Academic Agility

Navigating Higher Education Web Development

Transcript

1. Academic Agility: Navigating Higher Education Web Development Ryan Dellolio Given at eduWEB 2011, San Antonio, TX August 1, 2011 Web Program Manager Columbian College of Arts and Sciences The George Washington University Adjunct Lecturer Department of Information Systems School of Business The George Washington University &
2. Tips, tricks, observations, and lessoned at The George Washington University in Washington, DC.
3. Overview GWU Overview Pose a question Pose a revision to that question Establish necessity of answering question What makes academia different when it comes to web management Why be agile? Tale of two projects Staffing
4. The George Washington University 1821 University founded 25,000 Total students at all locations 4 Campuses 225,000 Alumni worldwide 10 Colleges and Schools
5. Web Activity at GW University Colleges Departments Research Centers & Institutes Columbian College of Arts & Sciences 500+ faculty and researchers 3000 students 100+ staff University’s largest academic unit
6. Africana Studies American Studies Anthropology Applied Quantitative Risk Analysis Art Therapy Biochemistry Biological Sciences Biomedical Sciences Biostatistics Chemistry Classical and Semitic Languages and Literatures Classical Acting Counseling Early Modern European Studies East Asian Languages and Literatures Economics English Environmental Studies Environmental Resource Policy Epidemiology Film Studies Fine Arts and Art History Forensic Sciences Geography Geological Sciences Genomics and Bioinformatics Global Communications History Hominid Paleobiology Interior Design Judaic Studies Linguistics Mathematics Media and Public Affairs Medicine, Society and Culture Museum Studies Music Organizational Sciences and Communication Philosophy Physics Political Science Professional Psychology Psychology Public Policy and Public Administration Religion Romance, German, Slavic Languages and Literatures Sociology Speech and Hearing Sciences Statistics Theatre and Dance University Writing Program Women's Studies 50+ Departments and Programs
7. Brochureware Information Management Web Services Research Classroom Resources Other Web Properties
8. Our organization Web Program Management Web Program Manager Content and Content Strategy Web Content Producer Marketing & Social Media Director Development Web Designer Web Developer Web Developer Project Analyst IT Program Management “Dotted line” to IT group
9. Columbian Web Landscape 35+ department websites 4+ online collaboration tools 15+ program websites 30+ wikis and other online research tools 14+ dept/prog blogs 15+ online tools and mgt. systems 500,000+ pageviews / month
10. • New development • Redevelopment • Information architecture • Web marketing • Social media • Web strategy and consulting Our Pipeline
11. How can University staff navigate the delicate balance between their requirements and available resources?
12. Higher education… Higher Impact Higher Reward Higher Cause Higher Risk?
13. Higher education… Higher Stress Higher Volume Higher Expectations Higher Bureaucracy
14. The “everyday” view Requirement Solution “The Department of Religion needs an informational website” Meet with stakeholders to design website, implement in CMS, coordinate content, and launch. “The Physics Department’s website needs to integrate with an online data analysis tool for current students and interested non-affiliated researchers” Establish capabilities of current website, integrate into existing CMS or build custom functionality for integration, and launch. “The Center for Economic Research’s new website needs to make its research internationally available through RePEc (Research Papers in Economics)” Meet with stakeholders to design website, implement in CMS, build in RePEc XML output, coordinate content, and launch.
15. The “academic” view Requirement Solution “The Department of Religion needs an informational website” What other design & CMS assets exist that we can apply to the Dept. of Religion? “The Physics Department’s website needs to integrate with an online data analysis tool for current students and interested non-affiliated researchers” Who else in the University is using tools like this? Plot as future functionality. “The Center for Economic Research needs to make its research internationally available through RePEc (Research Papers in Economics)” One-off RePEc solution, faculty sponsored or dept sponsored.
16. The too oft-seen reality Requirement Solution “The Department of Religion needs an informational website” What other projects are going on that we can group together with this one? Who else needs a website and why the Dept. of Religion? “The Physics Department’s website needs to integrate with an online data analysis tool for current students and interested non-affiliated researchers” Can our current systems support this? Has someone in the department already integrated in a one-off solution (probably yes!) “The Center for Economic Research needs to make its research internationally available through RePEc (Research Papers in Economics)” Let’s build RePEc functionality on a separate system as the central system(s) do not support custom XML out.
17. How can University staff navigate the delicate balance between their requirements, available resources and the unique challenges of the higher education arena?
18. Why Academia is Different 1 Web is traditionally seen as far from the core mission
19. Where is the web in relation to a university's core mission? Why Academia is Different 1
20. “The George Washington University, an independent academic institution chartered by the Congress of the United States in 1821, dedicates itself to furthering human well-being. The University values a dynamic, student-focused community stimulated by cultural and intellectual diversity and built upon a foundation of integrity, creativity, and openness to the exploration of new ideas. The George Washington University, centered in the national and international crossroads of Washington, D.C., commits itself to excellence in the creation, dissemination, and application of knowledge.”
21. Competition in Academia • Enrollment competition is only one piece of the puzzle • Competition extends to: o Student attention to university news and events o Alumni participation and development o Prestige, online and off line o Academic attention on the web o Use of in-house services vs. the wild west
22. How to respond Evaluation criteria must always be comprehensive • Management costs • Development resources • In-house expertise • Availability needs • Budget • TCO • Impact on “creation, dissemination, and application of knowledge”
23. Why Academia is Different 2 Lack of quality control feedback loops
24. How to respond Bake people, process and technology into existing bureaucratic structures, establishing web governance. • “Strategy, not sparring” • Educate upwards
25. Scenarios Scenario Governance Example No web management organization Website checklist or website guidelines Integrated web management organization (e.g. ‘Web Guy’ on comm staff) Monthly web sync meetings with non- web staff incl. non-comm staff Small web management organization, lack of formal procedures, standards, and systems Codified web checkpoints, goals and metrics. Monthly web sync meetings with non-web staff incl. non-comm staff Mid-to-large size web management organization, formal procedures, standards and systems Weekly web sync meetings, matrix organization of resources to distribute skills and productivity Small decentralized web management groups (e.g. ‘web guys all around’, blend of formal and non-formal procedures, standards and systems Weekly web sync meetings, codification of web practices and standards. Design/style guidelines, assets & themes pool
26. Why Academia is Different 3 Non hierarchical structures
27. How to respond We must redesign our use cases and think outside the box. Consider: • Current students browsing admissions sites • Prospective students browsing information for current students • Prospective partner institutions browsing information for current students • Prospective students browsing internal department websites • “Navigation-phobia” – the chronic Googlers • Entrance paths that often defy logic
28. “Agility” summarizes how best to respond to this environment.
29. Break the waterfall, be agile!
30. Building the Web at the pace of research Requirements Analysis Design Implementation Validation The traditional systems development lifecycle is not well suited to most higher education web projects
31. A comparison • We’ve seen improvement in nearly every metric by adopting development agility. Better • More requirements scoped and met, we can innovate • User satisfaction increases Faster • Deadlines are exceeded • More QA time Cheaper • Agility reduces resource drain • Costly requirements changes can be accommodated
32. Agile software development is necessary but not sufficient
33. Agility is also… “the gracefulness of a person or animal that is quick and nimble” “the power of moving quickly and easily; nimbleness” Source: Princeton WordNet Source: Random House Dictionary
34. The group tasked with web management must also be organizationally agile
35. What must be nimble? • our websites • our access mechanisms • our integration needs • our environments, • our present and future requirements What’s moving? (or: why must we be nimble?) • departments, programs, institutes • bureaucracy • research interests • faculty members • staff • research itself • priorities “Agile Abe”
36. Manifestation of Agility 1 Recognize the web is more than a marketing tool. Marketing Mindset Misplaced metrics Poor Design Decisions User experience suffers Enrollment push Marketing is just one component of a successful web strategy
37. Manifestation of Agility 2 Lose control. Full control is difficult in the academic community, and misguided • Empowerment vs. limitation • Governance vs. government • Guiding vs. requiring • Advising vs. insisting
38. Manifestation of Agility 3 Let strategic tools foster positive outcomes Consider: • Intuitive newsletter generator • A CMS that makes it easy to edit and understand • Web services model
39. Lagrangian points of multi-site management “One of five points in the plane of orbit of one body around another (e.g., the moon around the earth) at which a small third body can remain stationary with respect to both.” Source: Oxford Source: NASA JPL
40. Stability through agility is: • Responding to changing requirements with repeatable processes • Allowing innovation to occur within the fold • Fostering intra-University relationships even if they do not yield desired end results • Fostering extra-University relationships of cooperation and collaboration This does not mean keep your web operations stationary. It means keep them stable.
41. A tale of two projects International Art Therapy Research Database Abstract: Art Therapy Program needs an advanced collaboration platform for content management and delivery , spearheading international Art Therapy research. Statistics Department Website Overhaul Abstract: Statistics Department has an old (4+ years) website and needs a fresh one with fresh content, that’s easily updated and conforms to University design templates. • Common infrastructure • Common helpdesk • Common student content-entry support • Common authentication system • Stability through agility made both projects a success.
42. How we’ve found our Lagrangian point • Project-based matrix organization of technical resources • Formal issue and project tracking • Standard intake process • Single front door • Common methodology, design parameters and principles • Assets for those who can utilize them
43. How we’ve found our Lagrangian point • Out-of-box repeatable solutions including: – Content management systems (Drupal) – Research collaboration tools (Wikis) – Hosting infrastructure (LAMP) – Information architectures – Content templates • Student “army” with standard on-boarding procedures • Central authentication management
44. Output Process Content Tech. Holistic approach to web management With 100+ websites, dozens of applications & countless organizations to support, there are few alternative approaches.
45. Finding your Lagrangian point (small/limited web management) • Identify sources of technical expertise, and make contributions repeatable • Codify processes, make them repeatable • Embrace ‘web as a platform’ for common tasks • Factor people, process, technology into large projects (e.g. contractor-supported web overhaul) • Ask: Does every request/new requirement have a path to completion?
46. Finding your Lagrangian point (larger web management group) • What are our common pitfalls and how can we empower our constituents to avoid them? – “____ Department always produces poor quality newsletter or webpages” – “Our technology consultation costs have skyrocketed” – “University leadership imposes strict visual guidelines” – “Our in-house IT team can’t keep up with changing technologies”
47. Finding your Lagrangian point (larger web management group) • How can we structure our processes? – Single front door – Issue tracking – Knowledge base • What does our organization look like?
48. Dir/VP of Comm. Web Developer Web Designer Content Creator Web Manager How are new projects chosen? How are new technologies chosen? Which comes first, content or function? How agile will this group be on the web?
49. Compare to
50. CIO Web Developer Web Designer Content Creator Web Manager How are new projects chosen? How are new technologies chosen? Which comes first, content or function? How agile will this group be on the web?
51. Compare to
52. Dir/VP of Comm Comm Staff Comm Staff Web Developer Web Designer Content Creator How are new projects chosen? How are new technologies chosen? Which comes first, content or function? How agile will this group be on the web?
53. 52 informational sites, 1200+ pages at last audit
54. It is a privilege to work on the web.
55. Contact Ryan Dellolio The George Washington University Washington, DC ryan@gwu.edu (202) 994-5497