AJ Karim’s Ramblings

Gorilla Marketing

// February 25th, 2010 // No Comments » // Project Management

http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/electronic-arts-marketing-of-dantes-inferno.html

Site Storyboarding & Design (Web Designer Mag)

// February 14th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Project Management

I frequently pick up Web Designer Magazine from my local bookstore, even though it costs $15+ (I’m close to doing the monthly subscription to save a couple bucks). Anyways this has been one of my favorite articles they have written in regards to story boarding and design:

TAKE A STRUCTURED APPROACH TO DESIGNING YOUR WEBSITES AND YOU WILL END UP WITH A DESIGN THAT FITS THE SITE OBJECTIVES PERFECTLY AS WELL AS LOOKING ABSOLUTELY STUNNING TO YOU AND YOUR CLIENT

CREATING A DESIGN for a website that successfully represents the subject matter or business in question is more than chance. When we embark on a new web design project it’s always very tempting to jump straight into creating visual mockups, defining navigation placement and colour schemes. This can work occasionally, and definitely adds a freshness to the final design, but as an approach it’s full of risks.
As a professional web designer it’s better to take a structured, measured approach where you build a design solution after examining business objectives, user requirements and defining the informational layout; that is, how the information contained within the website will hang together.

There are many different ways to approach a design project. In this short tutorial we will look at just one way to improve your workflow, reduce risks to meeting business goals and end up with a meaningful design that meets users’ needs. You can adapt this approach to suit your own personal needs – the key lesson to take away here is that having a firm structure in place doesn’t actually restrict the creative process but rather gives it a solid grounding…

Continue on for the full story – Site Storyboarding & Design

When to walk away from a client/project…

// October 23rd, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Project Management

I have been dealing with web design & development for well over 12 years. Needless to say in that time, regardless of the position I held within the project team structure, I have encountered all types of clients. There are those clients who respect and understand the reason they hired you – therefore give you the opportunity to play your part in helping them succeed. Then there are those “fun” clients who hire you because they want a new spark or creativity & excitement ignited within their brand – but don’t know how to let go & lead you down the same path they had been traveling and getting no where for years. Think Jerry Jones (Cowboys) as opposed to Robert Kraft (Pats)… Need I say more?

This morning I read a great article about saying “No” to a client/project written by Greg Hoy on A List Apart – one of my favorite web sites & I feel it is a must-read for anyone involved in the process… Hope you enjoy!

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/getting-to-no/

Wireframing Software Recommendations

// August 23rd, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Project Management

Depending on the organization you work for the glorious task of wire framing a web site or project to detail functionality deciphered from the business requirements/client requests may fall on the producer’s lap. In speaking with several friends in the industry it seems to really depend on how big or small the company is that you work for. If you were a Senior Producer at Leo Burnett for example a producer with work with Information Architect specialists to design/develop the wire framing/sitemap documentation. With smaller boutique agencies like RED Interactive, that responsibility may come back to the Project Manager/Producer.

In all honesty I am not opposed to producing sitemaps & wireframes… As with all aspects of a project’s strategy these very important tasks should not be done within a bubble. Here has been my strategy as of late:

Step 1 – Work with the client and account manager/director to understand what the project is all about – review the RFP & Proposal as well as have a client kick-off with all project stakeholders (Art Director, Tech Lead, Account Manager, Client).

Step 2 – Lay out an agenda for an internal kick-off with the team to understand what we will be proposing to the client as a strategy to meet the needs they have come to us to address.

Step 3 – Work closely with the Art Director on what creative answer they will be developing for the client and confirm with the Technical Director that what may be proposed in the static comps is do-able.

The above three steps should give you as a producer/project manager enough amo to begin developing a sitemap or wireframe.

Sitemaps & Decision Trees:
When it comes to creating the project map or any decision trees I can’t recommend anything but Microsoft Visio for that task. Its been around the longest (sorry mac users) but the latest version is incredible. There are numerous templates that can be found around the web, and its just as easy as it comes to laying out the project map.

In fact, in working with the team during the internal kick-off you may have already white-boarded out a sitemap and homepage and/or underlying page. Take those sketches or doodles and make it digital. I highly recommend starting out with Balsamiq Studios Mockups.

This is the easiest wireframing software out there – is it client-presentation ready? That is up to you… its cute… but depending on your client and the project, this may not be how you want to output your wireframes. What I like about it its cheap (80 bucks) and you can even try it for free – finish things up & do a “print screen” and see how that works for you. They even have iPhone app wireframing capabilities which is really cool for all you producers working on mobile elements to your projects.

So I start with Balsamiq – create a couple wireframes & present those to the Art/Creative director & Technical Director. They may have changes or suggestions which I will implement, and I essentially get sign-off that from a functional standpoint this is how they plan to implement the project.

Again depending on the client I may take those wireframes and re-purpose them utilizing Axure or Protoshare. I have used both & there are advantages to using one over the other. In the end a lot of what they offer is the same & benefits producers/project managers greatly. I liked Axure a lot, big fan, but having to download software to run it & its costs may be prohibitive to some. Protoshare allows anyone to see or review documents you create as long as you have a web connection and a web browser. Axure’s technical documentation output is much better then what Protoshare’s produces – more thorough and laid out better. With Axure – once I am done laying out the wireframes, the documention it produces on the fly for my technical developers is incredible. Protoshare’s is nothing special at all, but I know they are coming out with a new version. With Protoshare you can shre a link with a client and have them leave little “pin” points on certain elements and it leaves a nice history of comments on pages your team is developing. Eventually you can even upload a static comp with transparent buttons or CTA’s to illustrate a fake web site…

Its a toss-up, try both, spend some time creating a fake small project (i.e. newsletter sign-up) and see which one works for you…

Good luck – email me if you would like more advice on anyone of these tools, or templates I have worked with and developedd.

Project Responsibilities

// July 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Project Management

Account Manager/Director gets with you (Producer/Project Manager) to get you acclamationed with a new project that just came through the company doors. New business has done their part, promises have been made, now the transition begins. You get the 30,000 foot view of the project (i.e. New product – immersive experience, you have 4 weeks and here is your team, good luck)… Now what? Doing your research comes first, learning everything you can about the project so that you are able to answer the questions you need when you conduct the initial kick-off with the team.

But there comes a point where as a producer you need understand the dynamics of the project, the team’s individual responsibilities, all inline with orchastrating a finalized and cohesive product. This product should meet the client’s expectations and most importantly not go over budget and stay on the timeline as much as possible.

A partnership needs to be established with the Creative Lead/Art Director and the Producer – I think once you have that in place, a project is on course to be produced properly. The next steps for the producer is to make sure that the vision the CD has in mind number one can be accomplished by the technical developers within the timeline set based on the budget. If you can bridge the gaps and keep everything in line you have successfully done your job. As the producer you really need to be able to answer any creative or technical question that team members internally may have at any given time during the life cycle of the project. On the flip-side, the producer should also answer any question the client or account manager may have about the project. Staying knowledgeable without micro-managing the project and project team is a fine art and balance that may take some time and experience to master, but also understanding the dynamics that make up the different teams you may be working with can affect that.

Good luck….

The Beginning & End Of a Project

// May 5th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Project Management

Sitting here at work looking through a couple projects I have… Its incredible how beautiful things start out with projects… The client loves you (based on your portfolio or how you sell yourself), the internal team is motivated and owns the project… The account manager feels good because based on your (“your” being the producer or project manager) schedule we should come in under budget and it will be a profitable project that can be showcase cause the creatives are going to do something nobody has ever seen before…

So the project kicks off, and requirements change… you still want to be a good partner, so you give, you bend… Then more changes come, the creative team gets frustrated, the developers have already built a core that needs tweaking that pisses them off… The account manager doesnt want to go back to the client to ask for more $ or time… I think any PM has gone through this… and it happens, its how you handle it, how you deal with all parties involved, that really can make or break a project.

I have worked places where producers just say yes, kill their internal resources since timelines don’t change, come in under budget, but the client loved working with them. Well… of course they did, you gave them everything they asked for… I am not saying you shouldn’t do everything you can to keep the client happy, and you can’t be that rigid where you are just saying “no” to everything… but somethings got to give. It helps when from the top down you are given the trust to manage the client relation and build and manage the internal team. If that is missing, and the producer is used as a scapegoat or punching bag (which I have also unfortunatly witnessed), then no one is happy.

So I don’t know where I was going with this.. just random thoughts about a specific topic… I guess a successful producer/project manager should not be judged on how a project or projects start, but rather how all elements related to that project end. Where the business goals met? Is the client, for the most part, happy with what was delivered? Is the internal team proud of the work they did, not burnt out too badly, and excited to work with you on another project? You will never have all three perfect, but if you can honestly say that all three are moderately in check, then you can consider it a successful project.

Good luck producers/project managers out there… A thankless job sometimes, that in this day & age is much needed with big and small projects a like.