Session 08: Steps and Timeframes (part II)
Hey, hey, hey! Welcome to part 2 of creating steps and timeframes for the Online Notes project. This is a continuation of session 04 which was put on hold until research was completed. The research for the system has been completed (and so has the design, implementation, and content back-fill). So, now, I’m finally getting back to planning out the steps and timeframes for the rest of the project.
Here is where we stand with the deliverables. Items that have the strike through them are completed.
Goal (15 min – done)List of objectives and guidelines (30 min)Tools for measuring objectives (30 min)List of deliverables (1 hour)- Steps and timelines for each deliverable (1 hour)
List of available online tools for the system (6 hour)Analysis of online tools for the system (15 min)Design of system (1 hour)Implement the system (6 hours)Back-fill content (12 hours)- Analysis of system
- List of changes
- Implement changes
- Launch plan
- Supplemental materials
I added times to the various projects that have been completed. So let’s tackle the remaining five deliverables.
The (11.) Analysis of the system is the next deliverable. This is where I will look over the site an try to find things to improve. From the top of my head, I know the font sizes are too small and the main list pages are not centered as they are leaving space for a non-existent sidebar. So, there are some style issues. There may be some functionality issues, too, but I’m not going to look into it now – that will happen in a future session.
For this session, I just need to come up with any steps and a timeframe. There really aren’t any sub-steps here. Just analyze and document. I know the site pretty well so I don’t think it will take that much time: 15 minutes.
Deliverable (12.) List of changes isn’t right in hindsight. This isn’t just a list. It’s more of a plan. Planning how to implement the changes. This won’t take long: 15 minutes.
Deliverable (13.) Implement changes might take awhile depending on the changes. It probably won’t be quick – especially if there are major functionality changes. But it probably won’t take weeks either. My guess is that the minimum is something like 30 minutes and the maximum is 3 hours. I’ll plan for the worst and chalk this up as 3 hours.
Deliverable (14.) Launch plan refers to the plan for announcing this project to the world. Currently, as of writing this – no one knows this thing is live. I haven’t told anyone about it. Ha. Weird.
This will be a sub-project on its own: goal of the launch, objectives, etc. So I’ll say this plan will take 6 sessions to put together – so maybe 3 hours?
Deliverable (15.) Supplemental materials refers to the items that need to be created for the launch – body copy, graphics, and the like. That will depend on the plan. I’ll just put an hour for this.
There should be another task: a final one: (16.) The launch! Launching will most likely have many tedious steps (have I mentioned how distasteful I find marketing?). I won’t know for sure until the plan is formed but I’ll jot down 6 (dreadful) hours for this.
Okay. So here’s the remaining deliverables with times:
Goal (15 min – done)List of objectives and guidelines (30 min)Tools for measuring objectives (30 min)List of deliverables (1 hour)Steps and timelines for each deliverable (2 hour)List of available online tools for the system (6 hour)Analysis of online tools for the system (15 min)Design of system (1 hour)Implement the system (6 hours)Back-fill content (12 hours)- Analysis of system (15 minutes)
- List of changes (15 minutes)
- Implement changes (3 hours?)
- Launch plan (3 hours?)
- Supplemental materials (1 hours?)
- Launch! (6 hours?)
Now I’ll add the Launch! deliverable to the “All Project Deliverables” page and that will conclude this session. In the next session I will critique this site which will be changed by the time any even reads the session critiquing it. Heh. Maybe I’ll take some screenshots.