Web Project Management

I am right now reading the book and I find it very interesting. However I have a question regarding content planning. I am building a team for project management. I have a small team that deals with desing and usability and navigation, a programming team and a content team. The content team does not create content, they are supposed to say which content is relevant, whether we should buy more content...My questin is the following, shall the content team do the site map (at least the first draft) or is the site map a responsability of the usability and navigation team?

Thanks for your help.

Thank you very much for your reply. I have prepared a document for the content team with the issues they have to solve before the usability team starts working. Ours is a financial portal. If we are going to develop a new section, in the document they have to explain very clear what are the objectives of the content (that is, whether they are mainly informative or they should be a first contact in order to sell a product…).

Then they have to explain the blocks of contents that need to be there: news, general information, tax information, whether the content is static or changes frequently and the structure of the information, that is, if the content is an article, they have to explain that it needs to have a title, source and the body of the article, or maybe it also needs a first parragraph.

With this information the content team has to draw the site map (which can be consider a content structure). Then the Usability team, with this structure, decides how to put it on the web.

Also the content team has to decide the requirements of the administration tool.

I think this should work.

As for the last question, we do create content, but this is done by an editor and small team and it is very limited, most of our content comes from other sources. Obviously they have an opinion on the definition, but they are too busy with their daily tasks and sometimes the trees don´t let them see the forest.

On 11:17:31 20 August 2001 Sam wrote:
>Hola
>
>Interesting question.
>
>I'd suggest that your content team should work together
>with the usability/nav team in creating the first draft
>site map. From what you say, your content team is more of
>a content PLANNING team than a content CREATION one. As
>such, they should in theory be able to understand the more
>sophisticated needs of the site as a whole and how the
>content needs to support the site's overall raison d'etre.
>
>
>As I commented extensively in my white paper (see 'Content
>that works' at http://www.e-consultancy.co.uk/book/publica-
>tions.asp), I think far too many sites have been - and
>still are - created without proper input from some decent
>content heads at the outset. Sometimes things are led by
>the design boys, other times by the techies. I would
>contend that this is invariably the WRONG way to balance
>things. Of course, both groups are crucial in the overall
>development process. But your CONTENT is your SITE and
>your SITE is your BUSINESS. So make sure that
>understanding informs the creation of a site from day 1.
>
>As for the usability/nav team, personally I think that
>anyone who calls themselves a 'content specialist' should
>have an excellent understanding of usability/nav anyway.
>Good content is only good if it is structured sensibly on
>the screen and divided into the right sections and
>sub-sections across a site.
>
>So in summary, I'd get your content, usability & nav
>guys together to create the initial site map. Some key
>thgs that the content guys should be determining are: what
>different areas of the content need to be linked/grouped
>together, how can the content best assist the process of
>selling whatever it is you are selling and so on.
>
>For more info, I think you'll find the white paper of
>considerable interest (it is quite long, though - about 50
>pages). Good luck - let us know what you think and how you
>get on.
>
>Sam
>
>PS - a slight aside, but why is your content team not
>involved in CREATING any content - sounds like an easy
>life...!
>
>
>On 17:07:12 16 August 2001 moreno wrote:
>>I am right now reading the book and I find it very
>>interesting. However I have a question regarding
>content
>>planning. I am building a team for project management.
>I
>>have a small team that deals with desing and usability
>and
>>navigation, a programming team and a content team. The
>>content team does not create content, they are
>supposed to
>>say which content is relevant, whether we should buy
>more
>>content...My questin is the following, shall the
>content
>>team do the site map (at least the first draft) or is
>the
>>site map a responsability of the usability and
>navigation
>>team?
>>
>>Thanks for your help.

Thanks, this is actually the way we are working right now and it is working ok. The only comment is that in the first paragraph, we work from bottom to the top. That is we start from the basic items and the last thing we decide is what do we put in the section home.

Bests

David

On 13:19:00 25 October 2001 geoffchoo wrote:
>Hi,
>
>Let's take the issue from a step back.
>
>To get to the stage where you can actually draw a sitemap,
>you have to know exactly how the site is organized (the
>information architecture): What the main sections are,
>sub-sections, sub-sub-sections and so on, up till the
>bottom of the tree.
>
>And to be able to organize the site's information
>architecture, you have to know what content you're going
>to have to deal with.
>
>So I would say that your content guys (and gals) will
>first decide what content is going to go on your site.
>Then your project manager or information architect will
>collaborate with your usability people to dcide the best
>way to organize that mass of content into appropriate
>content clusters. From there you should have a pretty good
>idea of all the pages you have to create.
>
>Then making your sitemap should be a simple formality.
>
>cheers, geoff
>
>
>On 17:07:12 16 August 2001 moreno wrote:
>>I am right now reading the book and I find it very
>>interesting. However I have a question regarding
>content
>>planning. I am building a team for project management.
>I
>>have a small team that deals with desing and usability
>and
>>navigation, a programming team and a content team. The
>>content team does not create content, they are
>supposed to
>>say which content is relevant, whether we should buy
>more
>>content...My questin is the following, shall the
>content
>>team do the site map (at least the first draft) or is
>the
>>site map a responsability of the usability and
>navigation
>>team?
>>
>>Thanks for your help.