It’s a Lot Like Planning Your Wedding
By Mary Thielen, Bayshore Solutions Project Management Team
As I am 10 days out from saying ‘I Do’ to the most amazing man in the world, I have come to the conclusion that planning and executing a website redesign project, is in many ways like preparing for marriage. It is important to keep in mind that the launch of your new website is just the beginning, like the wedding is to a marriage.
There are often grandiose ideas of what your website, or wedding, will be. These ideas can be influenced by a number of factors; other sites you frequent, the competition, or a unique one of a kind concept you’ve dreamed up. Alignment of budget, scope, and timeline are key to ensuring your expectations for your website are met. For example, if the date has been set and is something that you are unable to move, prioritizing the must haves for launch is key.
There are many factors that can impact or change your vision. As the list of must haves and little details continues to grow, it is important to document and prioritize requirements. You are the single or one of many stakeholders in the project. However, prioritization of your requirements and analysis of the impact to overall budget, scope, and timeline is best completed by a person. This person needs to remain objective and complete the analysis of all requirements and review of prioritization, to define a project scope that is aligned with your budget and timeline.
Once the budget, scope, and timeline have been defined, it’s time to execute the plan. No matter how much you’ve planned, you must sometimes account for the unforeseen. Whether it is a change to requirements because a key requirement was overlooked or something out of your control has occurred, it is always important to prioritize these changes and analyze the impact to budget, scope, and timeline.
As you cross the finish line, and your new website is live, enjoy the honeymoon but keep in mind the journey is not over. You will need a plan for keeping your site fresh, prioritizing and planning for the requirements that did not make the cut for launch, and balancing the ever changing requirements of the digital world – thinking of you, Google.
Whether you are in the newly engaged, planning, execution, or maintenance phase of your website redesign project, we are here to help execute your project.
Learn more about how we can help you build your best digital presence; contact us today!