Keeping “It” Simple – My Approach to Project Management using the “3 Phase Solution”

I find the construct of outlining during project management allows me to keep focused on work without being bogged down by overly minding the process itself. In other words, I try and keep it simple by managing my projects with a simple approach and using the project management gold standard — 3 Phase Solution. The 3 Phase Solution is very simple to use, but when used right it will guarantee successful project management, keep you within budget, and will make your client happy.

Whenever I create a new job or initiate a new project I make sure I put it into outline form – this allows me to quickly reference my progress, in real time, without taking too much time to manage project management, which in of itself can become very complex very quickly. From a visual standpoint, interacting with a project outline allows you to add/delete dynamically and modify accordingly – the list really becomes a living breathing entity connected to the project life cycle. I usually build the list hierarchy by starting out with a typical 3 phase construct, namely:

1. Pre Production – project objective, timeline, production assets, etc.

2. Production – development phase, project review, client input, modifications

3. Post Production – re-review, completion, deployment

This production model is my “golden goose” and really helps to solidify the process up front avoiding as much development confusion as possible. I typically create a basic outline using the 3 sections above (think of them as beginning, middle, and end) and add to the list in hierarchical form as more details about the project become available during the pre production phase of the project – namely during the meeting to initiate a new project.

1. Pre Production – this is the beginning phase of the project and this phase is usually the most important since it lays the ground work of the project scope. In this phase you’ll want to understand the objective(s) of the project, project budget, timeline, expectations, you’ll want to devise a plan of action to get all your media together – if this is a website for example, you need to think about how your going to obtain the product assets for the website – are product shots taken, if not you’ll need to plan to make arrangements for a photoshoot etc.

Your going to need to provide either the client or your supervisor with a production estimate – how long do you anticipate the project will take to develop? Always pad on a few hours even of your are not going to use it – it’s better to have padding than to come up short and possibly miss a deadline because the production estimate was off – this almost always creates not only a bad impression but introduces problems that will trickle down the rest of your outline – think of your outline as a waterfall – pre production is at the top and post-production is at the bottom – what ever is incurred at the top will almost always fall into later parts of the project – some of which will not be so easy to deal with – the most important issue = PLAN .

Think about as much “input” into the project as possible – brainstorm, think about contingencies, be creative – this really is the time in the project (even though it has not started) where you have the most creative freedom as possible – really sell your talent with ideas, whether practical or off the wall – the one thing that matters at this juncture is that everything has been considered. Once you have all the elements of pre production written down it’s a good idea to start to put the project in a logical order of execution. Your going to want to take product pictures before you build the website – other wise you’ll have no content to populate your website! Add elements to your outline and take out what you will not need when you get close to completing pre production – remember – ore production is about planning – phase 2 “production” is about doing.

2. Production – this is where the fun begins! Production is about doing. If your production outline is efficient and orderly your project should be easy to execute (relatively speaking). A proper outline will allow you to easily ascertain where you are in the production life cycle and where it is you are going – it really becomes a “map”, if you will. Also, as mentioned earlier, the outline is dynamic in nature, so if you need to add / delete or modify feel free – the important thing is that your project objective stays the same in the pre-production phase – this is the project foundation, and if this changes the aim of the project changes and so does what you are doing! (if the objective changes it is not entirely a “bad” thing – it will have a cascading effect and will change what you are doing, sometimes a client will change their mind, and guess what – so has your project objective)

As you move through your production outline and complete steps make sure you go back every now and then just to make sure the project is still o track and still synchronized with the overall project objective – if it is your in good shape.

As you move deeper into production you will come to a point where the client will need to review what has been created thus far – it is a little stressful at this point but that’s natural. Keep an open mind – clients will always have good and bad criticism – this is an opportunity to modify what they would like differently and also gives you a chance to realign the original project objective with a working production model. If you did miss the boat a bit and the client is not entirely jumping for joy just be open and honest and show then the production outline – this will allow them the opportunity to see your interpretation of what it is they’ve settled on initially (remember to always show your production outline to the supervisor or client BEFORE the project begins production – this is to ensure the project objective’s intent was correctly interpreted by you) Once you and the client are satisfied with additional changes / modifications and both parties agree production will close and you move into phase 3 post-production.

4. Post Production – this phase allows for reviewing the project as a whole and is the point where finalization is to be made. Finalization has to do with drawing a line in the sand and agreeing on project completion. I have been involved with nightmarish projects that would not, and still have not completed! Some people just get physically attached to projects and never want them to grow up and become effective members of society – they’d rather hold on and think think think about possible changes to this and to that – well that’s a sure way to drive a designer into an asylum! The point of post-production is to do just that – finalize the project, agree that it is complete and has met the overall project objective(s). Once this point has commenced, the project can officially be deemed “finished” and you then deploy the project to it’s destination – if it’s a print ready file you’ll pre-flight and get it off to press, if it’s web bound you upload to the server etc.

A really great way to keep a production outline fluid and dyamic is to use software – I personally have been using Omni Outliner Pro for the better part of 5 yrs now and rely heavily on this simple little app for it’s powerful dynamic features. A pen and paper also work really well.

Omni Outliner Pro

http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnioutliner/

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