain dump into FreeMind, I'll admit that it doesn't cover every aspect of the Web Development process but it's a jolly good starting place!
....
| posted at 07:34:02 By Flipping Heck! | Posted In Project Management |
So, the website's now live. You've been paid and the website's number 1 in Google - every's happy, right?
You betcha! I'm in the money!
Oh? That's nice! But what about the future - for you and your client?
Who cares about them? I'm going to get loads of work!
Riiiight. We all think after that one big success that work's going to come in so fast we'll be up to our necks in it in no time. The problem is it never (unfortunately) works that way.
If you're lucky enough to be in the above situation, good for you! But there comes a time for all of us when work slows down and as a result the money starts to dry up. That's where maintenance contracts come in.
Hmm... Perhaps you're right but I can't be doing faffing with odd text changes here and there every day for 12 months
It's true that some customers are never happy. We once had a client that changed every word on a webpage at least 3 times. The work lasted a week but as we were charging by the hour we were quite happy. The problem is that:
- It's soul destroyingly boring
- The client thinks they can mess about again in the future
- It takes you (or your developers) away from other work
- You never know when the work is going to come in or how much there'll be
Maintenance work is great - if you know what's going to hap....
| posted at 07:13:08 By Flipping Heck! | Posted In Project Management |
Happy Friday everyone!
Friday's are always a bit difficult for me, I find motivating myself a great effort and tend to procrastinate on every little task - even making coffee!
In an effort to get myself going I leafed through my moleskine this morning and couldn't get my head around what to do first. I have been meaning to write about the way I organise my moleskine for some time - and I will get around to it when I have some photos, honest!
Normally, the way that I organise things in my moleskine works very well but when I'm in one of my procrastination funks it's terrible. I tend not to write any "Next Actions" down in it, it's more of a project overview list from which I pick and choose the project that's most relevant/appealing/urgent and then work my next actions out when I've decided on what I'm doing.
This is all well and good when I'm Miss Motivated but on days like today when I can't pull my finger out even picking a project is a problem - let alone sorting the Action points out!
So, enter the ktGTD system!
Inspired by Stefanos Karagos' mGTD system and David Seah's
| posted at 10:49:53 By Flipping Heck! | Posted In Project Management |
So now we come to the last phase of the Web Project - Invoicing.
Hoorah! I get my money now!
Lets hope so! Of course, thanks to your watertight contract you have all of your costs and payment terms laid out, right?
How you bill the client is up to you. Some people like 50% of the project costs upfront, some like a certain amount after x numbers of hours work has been completed and others bill at the end. Whichever method you use, make sure that it's clearly stated in the contract and you have proof (most important!) that the client has agreed to the terms.
Blah, blah, you do go on. I want my money now!
So, how are you going to get it? Just send an email saying "Pay me £100 or else"? All companies have some form of financial/accounting system set up (which you will too of course!) and money paid out needs to be tied up properly with an invoice - especially now thanks to Sarbaines-Oxley.
Yeah, I forgot about that, I'll just use that template I got with Word
Do you think th....
| posted at 08:49:20 By Flipping Heck! | Posted In Project Management |
Wow, it's been rather a long time since I posted my last entry in this series - Managing Web Projects #11 - The Change Request Form. I haven't forgotten about this series honest, I've just been procrastinating over it!
Yeah, enough with the excuses. Get on with it!
Okay! Okay! Here we go...
Why bother with a website sign-off form? The customer told me it was okay on the telephone.
Well, as the old saying goes: "A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on!" Who's to say that the client won't turn around and say that the project's not complete because of X, Y or Z, or they may even turn around and say that they didn't want it to go live until the summer. Whatever their excuse, you need to cover your behind hence the sign-off form.
Anyway, you need something to say that the project is finally finished otherwise you'll just sit there in developer limbo for all eternity and won't be able to get paid!
Er... Okay, I can sort of see the value in that. What's it do?
The Website Sign-off form is another form of contract between you and the client. It forms an agreement that t....
| posted at 02:18:53 By Flipping Heck! | Posted In Project Management |
We're looking into using Mind mapping at work as a means of capturing customer requirements when we're onsite and then using this mind map to draw up a Technical Requirements Specification. I was asked to write up a list of software as I'd had quite a bit of experience trailing different mind mapping products.
Below is a list of some of the software I found. If any one has any more (preferably free) ideas, please post a comment!
-----------------------------------------------------------
Concept Draw
http://www.conceptdraw.com/en/products/mindmap/main.php
30 Day Trial
$249 - Single user licence ($1120 - 5 user)
WinXP/OSX
-----------------------------------------------------------
MindManager
http://www.mindjet.com/uk/download/
5 or 21 Day Trial
£149 - Single user licence
WinXP/OSX
-----------------------------------------------------------
NovaMind
http://www.nova-mind.com/
30 day trial
£54.29 GBP - Single user licence (£260.48 - 5 User licence)
WinXP/OSX
-------------------------------------....
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