Project Concern Resources

David Wiley listed the following areas of concern for managing a project (specifically a grant project):

1. Communicating with Customers
2. Controlling Scope Creep
3. Changes in the Environment
4. Staying on Schedule

One of my favorite we-based resources for talk on web projects–and project management in general–is A List Apart. Indeed, A List Apart has over 50 articles related to project management. There are many other good project management blogs and online magazines, though the ones I’m most familiar with relate to web projects, such as Smashing Magazine (they’re also the ones I recommend to students).

1. Communicating with Customers Stakeholders
   • How To Effectively Communicate With Developers… which is almost as hard as communicating with clients (or subject matter experts).
   • 8 Strategies for Successful Client Relations
   • The Problem, the Balloon, and the Four Bedroom House by Joe Di Stefano. Great commentary and strategy on the importance of defining a project. This is famous in my Web Design class.
   • Getting to ‘No’. Communicate firmly and effectively; prevent and stop scope creep.
2. Controlling Scope Creep
   • Never Get Involved in a Land War in Asia (or Build a Website for No Reason) by Greg Storey Another famous article in my Web Design class.
   • In Defense of Scope Creep by Hal Helms I admit I’ve found some strong value in certain instances of scope creep, if it ultimately supports the project’s true goals or objectives.
   • Use Cases Part II: Taming Scope by Norm Carr, Tim Meehan
3. Changes in the Environment
   • Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity
4. Staying on Schedule
   • How To Find Time For… Everything!
   • 15 Useful Project Management Tools
   • Estimating Time Accurately

…and here are a couple more general project management sources:

• Project Management Handbook (Open Source)
• Project Management Course – CC Licensed by UK Open University