Web Project Management: Delivering Successful Commercial Web Sites [Paperback]

There are 100 books on the market that help explain how to write your Web pages, whether or not you knew what a Web page was before you opened the book. And there are a hundred books explaining how to run a successful project, outlining the aim and how to make sure you get yourself and your business to your destination on time and on budget. There are very few books, however, that help explain the need to project-manage a Web site and very few business books whatsoever that do their explaining as clearly and as elegantly as Ashley Friedlein's Web Site Project Management.

Project management is aggressively raising its profile in a context whereby new working practices force new ways of working on all managers. Project-based working has become a reality for all of us and technical managers particularly know that the cutting-edge computer know-how of staff is not, by itself, enough to ensure the successful resolution of a job of work. Web Site Project Management shows that the complexities of creating and delivering a commercial Web site can be overcome and in clean, direct prose walks the reader through the stages to completion. Friedlein outlines the attributes of a good project manager, explaining the scope and challenges of the role. He outlines a Web project method ("the framework for making decisions about the project") and goes into the different stages of the site project from clarification, definition and specification on to content, design, launch and maintenance. This could well prove to be invaluable. --Mark Thwaite

"This book provides a clear and thorough roadmap for achieving success {in your work]. It is a comprehensive guide giving historical context as well as covering methodology and case studies. It's perfect for people who are looking to move into this challenging profession." -Andrew Bibby, Director of Projects, Razorfish

"Web Project Management" presents a solid Web project management method for building commercial Web sites. Developed by pres.co, a leading interactive agency, this refined eight-stage approach lets you closely manage your project's contributors, quality, costs, and schedules. Importantly, the book also details how to define, measure and understand the success of your project on an ongoing basis. This book is an indispensable resource, whether you are a project manager, online manager, Web director, consultant or producer. This book: includes insider tips from the perspective of the world's leading Web developers; focuses on project management as it relates to e-commerce; teaches you to organize and put together a team, develop goals, manage schedules and budgets, overcome pitfalls, maintain, evaluate and evolve a commercial Web presence; and includes an introduction to the key principles of Web project management and a case study of the Channel 5 Web site-a popular project managed by the author. It provides templates, via a companion Web site, that you can use to develop your own project documentation, a discussion forum, links to related sites, a glossary of terms, a database of useful white papers, and an Internet knowledge quiz.

Ashley Friedlein is cofounder and CEO of e-consultancy (www.e-consultancy.com), an online and offline service for U.K. e-business professionals, providing access to the best e-business information and advice. Previously, he was lead strategist and senior producer at Wheel, where he successfully managed the development, delivery, and ongoing maintenance of several major Internet sites, in particular those for media owners. Ashley comes from a background in digital media production, having worked at Pearson and Bloomberg and with the major U.K. broadcasters. He is the author of Web Project Management: Delivering Successful Commercial Web Sites (2001).