Once a project proposal is signed, most people jump straight into development. However, taking the time to set up your project can help avoid gaps in communication with developers or the client. Laying out the roadmap helps to complete all the steps needed for a successful project. In this video from Xojo Developer Conference 2018, I go over how you set up your project and where.
Please find a full video transcript below:
Susan: Okay, so, we’ve got an agreement with our client, we’re all on the same page, we know what to do except now we need to move into setting up the actual project to execute the work. Please use some project management software. I would encourage you guys not to build it. I know that is what all of you want to do but there are plenty of options off the shelf. I’m going to recommend if you are not using any sort of project management tool, look at Basecamp 2. Not 3, that’s the newest one. I don’t like that one as much. Get Basecamp 2. If you are already using project management software you can look at Teamwork.com as something that gives you a lot more. Those are my favorites but there are plenty out there. If you don’t like those, please just pick something and make it work. You can build your process around that tool.
Start with a custom template. So what goes in your template? All of the standard stuff surrounding a project but your template is not going to include the steps for the actual development. There’s no development task because all of the things about, okay, how do you install the software? Do you have licensing? Do you have to remind yourself to renew their licenses down the road? When do you have kickoff meetings and how often do you have status meetings and all of the things you do to set up a project. It might even be things like reminding yourself to invite the client into your project management tool. So, the template is all those things that you don’t want to have to remember, that you just do every single time. And then when you open your project you can actually pull in the development process and steps from your proposal.
So, you can take this from discovery all the way through testing and bug completion. So in your template, you can have the standard discovery questions you asked so you don’t have to remember them or have a document somewhere else. And then also as you get those answers, you can put them into the tool. Then they’re there for you to refer back to and to share with your team if they’re not involved in that initial discovery part. You can even go through all the testing. How do you do testing consistently for you? Do you do an internal alpha testing with your team? Do you have quality assurance somehow with your team? Those steps should be consistent for every project. And then there’s also probably client testing as well. So you want to put those things in your template to get your project kicked off.
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