Panel discussion
Planning and organizing: Case studies on projects that work
Terry Moore
Web project management tips
Planning
- Assign one online project manager or point person to eliminate confusion and streamline work. Make sure everyone is aware
that this person is in charge of the project and will be bringing all the pieces together. He/she will also be responsible for
securing approvals.
- Get appropriate print and Web editors involved early in online planning and use the Web team to actively guide thinking about
online.
- Push more online planning responsibility into coverage groups. For example, the sports department should have a big say in
(or be responsible for) how baseball is covered on all platforms. This creates a push, rather than pull, strategy for online content.
- The entire coverage team should know what is going online – not just those working “directly” for Web. If
everyone understands online coverage goals they can be part of the success.
- Can the planning be templated? What do we have that
can be used again? Create a project checklist.
- If you want reader input, get the solicit out early and run online and in the paper.
- Determine what parts of the coverage or
story are best for the Web and develop around that. It is assumed that the print stories and photos will be part of the package,
not the package.
- Break the components into various types of media and use each for a reason. Does each need its own plan?
- Create the basic outline
of a shell (or index page or topic page) and this is the basis for your draft design. Employ storyboards, if desired.
- Reel in desires
to link to every archived article and make this the foundation for a topic page or shell; pare down to those that are relevant
and provide context.
- Decide: How will this be promoted?
- Create a plan for how the project will link to other areas and elements on the site.
- COMMUNICATE the plan. Roll the online
coverage plan into the overall (usually print-centric) plan. Send e-mail. Place in budget files. Discuss at budget meetings. If
appropriate, share with marketing and advertising.
Building online coverage
- Puzzle through workflows sooner so there is time to troubleshoot.
- What design elements and labeling can link print and online packages and coverage?
- Should you use …
- Video
- Audio
- Narrated slide shows
- Photo galleries
- Flash elements
- Interactive graphics
- Maps
- Tickers
- Polls
- Surveys
- Ratings
- Games
- AP feeds
- Discussions
- Links
- Boxes
- Calendars
- Databases
- Tools and content from media partners (AP video, etc.)
- Etc … (add your own toolbox items)
- Discuss: What will these elements add? Can we get it online in a timely fashion? Who will handle and what is the workflow?
Do the people involved have the right training, equipment and software?
- Build templates early and figure out paging, tagging, anchors, etc.
- Ask: Is there a more efficient and less labor-intensive way to do this? Can we accomplish any/some of this work with programming?
- Run through any new technology in advance. Twice.
- Go over architecture of coverage – is everything linked properly and promoted well? How will home page change over
the course of the project?
- If using reader-submitted content, decide in advance how to handle and note that this will take more time and effort than
you expect. How will you collect? How much will you edit? How much will you post?
- Get entire coverage team to look at templates and online pre-work. They should understand the goals for the online report.
Deadlines
- Move whatever can be moved through line editing, photo editing, video editing, audio editing, graphics editing and copy editing
as soon as logical. The Web team will often need content before the print team.
- Decide if the Web version of a project can or should launch in advance of the print components.
- Schedule staff – online and print – appropriately
so the project is reported, taped, shot, edited, proofed, coded, designed, tested and launched with all the right people involved.
Each of these elements should have names and deadlines attached.
- Remind everyone that the Web deadlines don’t go away after
stories and photos are done for print. Don’t just
hope for the best – make people responsible for delivering their pieces of the coverage. Reporters, editors, photographers,
editors, copy editors, etc. all own a piece of the project.
- Determine if there is a drop-dead launch date and get agreement on
that date. If the project is not tied to an event, anniversary or news, give everyone adequate time to do good work, but don’t
allow a project to drag on.
- What approvals are needed?
- Will there be updates? Decide if updates require another schedule and plan for the updates attaching
names and deadlines wherever possible.
- Decide on the lifespan of the project. How long will it stay live? Will it move to another
area of the site?
Going live
- Communicate to the newsroom at large.
- Make sure the Web team understands what needs to be done to get any new pages and up off-cycle. List files that need to be
FTP’d, etc.
- Launch and check.
Marketing
- Determine if the project can be promoted in advance. Don’t forget to use your own home page or index pages as well
as other company sites such as portals.
- When promoting Web elements from the newspaper, try to use a visual element, perhaps a piece of an interactive or a portion
of a screen grab, so readers are intrigued by what they’ll find online.
- Get assist from marketing; promote in radio campaigns and take advantage of other media opportunities.
- Play up the multimedia and interactives. Add from story pages, not just the home page and index pages.
- Is it appropriate to send an e-mail blast to readers touting the project?
- Would it be appropriate for marketing or advertising to try to find a sponsor for the project?
Aftermath
- Do a postmortem, but structure it so it isn’t a Web-only affair. Discuss all coverage and create action steps to improve
planning and execution next time. Take this opportunity to push the concept that the Web is part of the overall coverage plan,
not an add-on.
- Add lessons learned to the planning template or checklist.
Links to some recent OCR.com work
http://www.ocregister.com/multimedia/boeing/
- Kitchen Basics, Wine & Food videos:
http://www.ocregister.com/wine_food/videos.shtml
http://www.ocregister.com/multimedia/vegas_monorail/
http://www.ocregister.com/multimedia/oscars/
Not recent, but cool: