Mobile App Development and Managing Expectations

Mobile app development, while not exactly new, is still in the early stages of its life cycle. Many companies are just starting to swim in these waters. If a company knows what its customers want, and manages their expectations effectively, then everyone involved with a project has a positive experience and, more importantly, a successful […]

Mobile Website Project Considerations

Mobile optimization of websites is becoming expected by a growing percentage of mobile device users. Thus, making a mobile version of a website is a mandatory complement to a brand and vital to making users happy. When companies are planning on delivering a mobile browser friendly adaptation of a website there are many factors that […]

Project Communication, Translating Technical Jargon

Project managers often act as translators between technical and non-technical project team members. For example, team members all use English as their first language, but they can encounter communication problems when conveying project expectations due to the differences in design vocabulary and technical vocabulary. It is important that non-technical people feel they are intelligent and […]

Building Effective Technical Project Timelines

I prefer to be the one to propose timelines which I base on the project requirements and technical specifications in addition to proper programming and time estimates for creative. But, like I've discussed previously, marketing-driven technical projects usually have a rigid deadline and are very constrained on time. So, we do our best here to […]

Marketing and Technical Project Management, Part 2

The following formula can be frustrating at times for the technical project manager and development team: a large amount of demand for success, plus minimal information, plus an often tight and rigid deadline. That formula is why in the beginning of the process, the project team must focus more on goals than details. Every team […]

Marketing and Technical Project Management, Part 1

The technical project management approach is affected by which department initiates a project. In the next couple of posts I'll highlight some ways a marketing-requested technical project changes the overall approach. In an IT driven project, the approach is usually very rigid. The plans are normally carried out with military precision. Because there’s no room […]

The Client Collaboration Continuum

What role should your client play in a project implementation? Traditional project management techniques treat clients as consumers of a product, in this case the "product" being the output of the project effort. Customers are rarely, if ever, privy to the internal workings of the project and instead rely on formal, periodic reports which attempt […]

Marketing Project Management Tips

Project Management. For many the term conjures up images of set-in-concrete time lines supported by highly regimented milestones and minutely detailed tasks. A traditional technical project, like an intercontinental ballistic missile, has a well-defined team of highly technical engineers and a formal development process. Managing technical projects for marketers is very different. If you're building […]