During the summer I was accepted on a placement scheme called Shell Step in the North East of England. My role was to oversee and project manage the re-design of a company’s Internet presence. A Design contractor, specialising in web design and small business e-commerce solutions, had started the project some six months ago.

When I started the placement the project had already passed the planning and investigation stages and the development stage had started. When I looked back through the Brief, Proposal and Specification documents I saw there was a lack of detail and clarity describing exactly what was required to be done for the project to be successful. I conducted my own requirements analysis and identified the tasks that needed to be completed to enable the project outcomes to be realised. This involved interviewing Department Heads and examining the business processes of my placement company. The Design team had not performed this essential analysis and as a result did not have a complete understanding of the tasks needed and so they were struggling to develop what the Client wanted.

Throughout my placement there was a constant problem with the Design team not communicating effectively to inform the Client of the current project stage and if any work was delayed. This was frustrating and there was a visible effect on the people associated with the project, which led to feelings of anger and anxiety at the amount of money being spent on the new web application without any clear progress seeming to be made.

It was clear that the Client was providing most of the information throughout the process and also initiating most of the communication to drive the project forward. When the Client requested the Design team make changes to the application, no feedback was given from the Design side, leaving the Company managers not knowing if the work had been completed or not.

I believe that the Client and Design team should have developed an effective, regular communication schedule to form a feeling of trust, understanding and teamwork. This would have led to a better project because both sides would have been more effective in communicating problems, solutions and any delays could have been worked around. This would make any project a much more enjoyable experience for the Client and the Design team.

Staged payments were not used during this project but instead over half the project fee had been paid to the Contractor, up front. However, it has been agreed by both sides that the balance will not now be paid until the project is successfully completed. This was not the original agreement, but the Client management decided that this was the best course of action to make the Design team produce work to the required standard. Significant progress towards this goal was made during my placement but unfortunately the project was not completed before my return to university.

Initial Idea - Project Management Tool (Sept 07)

My experience in the summer gave me the idea of producing a web application, possibly using a content management system, that would help facilitate communication between a Client (a Small to Medium Enterprise) and external Designer or Design team.

The system would be web based to provide easy access and would be cheaper for small businesses to use. Design work could be uploaded onto a secure section of the website where the Client could communicate feedback to the Designer. The site would also include a description of good working practices for each of the project’s stages and possibly give an example in the form of a case study.

In a broader context I wanted to try and design an on-line tool that would help Client and Designer understand each others positions and therefore work closer together to remove any negative feelings such as anger, anxiety and frustration between both sides.