Being in project management, the pre-sales process became very near and dear to my heart. This touchpoint is so important because it’s the first opportunity to set the right expectations with the client, and if it’s done right and the business is won, it tees up the project delivery team for success. Because of this, it’s critical that project delivery has a seat at the table and contributes to the proposed solution, budgetary options, and suggested timeline that’s put forth at this time.

At this juncture, I can:

• manage the request for proposal (RFP) and overall client brief intake process

• audit the main website and any ancillary digital properties

• produce questionnaires to better qualify the scope

• define high-level scope

• develop a high-level solution with different options for implementation

• draft a high-level Resource Plan, Project Plan, and Timeline

I’ve planned, facilitated, and also solicited and documented requirements for a variety of project discoveries. I’ve also led discovery workshops working remotely and achieved extremely successful results. My overall approach to scoping out projects and establishing a trustworthy relationship with the client starts with conducting a well thought-out discovery phase. This forms the foundation of the project and allows for an accurate Statement of Work (SOW) to be produced.

At this juncture, I can:

• develop an overall approach that’s specific to the project at hand

• develop agendas for each workshop

• facilitate workshops

• solicit and document requirements, if needed

• identify project risks, issues, and assumptions

• develop a Scope Statement

• refine the Resource Plan, Project Plan, and Timeline

• develop a budget

• author a SOW

We now have an accurate understanding of the overall scope, identified project risks, confirmed our assumptions, and can confidently present a solution that meets the client’s needs. This is when I walk clients through the proposed solution, answer questions from the SOW, and provide other consultative support.

The SOW is fully executed so now I can start onboarding the team and formally kick off the project.

At this juncture, I can:

• onboard a project team

• develop a Kick off presentation and present the content to the client and project team

• define an overarching goal for the project along with objectives to meet that goal

• define critical success factors (CSFs) that can be measured once the project is complete

• establish a Confluence space

• establish a Jira project, create workflows for the different issue types, configure a scrum board and project dashboard

• develop a Sprint Plan

• establish a Communication Plan and arrange all recurring meetings

Depending on the project, defining the site’s tone of voice and content strategy is a prerequisite activity for UX & design. I have experience working with Copywriters who have produced dedicated copy decks, and I have experience with Designers who can write directional copy to support their designs. I’ve also worked with Content Strategists who define all the content moments that are needed for each page template, and on the flip side, I’m capable of providing a high-level content strategy to clients who wish to use an authoring guide to tweak their predefined page templates post-launch.

At this juncture, I can:

• facilitate the copywriting work stream

• facilitate the content strategy work stream

• ensure all content moments are defined (to help determine which CMS modules/widgets that need to be configured/customized)

• ensure all major page templates are defined, and in-scope for the project team to produce

• ensure all ancillary page templates are defined, and in-scope for the client team to produce

There’s some flexibility depending on the project and seniority of the team, but ideally the content strategy work stream is complete before the IA & UX phase commences. This allows the UX Designer to determine the site’s navigation, and structure each page template with the appropriate content modules that were defined and approved in the content strategy phase.

At this juncture, I can:

• ensure the accuracy of a new/revised IA and sitemap

• ensure the Content Strategist and UX Designer align on each other’s inputs and outputs

• ensure the UX Designer stays within scope

• review InVision/Figma prototypes to ensure accuracy before client reviews

• facilitate client reviews of the wireframes and clickthrough prototypes

Once the wireframes are approved, and the site’s navigation is defined, we can start styling the major page templates according to the client’s style guide and branding guidelines.

At this juncture, I can:

• ensure the UX Designer(s) and Visual Designer(s) align on each other’s inputs and outputs

• ensure the visual design team stays within scope

• review the design files to ensure accuracy before client reviews

• ensure the designs are reviewed with the tech team for technical feasibility - before presenting creative solutions to the client

• facilitate client reviews

• ensure the design files are finalized and prepared for the development team

Many times the discovery phase needs further elaboration from a technical perspective so additional workshops are arranged to solidify the solution’s architecture. This is also when user and functional requirements are expanded upon, and a Product Backlog is created.

At this juncture, I can:

• author user stories and acceptance criteria

• formalize the Sprint Plan to guide the development phase

• ensure technical documentation is created and added to Confluence

• ensure the client reviews and approves the solution architecture documentation

• facilitate meetings with partner agencies who are responsible for other backend systems

Many of the aforementioned phases are now running in parallel, but this phase is typically the phase that is executed in the most agile-based fashion. I have a proven way of structuring sprints, and always ensure the most complex and high-value features are developed first.

At this juncture, I can:

• conduct sprint planning sessions

• facilitate daily standups

• facilitate sprint demos

• adjust the Sprint Plan, as needed

• act as the Product Owner on behalf of the client to drive requirements and decision making

• facilitate sprint retrospectives, and track areas of improvement

Because I started out in the pharmaceutical industry, which is a heavily regulated environment, I have a strong background when it comes to testing. I have a certain approach for incorporating Quality Assurance (QA) Analysts into new development projects, and take a slightly different approach when a site is live and operational.

At this juncture, I can:

• author a Test Plan

• develop a (testing) Kick off presentation and present the content to the client and project team

• provide guidelines for defining bug severity and priority

• train clients on the overall testing process, and how to use Jira to facilitate bug resolution and retesting

• facilitate any testing activity and/or phase (QA, UAT, integration, end-to-end, regression, performance, etc.)

• author standard operating procedures (SOPs)

• ensure test summary reports (TSRs) are produced and socialized

• facilitate bug review meetings

• prioritize bugs for Go live

I typically like to conduct training sessions on an ongoing basis starting with the sprint demos that are provided after each development sprint. I’ve also produced training documentation and facilitated many training sessions throughout my career. In any event, I always like to ensure there’s an adequate level of training provided to the client before UAT commences. Finally, training users on their new systems and processes always involves a change management aspect to the approach to ensure people understand how their roles are changing, but not being eliminated.

At this juncture, I can:

• author a Training Plan

• develop agendas for training sessions

• facilitate training sessions

• capture questions in a parking lot

• ensure training documentation/videos are created and added to Confluence

Of course throughout a project I’m controlling the scope, updating my Project Plan, adjusting the Resource Plan, tracking profit margins, drafting change requests (CRs) as needed, presenting weekly status reports, and making sure we’re delivering a quality product. I use a comprehensive RAID Matrix to manage risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies, and track all changes in a formal Change Management Log.

I typically create a dedicated project plan to capture all Go live activities to ensure a “cool, calm, and collected” launch. Once the Go live is complete, I start my project closure activities and prepare the client and project team for the next phase of the engagement.

At this juncture, I can:

• draft and track a dedicated Go live Project Plan/working document

• ensure a Rollback Plan is is place

• plan and facilitate the actual Go live cutover call

• develop a Resource Plan to intelligently support a dedicated warranty period

• Groom and prioritize the remainder of the backlog in preparation for the post-production support and evolution phase

In most cases, I’ve continued to support my clients and project teams after Go live and well into the post-production support and evolution phase. In some instances, I was overseeing this phase in a program management capacity, and in other instances, I was still driving the day-to-day.

At this juncture, I can:

• develop the operating model for executing sprints in a post-production support and evolution context

• develop and maintain a product backlog in Jira

• develop and maintain a Product Roadmap

• support sprint demos and training sessions before UAT activities

• support ongoing production releases

• create a new Jira dashboard that’s specific to the ongoing work

• work with the Solution Architect/Technical Lead to ensure all of the environments are utilized correctly