The essentials of a digital project

THE ESSENTIALS OF
A DIGITAL PROJECT
DANNY BLUESTONE, NOV 2014

TODAY
1. About Danny
2. Strategy
3. Approach
4. The Brief
5. Technology
6. Execution
7. Recap

WHAT IS A STRATEGY?
Image: https://www.pehub.com/2013/10/want-some-time-with-reid-hoffman-just-ask-him/

A HIGH LEVEL PLAN TO ACHIEVE
ONE OR MORE GOALS UNDER
CONDITIONS OF UNCERTAINTY
Image: http://blog.codinghorror.com/chess-computer-v-human/

A DIGITAL BUSINESS NEEDS
THE FOLLOWING INNOVATIONS
Image: https://www.pehub.com/2013/10/want-some-time-with-reid-hoffman-just-ask-him/

DISTRIBUTION SHOULD BE
BUILT-IN

INNOVATIVE BUT ADAPTIVE
Image:http://beta.robocast.com/roboshows/1233-eric-ries-the-pivot

THERE ARE 4 TYPES OF
DIGITAL PROJECTS

DIFFERENT PROJECTS NEED DIFFERENT
STRATEGIES:
1. Branding and marketing projects
2. Information and content rich projects
3. Functional, system and IoT driven applications
4. Combos, as most projects combine at least two of the above.
When going ‘cross-channel’ further consideration is required.

HEROES ONLY
LIVE IN MOVIES…
Image: https://wherebadmovieslive.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/macgyver-monday-ugly-duckling/

BUT HELP IS HERE. HERE ARE APPROACHES
TO HELP DELIVER AND EXECUTE YOUR
STRATEGY:
1. Agile and Scrum - Geared towards (2-3 weekly) sprint releases that
include QA, little to no documentation, a self managing team with a
‘product owner’. Planning is done within each sprint via user stories.
2. Waterfall - Normally a phased approach with upfront planning and
specifications followed by design. Development is normally done in
the middle with user acceptance testing (UAT) at the end.
3. Lean - More of a set of principles and philosophy, encouraging
experiments and pivots via MVPs, learning, iterating and improving.
Lean propagates avoiding development waste at all costs.

THE PROJECT TRIANGLE TO THE RESCUE
FEATURES
QUALITY
BUDGET TIMELINE
Image: http://gs4securitywallpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/escher-triangle.html

SPRINT 01
PLANNING PLANNING PLANNING PLANNING
Release login
SPRINT 02
and registration screens
Release shopping
cart experience
SPRINT 03
Release data
import and blog
SPRINT 04
Release indexing,
search and UAT fixes
SCRUM

WATERFALL
Requirements
User Experience
(UX) & Design
Development
& QA
Deployment
Continued
Support

LEAN
Ideas
LEARN BUILD
Data Code
MEASURE
Split tests
Customer interviews
Five Whys root cause analysis
Cross-functional teams
Unit tests
Usability tests
Continuous integration
Open source components
Product owner accountability
Cohort analysis
Real-time alerting
Innovation accounting
Eliminate waste
Net promoter score

SUMMARISING THE APPROACHES
Using the agile manifesto as a base
Agile Waterfall Lean
Individuals and interactions Processes and tools Proven and people focused processes
Working software Software and documentation Validated software and wikis
Customer colloboration Contracts and negotiations Smart, flexible and challenged proposals
Responding to change Following a plan The build, measure, learn loop

KEEP IT
BRIEF
Image: https://wherebadmovieslive.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/macgyver-monday-ugly-duckling/

THINGS TO INCLUDE IN A BRIEF:
1. Outline strategy - Reference to your original strategy, your
hypothesis and goals for both the launch (MVP) and beyond!
2. Approach - What type of methodology do you want to take?
3. Resources - Who’s going to do what and when? It should be clear
what you expect from each partner and stakeholder.
4. Content strategy - This requires careful thought.
5. Marketing - How will marketing be built-in to your new project and
what happens when the project launches?
6. Branding - Your brief should refer to brand guidelines which are
important and will expedite the production if done properly.
7. Technology - It’s always worth outlining what you need in the brief.

I CHOOSE A LAZY PERSON TO DO
A HARD JOB BECAUSE A LAZY
PERSON WILL FIND AN EASY WAY
TO DO IT.
Image: http://billgatesstrategies.com/

TECHNOLOGY CONSIDERATIONS:
1. Touch-points - Based on the touch points and channels you are
designing for, carefully select proven and scalable technology.
2. MVC Framework - For the backend use a model-view-controller
(MVC) framework. The model manages the data and business logic.
3. Platform - Sometimes it’s worth using a platform if all you need is a
basic CMS-powered or e-commerce website.
4. TDD - Test driven development (TDD) entails writing test scripts
and unit tests upfront to constantly test functionality.
5. Bundled releases - Schedule software releases every two weeks on
a staged server so all resources work in tandem.

DESIGN DRIVES INNOVATION;
INNOVATION POWERS BRAND;
BRAND BUILDS LOYALTY; AND
LOYALTY SUSTAINS PROFITS.
Image: http://www.brandingbricks.com/2014/06/20/post-199-a-brand-interview-with-marty-neumeier-part-1/

FINALLY, EXECUTE:
1. User centred design (UCD) - Regardless of your approach,
incorporate UCD so decisions are made based on real user input.
2. Design heuristics - Make sure that both the creative and technical
teams adhere to IA and IxD heuristics.
3. Interdisciplinary teams - Make sure the team is cross-disciplinary
and works closely together, challenging each other all the time.
4. Presentations and walk throughs - Use ‘show and tells’ to regularly
present weekly progress.
5. Use good PM tools - Use tools like JIRA to manage issues,
Basecamp for communication and Trello as a lean board.

A QUICK RECAP:
1. Strategy - Stick to your strategy but ensure it’s lean and adaptable.
2. Approach - Feel free to pick and choose a methodology that suits
your type of project and organisational setup.
3. Brief - Make sure the brief clearly articulates your goals and KPIs.
4. Experience design - Remember that your ‘experience’ needs to be
thoroughly tested with real people before you go to market. Use
UCD to help you really focus on your customers.
5. Putting it all together - Your project consists of branding,
technology and marketing elements. Your job is to ‘gel’ it together.

THANK YOU
@DANNY_BLUESTONE
@CYBERDUCK_UK

The essentials of a digital project

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