This project is a freight train screaming down a hill at this point because we have been intentionally very aggressive with our time line on the main website development. There are a lot of projects that are pretty much on hold until the new site goes live, so we need to hammer away. The deadline I have set for going live is fast approaching.
So phase three of our process is to organize. At this point we are handing out marching orders to the players involved in the project and some tasks are already being started.
Design
We made the decision early on to outsource the design of the WordPress theme. This will enable us to concentrate on all of the other stuff and it will minimize how many people in our office who will have a voice in the design which will speed up the process. I highly recommend outsourcing design, if nothing else you get can get some fresh ideas from an outside source.
Content
We are starting with a sitemap of all the key static pages and RSS feeds, from there we will look to the various leaders around Gateway to contribute the content for those pages.
Functionality
At this point we are double checking the functionality we need and determining what tools need to be implemented to accomplish it. We have the development site installed and we are wrenching on it as wee speak.
Tools
We are taking an inventory of the tools we need and also the ones that are already in play. Here’s a short list:
- Hosting – Media Temple Dedicated Virtual
- Basecamp – Organizes our work flow and tasks
- Deltron Echo – Our web team’s communication space
- PBWorks.com – A wiki we use for quick and dirty collaboration
- Wufoo – I can’t remember the last time I hand coded a form
Team
The most important piece is the team of people that are behind the project. I have spent a lot of time having lunch, going to meetings, casting vision and hanging out with the various Internet citizens from Gateway Church, its the part of my job that I enjoy most.
I guess I’m feeling fairly well organized at this point, time will tell as things come together…
What are the tools you can’t live without for design and development?
[Image from Nirak]
stephenbateman says
Sweet thanks Vince. So Basecamp is worth it? These are really fresh tools, I've never heard of the bottom three. Thanks for giving us some insights.
Vince says
Base camp is worth its wait in gold. I will say that you have to force you and your team to commit to it at first, after that you'll be a well oiled machine.
PBWorks is just a wiki, but an easy to use one
stephenbateman says
Yea I'm really considering using PBWorks. Our teams are growing in size, so tools like Basecamp will become more useful.
Danny says
Have any of you considered using dotProject? It's open source, PHP, MySQL and all that other good stuff and its FREE!!! Take a look see http://www.dotproject.net.