Preventing project failure: the path to success
Understanding the causes of project failure
High percentages of website projects fail every year, with estimates ranging from 40 to 70%[i] [ii]. Some of the main reasons for this are a lack of governance [iii], a lack of clarity about how the project supports business or organisational goals[iv], too many scope changes, and communication failures.[v]
The importance of governance and stakeholder alignment
Preventing website project failure is mostly about understanding the importance of each stage in your project, and knowing how each stage contributes to the success of your projects. A good project manager will ensure that all stakeholders are aligned before the process starts, and that everyone involved understands the process.
Project success is defined as being delivered on time, on budget, and on target.
Key phases of a successful website project
The key phases in a website project can vary slightly depending on the needs of the client, but there are some stages which all website projects share.
Discovery Phase
The discovery phase is a vital component in any project, no less so in website projects. The discovery phase is when the groundwork is carried out – using a variety of research methods – that will inform the role your website will play in supporting your organisation’s objectives. Discovery is also the time when you examine your competitors’ actions and best-in-class peers from both within and outside your industry sector, to inform your decision-making around the project requirements including scope, customer journeys, information architecuture (IA), design, functionality spec etc.
Benefits of discovery: provides clarity around goals, reduces risk, engages stakeholders, informs decision-making
Tools used in the discovery phase include:
stakeholder interviews
peer reviews
website analytics
website scoping doc
expert usability review
content audit
Outputs: website purpose, scope and goals; business requirements; functional specs
Information Architecture Definition
The content audit carried out during the discovery phase provides the foundations for your new website’s content matrix. Used together with the outputs from the analytics, peer review and expert usability review, the optimal hierarchy of pages can be defined and represented visually in a new information architecture. The information architecture addresses a number of questions including:
What content do we have/wish to retain?
How will the categories and pages be related to each other?
What is the most appropriate taxonomy or site structure?
How will pages be structured?
How will navigation work?
Benefits of IA: clear customer journey mapping, user friendly navigation, and relevant, compelling CTAs
Outputs: a visual representation of the structure of the new website
Website Design and Development
This phase is when your website begins to really come to life. Depending on where most of your traffic comes from, the website design should be either mobile first or responsive. Aside from the colour palette, typography, and visual elements, the design will take into account and address overall user experience (UX), supported by intuitive and consistent user interfaces (UI).
The website design can be delivered in phases (agile approach) starting with agreed pages such as the home page, contact page and a generic inner page. This enables website development to commence in parallel, and for a collaborative process to begin.
Content Management and Content Creation
During this phase which can begin early in the project, sometimes in parallel with the content audit, existing content is reviewed and decisions made as to whether it should be retained, edited or removed/replaced. Content gaps will be identified during the content audit and peer review, and new content may be required. Remember to consult an SEO expert to ensure that your organic reach is optimised. Content includes text, images, infographics, videos, audio content, animations and more…
Depending on the size of your website and the number of pages it has, this process may involve representatives from various areas responsible for different content elements – such as marketing, HR and other internal business units. For smaller websites, this can be managed by a single representative.
Depending on the content management system (CMS) your website is built on, you may also need to ensure that you take content migration into account in planning your timeframe for the delivery of your website. Content migration is the process of uploading your content (text, images, video, audio…) to your new website. For large websites, this takes longer than you might expect, with most taking at least 2 to 3 weeks.
User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
User Acceptance Testing is the phase in the project when you, the client, are provided with access to your new website in order to test it out. Key elements to test include the website functionality, how it renders on different devices and browsers, its usability, navigation, and overall performance. When bugs or other issues are identified, these should be recorded and conveyed to the project manager or web developers to rectify.
Website Go Live
Once UAT has been completed and all bugs and any other issues addressed to your satisfaction, the site is ready for Go Live. You may decide to do a soft launch by making it live without any fanfare, or you may decide to announce the change. This is entirely up to you, the client. A soft launch is often used to allow the site to bed down, and to give time for any other bugs that may arise, to be fixed.
Handover and Training
As part of the handover process, you may want to undertake training on your website’s content management system (CMS). CMS platforms are now developed with the user in mind, and so are more user friendly than they used to be. However, each one is different to the last, and training can be helpful to get you started.
You may also get digital brand guidelines from your designer. These guidelines provide rules for your website design and UI to ensure that your website will remain consistent, even as you add content to it, so that your visitors will continue to have a positive user experience.
Ongoing website maintenance
Depending on the CMS platform and the complexity of your website you may also wish to put in place an SLA (service level agreement) with your web developer. This should address regular maintenance, bug fixes, site security, site performance, agreed uptime and more.
Finally, good stakeholder communications at every stage of your project is vital to project success.
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[i] https://productive.io/blog/website-project-management/
[ii] https://teamstage.io/project-management-statistics/
[iii] https://www.siliconrepublic.com/enterprise/digital-transformation-ireland-it-governance-auxilion-report
[iv] https://www.siliconrepublic.com/life/internet-projects-fail-due-to-poor-planning
[v] https://www.engineersireland.ie/News/failed-projects-cost-irish-companies-580000-research-reveals