How Many People Work in Your Internet Department? 255
WorkinTooHard asks: "Two years ago, I took the job of Internet Marketing Manager for a international company, with a crazy idea that I could convince senior management that the internet wasn't a fad. The only problem was that I didn't expect a (respected) mid-level manager to be the road block. We are in the middle of a major website redesign (the current site has not been updated in over 8 years) and everyone is asking why it takes so long to complete, and almost daily I have to explain that I do not have enough manpower. Of course, I can't prove ROI until the new site is launched (a great Catch22). How many people do you have working in/on your company's Internet/Intranet and Extranet sites and applications? How many full-time web-application developers, content providers, analytics people, UI designers, email marketing people, and so forth?"
"Please note that this includes anyone who works directly in building and maintaining your companies current website, electronic marketing and Internet applications. If you can, include the size of your company, number of employess, the number of active products being sold/supported, and how much outsourcing you do? The company I am currently working for has over 13,000 active products and over 30,000 products which need to be supported. We do no outsourcing, have over 900 employess in North America (over 8000 worldwide) and a total of 2 full time web developers, 1 part time developer/SQL guru and 1 content/data person as well as two people in our MarCom office which periodically write copy."
Push Back (Score:5, Insightful)
Anything that people don't understand, they tend to generalize and make higher level models of the underlying processes. I think it'd be beneficial for this manager to sit in on a couple design meetings and/or code reviews so that he can get a feel for all that is involved.
I think you're going to see wildly varying answers regarding sizes of teams, depending upon site complexity, etc. The real issue here is that it looks like you need to learn to push back.
Your posting sounds more like a distress message than an actual question. If you feel you're understaffed and you're feeling heat from the top, look these guys straight in the eye and say "If you refuse to offer more staff, we can only reasonably expect to complete around this date", and don't flinch. They'll respect you more in the long run and know you mean business.
Jim http://www.runfatboy.net/ [runfatboy.net] -- Exercise, Web 2.0 style.
The sad state of affairs... (Score:3, Insightful)
This is why being a project manager at any level can suck at times. What I learned over the years is either to make do with what you got or just walk away because some projects aren't worth sacrificing your time and effort.
Use an iterative approach (Score:5, Insightful)
Whats the business? (Score:4, Insightful)
Who are your customers? are they interent users?
Re:Push Back (Score:5, Insightful)
That's a nice sentiment, except for one problem: He's a manager, not a coder. He doesn't need to push back, he needs to spend his time managing. Which means that instead of coding, he needs to spend his time doing other things like:
All in all, I don't hold very much hope for the story submitter. Being a manager is very different from being a programmer. If he's been in his position for two years and hasn't learned how to play the game yet, then he may not be cut out for it. Being a manager is a cut-throat business, and there are only two ways to survive: Either be really good, or be really good at brown nosing. The former is usually preferrable; especially if your bosses are no slouches.
Re:Push Back (Score:3, Insightful)
Agree that it's a call for help. The writer should not be doing web development in house. He should have come up with a list of requirements, obtained quotations and time estimates, selected a contractor, signed a contract, and been done with this months ago.
He's using brute force where knowledge would be a better input. Classic.
incremental change (Score:4, Insightful)
Sounds like reason #65536 to never launch a "major redesign" of anything....
Isn't there some way this could be broken down into steps that could show actual day-to-day improvements (even if only very minor ones?)?
Re:Whats the business? (Score:3, Insightful)
I think you have that backwards
Going from Flash / Active X the notepad I what I would call progress.
Re:Push Back (Score:3, Insightful)
Like? Like pushing back. That's exactly what managers are for. They don't code, they push their agenda when and where it needs pushing.
I'll tell you, though, I've worked in a few places both big and small, and never experienced this problem. Most of the managers I've worked with, are all over the new paradigm of the Interweb, and the synergy it offers our customers, the staggering ROI potential....
Is hiring the answer? (Score:3, Insightful)
For example, a programmer or designer is pretty flexible. After the site is done they could work on other projects, update manuals, internal programs, media kits, etc. But what would, for example, a UI designer do? I'd also shy away from having an "email marketing manager" because almost all the professional marketing emails I get are usually handled by a company that's not the one advertising everything.
Of course, a couple of things need to be noted. First off, if they have not updated their site in 8 years and the internet is vital, how come they are still in business? Who are some competitors with a terrific web presence and how has that affected their business? I've seen plenty of cases where a very high investment has not really resulted in any new business. Or, the new business can't be tied to the site, eventhough the site is generating new business. (Build this into your proposal so if there's an increase, it can be directly attributed to the project you spearheaded!)
I have a friend who is a procurement specialist for a pretty big consultancy, with clients being a lot of Fortune 500 companies. Anytime he needs to compare commoditized products or services (say, plastic sheeting, wires) he always has a very big list of companies to contact. The easiest way he cuts that down from 100 companies to 30 or 40 is by eliminating ones with bad or non-existent websites. To an extent, it is a reflection of the professionalism and thoroughness of any company.
That being said, if your employer is afraid of new ideas, doesn't want to understand them, and doesn't see the benefit if a clear, realistic plan to great ROI is laid out in front of them, that company is a sinking ship. It that's the case, it wouldn't hurt to take your good idea and see if a competitor will do it instead (with you overseeing the project at a vastly higher salary, of course).
Re:lone wolf at my state agency (Score:5, Insightful)
Life's too short, and no job is worth that.
Re:lone wolf at my state agency (Score:3, Insightful)
> It's a month past deadline and if I don't finish it by the end of next week, I'm fired
I'm sorry to say that you should spend the next week sending out resumes instead of putting in unpaid overtime.
An organization that abuses you that badly today will do it again tomorrow. Try to get a gig where they abuse you only during regular work hours.
If you have moral objections to that recommendation (after all, when I was in the same position as you, I ignored the same advice...), you should focus your efforts at getting the website to the point where it's a good example of your work, so when you start job hunting in 7+1 days, future employers will be impressed.
Re:Push Back (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:lone wolf at my state agency (Score:1, Insightful)
Perhaps it's your mistake for letting your superiors think that you could do in 3 months what took 4 people 6 months? Either way, it's a good learning experience of not overpromising and/or identifying bad managers.
Re:Push Back (Score:5, Insightful)
By that time, the business is totally committed, the boss failed to hold the contractors to the contract, and the boss' boss is waiting for a deliverable. You could certainly cancel the contract, but that pretty much means loosing your job. Maybe they deserve to get fired.
I've never been a decision maker in a project like this, but I would say this happens more then half the time with businesses that I work with. Past schedule and over budget.
Pushing is a central part... (Score:3, Insightful)
He's a manager, not a coder. He doesn't need to push back, he needs to spend his time managing.
What do you think management is if it isn't "pushing"? This fellow is managing a major web development project, and resource allocation (resources being time, money and people) is an essential, unavoidable part of the process. Unless you are a "supreme manager" who answers to nobody, like a president or COO or something, then it is this guys job to estimate as accurately as possible what resources are required to achieve the goals of the project.
Market the idea to the rest of company. Sending out mockups and ROI case studies of other companies can entice your manager and/or his manager
If this guy was already tasked with managing this project and already has coders working on it, the appropriate time to obtain buy-in has long since passed--his employer has bunged things up big time if there is no buy-in now. In my place of employment, it is NOT the job of project managers to sell the project (whether it is internal or external)--there are other people to do that ("business development specialists" for external projects and committees for internal projects).
Use your budget more effectively.
I'd say that you should remove the first two words...this guy should "budget more effectively" and have a strong argument to back those numbers to his superiors (this is where the "pushback" comes into play). If your superior is not convinced then you must compromise on your deliverables/goals. If this guy cannot get enough of a budget to hire more coders then examine outsourcing/contractors. If the budget is still too lean, make do with the meagre number of people and revise the schedule, and be firm to superiors about that schedule. If the schedule is too long then cut down features/scope. If you are still not in a good place then push to have the project cancelled entirely. That'll get the big bosses attention and if it is as important as your company's online presence that is 1990s stale then the guy being the roadblock will have drawn a lot of negative attention to himself.
Build trust. You need to gain a reputation as someone who gets things done, and can be trusted with a task.
Not just getting things done...getting them done on time and within budget. Even Larry the Cable Guy can "git 'er done". To garner a reputation of trust you must set attainable goals and meet them reliably. You won't get respect by throwing together your online store in record time if it is full of bugs, awkward to use and has a dumb security hole like SQL injection that lets a hacker clear all passwards or steal customer purchasing information..even though you "got things done".
Don't make excuses. Learn to put a positive spin on timetables, instead.
Not always possible to put a positive spin on scheduling things (I wonder how positive BillG or ballistic Ballmer felt when they learned Vista was pushed back to January 2007). And there are always valid excuses--I prefer to call them "reasons". You just have to acknowledge when you are responsible for them and make sure people know when THEY are responsible for them. And don't dewll on the excuse, concentrate on the solution.
Don't commit to a project unless you and your superiors are agreed on the timetables.
If your employer is as screwed up as I suspect this guys was, it is possible that he wasn't voluntarily committed to the schedule. In fact, he might not have even been given a specific schedule or had much cooperation in defining the goals or the design. In that case there will never be an end. He says his employer's site has been stagnant for eight years...back in the 1990s it was the thing to do to put "under construction" on a site. I'd bet that this site might still have those nasty little notices on it.
Don't be a wuss (Score:4, Insightful)
I got into the same deal, but with a much larger monster of an organization, with lots of developers, thousands of servers, and endless financial resources. Here's what I learned: two passionate and committed coders with a clear understanding of their company's business and customers can produce more than an army of egos, project managers, analysts, disengaged sponsors.
I suggest you pick a target that the two of you can hit in 30 days, communicate that goal to your boss's boss, bust your asses to hit the target in 20 days, then spend the next 10 days figuring out your next 30 day trick. Rinse and repeat.
As you complete these little projects, you will A) gain the trust and confidence of the guys with the money, and B) increase your own confidence in your team's abilities. Yes, there will be bugs and system-wide FUps, but that's the price of playing the game with 2 guns in a 4x6 cube.
With time you will learn to identify the low-risk opportunities for investments, where the ROI is high and the time to execute is low. Some of these investments might be adding new features, others may be in hiring a new person. Management will come to respect your judgment.
The point is to run your shop like your own business and spend your time and money as if it were your own. If you're not making money for the company, and seeking ways to make even more, then they don't need you. Yes, having a few more people sounds appealing, but you need to have a direction to send them first.
How Many People Work in Your Internet Department? (Score:2, Insightful)
The job of a Project Manager (Score:2, Insightful)
The only problem was that I didn't expect a (respected) mid-level manager to be the road block.
One of the most important issues when you plan a project is to analyze the environment of it (i.e. the environment in which the project is run) and make a list of all (potential) stakeholders. There are potential stakeholders who will definitely try to block or even sabotage your project - but there are also stakeholders who could possibly help you.
In order to have a successful project, it's not enough to specify what has to be done, when and with whom but also in which environment the project is running, what was before the project started, what will be after the end of the project, what is part of the project and specifically also what is NOT part of the project.
I am not sure if the manager you mention above existed already before you started that project, but having learned lots of lessons from all my projects, I even suggest for planning for potential roadblocking middle managers.
Planning in this sense means specifically to try to figure out who the stakeholders are and what you as a project manager (or project team member) will do ("Actions") to get the stakeholder on board or to make sure he/she cannot hinder your job (i.e. make a list of all actions/activities against your potential "foes" and a list of actions/activities to support your "friends").
A friend of mine wrote his Master Thesis specifically on "Why Projects Fail" (unfortunately it's only in German) and the main reason is usually not bad budgeting, insufficient staffing or moving targets. Of course, those reasons are valid, too, but the main reason is that Project Managers fail to account for stakeholders.
Which brings me to the subject "Project Marketing". Someone above said that "Selling the project" is not his job as Project Manager since there a "Business Development Managers" and such. That's exactly the opposite. Selling the project (inside and outside of the company) is one of the core tasks of a Project Manager. I am not talking about "Selling a Service" or "Selling a Product", i.e. I am specifically not talking about selling the Project Result but the project itself. So, it is of utmost importance to keep doing project marketing in order to gain support or keep support and in order to prevent road-blocks such as your middle manager.
We are in the middle of a major website redesign (the current site has not been updated in over 8 years) and everyone is asking why it takes so long to complete, and almost daily I have to explain that I do not have enough manpower.
This is a big mistake. Where's the Project Marketing? Where is Project Status Reports? If people do ask, then use it as an opportunity to sell the project to them. I mean, come on, when people ask - especially on a daily basis - it means, they are interested and you mus, as a good Project Manager, seize the opportunity to market your project.
Marketing a project also means gaining support from managers, making people interested in your project to project champions, your evangelists... If only you could convert those people interested in your project to your evangelists, you wouldn't have that much of a problem gaining support and probably getting more people then.
It might even help you in pushing aside the road-block. Even if he/she is a respected middle manager, he has probably lots of friends - if you could only get one or two of them to become your evangelist...
Of course, I can't prove ROI until the new site is launched (a great Catch22).
A NO-NO!! If you haven't proven the business case of your project beforehand why start it in the first place?
I am sorry, but this is a wh
About 0.25 (Score:3, Insightful)
The website development and graphics are all contracted out. Only the content is developed in-house, by a scientific writer, so that we can be sure that it is both correct and well written. We can't ask web developers to check the content. I assume the legal department also checks it for any statements that various regulatory authories might object against. (Or adding SEC-required disclaimers etc.) I think that this in itself is a good model.
The biggest potential problem that I see is a tendency of upper management to try to influence detail design, and their unfortunate tendency towards glitz: Flash animations, rolling menus, ticker bars, high-resolution graphics, and the like. These might consume a lot of time and money and only rarely contribute to a good website. (One of the few happy exceptions I have seen is Nikon's microscopy training website [microscopyu.com], which is great.) But my personal preference would be for a site that is styled in a minimalistic way, light and fast.