Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
these six questions inform your concepts of what the project will fundamentally
be about, something I call a project plan.
Why?
Why is the project being undertaken? Discuss the client's mission state-
ment to make certain everyone on the team understands what you are all trying
to accomplish. Evaluate how the proposed project meets the client's goals and
determine the objective of the project as it pertains to audience demographics,
such as age, occupation, gender, education, residence, and ethnicity.
how?
How will you and/or your team create the project deliverables? How will
responsibilities be divided among different individuals to take best advantage of
each team member's professional strengths?
What?
What are the project deliverables? List which types of documents,
images, drawings, models, videos, and/or printed matter that need to eventu-
ally be delivered to the client. What tasks will need to be undertaken to pro-
duce these deliverables?
Who?
Who will be involved and what are their responsibilities within the
project? Gather each person's contact information and store it in a centralized
address database that is shared with all project members. Delineate each team
member's anticipated responsibilities within the project.
When?
When do project milestones occur in time? Develop a timeline that
graphically illustrates anticipated milestones (significant events) in the life of the
project. Assign one team member, usually the project manager, with the task of
monitoring all team members' progress in achieving milestones on the timeline.
Where?
Where is the project located? If team members work on the project
from distributed locations, then work out secure file transfer details to enable
electronic collaboration. For example, distribute usernames and passwords to
an FTP site or to a third-party file hosting service. If the project deliverables
include printed matter, communicate with print professionals to obtain specific
technical requirements for high-quality results. If the project is a building,
study the larger context of the built and natural environments.
Once you have developed a project plan by answering all of the preceding ques-
tions, the next step is to develop a project plan. The plan usually takes the form
of a task list, which will identify the actors, their tasks, and the time in which
they are slated to perform their roles. The project plan will alleviate common
problems relating to methodology, miscommunications, feature creep, and bud-
get overruns.
Figure 1.1 shows an example project plan, which was created using a spread-
sheet program.
