[thelist] conference question/evaluation

Bill Haenel bill at webmarketingworx.com
Sun Feb 3 17:46:01 CST 2002


> copy says, "This introductory course is intended for people
> who want to understand and practice the process of managing
> the development of a Website."  Then it says, "Talk Like A
> Project Manager.  [I'm not sure I want to do that.]  Project
> Management has a vocabulary all its own. Understanding terms
> such as acceptability criteria, critical path analysis,
> Gantt chart, scope creep, and work breakdown structure is
> necessary for communication with your team and other project
> managers."  Again I wonder, how important is it for me to
> understand "scope creep?"  Will "acceptability criteria"
> allow me to keep checking sites in the same few browsers?
>
> Bottom line: how relevant is this stuff to small business
> folks like me?

So much of the typical 'science' of Project Management is geared toward
businesses that have so many employees involved in the project that it is
difficult to manage without advanced tools and terminology. However, even if
you're only managing a project with one or two people working on it, you
usually have a client, who expects that you will be able to present
professional milestones and status reports. From this perspective, knowing
more about conventional Project Management techniques can only make you look
better in your clients' eyes.

Standards are standards. I don't know enough about them or follow them as
much as I should. However, my personal feeling is that if I did, I'd be
setting myself up for a lot less retrofitting later on when the entire
industry is finally built on a solid ground of standards and specifications.

If you're in this web development thing for the short term, maybe you can
ignore standards. If you wish to be in this for the long haul and want to be
able to stand by your work for twenty years, you're going to need rules to
fall back on in a crisis - i.e. standards. And it's better to use the groups
standards than your own, I think.

BH




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