Managing Higher education web development

Traps and tips

Transcript

1. MANAGING HIGHER EDUCATION WEB DEVELOPMENT: TRAPS AND TIPS R Y A N D E L L O L I O W E B P R O G R A M M A N A G E R T H E G E O R G E W A S H I N G T O N U N I V E R S I T Y C O L U M B I A N C O L L E G E O F A R T S A N D S C I E N C E S W A S H I N G T O N , D C G I V E N AT E D U W E B 2 0 1 0 J U LY 2 8 2 0 1 0 C H I C A G O , I L Towards the success of any higher education web project
2. THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY 1821 University founded 25,000 Total students at all locations 3 Campuses 225,000 Alumni worldwide 9 Colleges and Schools
3. WEB ACTIVITY AT GW University Colleges Departments Research Centers & Institutes Columbian College of Arts and Sciences 500+ faculty & researchers 3000 students 100+ staff University’s largest academic unit (Liberal Arts)
4. 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
5. 52 informational sites, 1200+ pages at last audit
6. WEB PROPERTIES Brochureware Information Management Web Services Research Classroom Resources Other
7. • New development • Redevelopment • Information architecture • Web marketing • Social media • Web strategy and consulting OUR PIPELINE
8. HIGHER EDUCATION… Higher Impact Higher Reward Higher Cause Higher Risk?
9. HIGHER EDUCATION… Higher Stress Higher Volume Higher Expectations Higher Bureaucracy
10. STAFFING 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 Marketing and Communication
11. LESSONS LEARNED: TRAPS
12. TRAP #1 Saying: “The web is a marketing tool.”
13. USER EXPERIENCE DRIVES WEB SUCCESS Marketing Mindset Misplaced metrics Poor Design Decisions User experience suffers Enrollment push Marketing is just one component of a successful web strategy
14. INSTEAD… Marketing Web Services User Experience
15. TRAP #2 Saying: “Everything must live in-house.”
16. ON DECISIONS • “This service must live in our data center” • “We must place this behind our firewall” • “The content management system must live here” • “SaaS is not reliable” • “Does that mean it will look different?”
17. THE RIGHT LOCATION, A TALE OF TWO PROJECTS Planet Forward School of Media and Public Affairs Columbian College of Arts and Sciences http://www.planetforward.com/ • Innovative online community • PBS partnership • Basic content management plus online community needs Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology Columbian College of Arts and Sciences http://cashp.gwu.edu/ (in development) • Large, multi-faceted prestigious research group • Smithsonian, other University partnerships • Advanced content management Externally hosted managed CMS and online community Internal CMS implementation
18. EVALUATION CRITERIA • Management costs • Development resources • In-house expertise • Availability needs • Budget
19. TRAP #3 Fearing bureaucracy
20. BUREAUCRACY • Bureaucracy is a fact of University life • “Strategy, not sparring” • Educate upwards Bake people, process and technology into existing bureaucratic structures, establishing web governance.
21. TRAP #4 Seizing all control
22. THREE BIG DISTINCTIONS IN HIGHER ED • Structure completely hierarchical • Web traditionally distant from the core mission (or is it? will revisit this point) • Revenue/enrollment model complicates requirements Control is difficult in the academic community, and misguided
23. SEIZING CONTROL PRODUCES ACADEMIC/CORPORATE DIVIDE • “You must adhere to _________ .” • “Our office must approve everything before it goes live” • “Here are web content the requirements” • “Our committee decided you cannot do it that way”
25. TECHNIQUES • Guide, don’t require (Wording matters!) • Advise, don’t insist • Make compliance easy (e.g. Newsletter generator) • Standard tools naturally standardize the end result (e.g. superior content management system bound to template will gain traction)
26. TRAP #5 Saying: “We know who we’re building for.”
27. REDEFINING USE CASES; THINGS WE’VE SEEN • 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. TRAP #6 The enterprise trap
29. “We prefer large, expensive enterprise-class systems that have been in production in other Universities for at least 2 years”
30. OPEN SOURCE ON CAMPUS • The gap between open source and enterprise class web technologies is closing • The web has its roots in academia, and open source has been there every step of the way • Open source should be embraced, and evaluated along with other technologies • Students are already there
31. LESSONS LEARNED: TIPS
32. TIP #1 Empowerment is key
33. EMPOWERING YOUR CONSTITUENCY • Self-service over web service requests • Collaborative issue tracking • The illusion of control • “If you build it, they will come” • Full service consulting is a must
34. TIP #2 Document, document, document
35. DOCUMENTATION • Establishes accountability • Should be undertaken at every step of the process • Is traditionally lacking from higher education web presences, which often grow from web talent within the academic community • Is essential to sustainability of any system
36. HIGHER EDUCATION WEB EVOLUTION Groups rapidly innovate and build webpages, living on local systems Central university IT provides systems and support Groups innovate again, Central IT may or may not keep pace Unification efforts commonly result Process artifacts are often created, and lost.
37. TIP #3 Break the waterfall, be agile
38. 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
39. AGILITY IS OFTEN NOT AN OPTION • Continuous iteration • Rapid prototyping • Constant feedback • Continual defect resolution and enhancement • Reevaluate traditional production requirements • Rapid Application Development
40. 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
41. TIP #4 Lose control
42. LOSING CONTROL • Rapid application development benefits all • Guidelines, governance and buy-in are as powerful as programmatic control • The web is organic • Arbitrary control is counter productive
43. TIP #5 Your competitors are not always who you think they are
44. WHERE IS THE WEB IN RELATION TO A UNIVERSITY'S CORE MISSION?
45. “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.”
46. COMPETITION • Enrollment competition is only one piece of the puzzle • Competition extends to: • Student attention to university news and events • Alumni participation and development • Prestige, online and off line • Academic attention on the web • Use of in-house services vs. the wild west
47. TIP #6 Do more than build websites
48. THE WEB IS A MEANS TO AN END • Build experiences • Build communities • Contribute to existing communities • Embrace the semantic web • Educate!
49. EXAMPLES OF ON-CAMPUS EXPERTISE Department of Organizational Sciences Project Manager Project Analyst Department of Computer Sciences Programmer Configuration management School of Media and Public Affairs Social Media Experts Market Researcher Department of Information Systems Information Architect Systems Architects Department of Fine Arts Graphic Designer Layout Designer Department of Psychology Usability Researcher Focus Group Leader
50. It is a privilege to work on the web.
51. CONTACT INFORMATION RYAN DELLOLIO THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON, DC (202) 994-5497 RYAN@GWU.EDU