Give your team room to express themselves
Paul Boag, one of the founders and directors of Headscape, once said; “We specialise in sh*t projects.”
If, like me, you run projects for a normal, every day web agency. If you do not always get the opportunity to be working with the latest cool technology or utilize the next whizz bang idea. If you don’t build sites for rock bands or the latest cool technology start-ups. How do you keep you team excited and enthusiastic about their day jobs? After all, if your team is not interested in the work that they are doing then they will not produce the high standards that you need and that they are capable of. This in turn is demotivating and you end up in a downward spiral.
How do you get your team excited about a project for brown paper bag manufacturers?
Read MoreThe Joel Test: An insight into Headscapes recruitment policy
The Joel Test no.11
Published: February 21, 2010 16:00
The application process is there for two reasons. One, for the employer to get to know if the employee is a good fit. And second for the employee to get to know if the employer is a good fit. With any role a new hire needs to address a number of ‘transferable skills’ questions such as ‘can this person communicate clearly’ and ‘can this person work with others’.
However, on top of this each role has specific skillset requirements. It is these requirements that need bespoke methods of identification. The question is, what methods should we use?
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Posted via web from bobscape | posterous
Read MoreWarm Body Syndrome – reprise
Back in March, when I first had an attempt at launching this blog, I published an article called “Warm Body Syndrome“. Despite nobody actually reading it at the time (except Sam Barnes; thanks Sam) it is my most popular post via google searches.
As Headscape are back on the recruitment merry-go-round (product marketing or something(?) | tech guy/gal), and some people actually  read this blog now, it seemed like a good time to float this post back to the top again.
Found any warm bodies?
Have a read of  ”Warm Body Syndrome“. Google stats can’t be wrong! It must be good. *smile*
Let me know what you think. Have you ever recruited a “warm body”? Maybe you have been a “warm body”. What was your experience?
Read MoreReduced to stereotypes
I’m often asked questions about the differences between working with designers and developers. Today an article I wrote for boagworld.com was published which takes a brief look at this question.
Donât Reduce Your Designers And Developers To Stereotypes
Read MoreManaging Risk
Risk, in the land of project management, is anything that could potentially get in the way of your project going according to plan and being delivered on time.
There are two types of risk; those that you can do something about, and, yes you guessed it, those that you can’t.
Let me give you some examples from my world as a web project manager at Headscape. Let’s say we have been asked to deliver a project to facilitate a small, but growing, web presence. The client has existing content which needs to be edited and integrated as well as new content that will be supplied by them. The client uses a third party system; previously not used by us but similar to systems we have used before. This third party system needs to be updated by the application we develop.
This is a limited, but not uncommon, project request. So what are the main risks here?
- Content
Content is always a risk. The single biggest reason why a project is delayed at Headscape is content. Clients never, ever, appreciate how long it will take them source, edit, and deliver content.
This is a risk that is completely out of your control. - Third party system
Whenever a third party system is involved (especially one that hasn’t been used before), no matter how similar it is to current systems, you have a risk. There will be a learning curve for your team, documentation will most likely be inadequate, and there is bound to be a new release half way through development that will break everything you have managed to get working.
This risk you can do something about.
Risky Business
Having located the risks what can we do about them?
Highlight them with the client from the very start. If you make the issue of content clear from the beginning, for example, it might, if you are really lucky, mean that the client will take it on board and actually deliver what they need to on time. Failing that it makes it a lot easier for them to swallow if it does end up being the reason a project is delayed.
Talk about potential issues with their third party system. Do not be afraid to present these to the client. My experience has been that, in the main, they appreciate a transparent approach. You can legitimately build in time to the project timeline to allow for the research and learning involved. Even so, there is always an element of the unknown here. If something is going to go wrong with this project, it will involve interfacing with this third party system.
Build in contingency to the budget and the time line. You can not remove the risks but you can plan for them.
It’s easy to fall into the trap hoping that all will go well and you will have project that follows all the best possible scenarios. If you close your eyes, and wish really hard, then you can sell a shorter time line and it might just work out for you. However, if you plan for the risks and build in the required contingency, you might even deliver early.
Clients love to be surprised like that.
As PM’s at Headscape we have started to work together to launch each new project with a project risk assessment. Highlighting all the things that could be a risk to the project running smoothly. Things that are both internal and external to our environment. Things that we can do something about and things that we can’t.
Being aware of these risks and planning for them has had a big impact on our ability successfully set client expectations and deliver projects on time, and on budget.
Read MoreThis week on Boagworld.com
Paul obviously ran out of interesting people to interview this week and so rolled out the perennial plan B. Me.
If you want to listen me talk about the joys of Project Management the checkout the latest boagworld.com podcast.
http://boagworld.com/podcast/158/
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