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Editor's Notes

1. Introduce yourself Will touch on all stages of project management but we’ll focus on planning Examples are helpful but what works for us might not work for you – don’t be afraid to say something isn’t working! Let’s start!
2. A good place to start, so that we’re all on the same page, is a definition of Project Management. This comes from Jennifer Vinopal who is a bit of a digital projects guru [read definition]. This can further be broken down into 4 key stages in a project (next slide) Summary: Make sure on same page, here is the definition for PM I work from Take this formal definition and break down to 4 key stages
3. Summary: Read slide Some break out M&C from Execution, we do not at FSU What we do at FSU is [next slide]
4. PM articles usually estimate at least 25% of the time spent on the project as a whole should be spent in the planning stage; we’re more abound 30-35% in DLC Reasons: our projects are never rinse and repeat (meaning we can start with our project templates but almost always each project needs special treatment of some kind) AND they’re getting more complex (often combining formats so we’ll have digital projects that use both manuscripts and books or books and maps etc.). I say that knowing that planning can be a difficult stage to stay in; you don’t really have anything to show for your work until much later but it’s going to be worth it in the long run for a project. It’s not the “fun” stage but it is the one that will make your life better in the long run as a project manager. Summary: Initiation is a part of our planning stage; we do selection here How much time we spend in planning & why PLAN – don’t skimp on this step! It’s worth it to put in the work!
5. There are two main tasks to selection: have an idea or ideas for digital project(s) and then choose which project idea you want to move forward with. In Special Collections & Archives Goal: a project from each area within SpC (Manuscripts, Rare Books, HPUA, Pepper Library) Balancing: “cool” factor or eye candy – the stuff that is neat to be put online Materials that get used/requested the most Could be a single item from a collection or an entire collection of materials Also trying to connect to researchers’ needs: what do we have that they don’t know we have but fits the researcher interests Donor relations Preservation – high use items that we want to better mediate access to them Outside of SpC Outside of FSU Libraries
6. Scope: determining and documenting specific: Goals Deliverables Tasks Costs Deadlines
7. First, you need the big picture, the broader scope for the project and that should be determined with your staff AND the stakeholders Tool: Digital Project Proposal Form What does this project look like to the primary stakeholder? Discussing the Scope of the Project What does the project look like to the DLC and the primary stakeholder? Who is responsible for which parts of the project? What is the expected final result? Tools: From this form, you can either do a more formal Project Charter or Agreement that everyone signs off on OR the information and decisions made on scope here can be listed in the Project Briefing document if something formal is not needed.
8. Once you have the big picture scope and everyone agrees on it, you can work on specifics: Exact materials must be determined Search for copyright information and duplication (has the item been digitized somewhere else?) Preservation steps – needed and when in the project will they occur (before, during or after?) Inventory spreadsheet example – for Le Moniteur project which is currently being worked on – this lists out each issue in a large bound volume and we later utilize this document both in digitization and metadata creation for the objects.
9. This is a screenshot of Producteev, the project management software we’ve been testing and using in the DLC. Each of the project tasks are listed along with any sub-tasks and then notes for each of the tasks as well. This is a project that is only outlined; we never created a set of deadlines (I’ll show you a project like that later in the presentation). This was a large, on-going project that came in stages from University Archives so deadlines were not a concern. Essentially, at this point, you should have a good idea of the tasks and the workflows the project will need; outline them at this point using any PM tool that best fits your needs; you will solidify them later once you have a schedule and have prepped the collection(s).
10. Once you have a scope and how many objects you’re talking about for the project, you can create a schedule for the project. At this point, this schedule is still sort of nebulous; until you do the prepping completely, and know all the tasks of the project and complete the project task list, you can’t finalize the schedule for a project. What you can do right here, is figure out the number of hours for the project. At the DLC, we’re also taking into account what equipment is needed, if it’s scheduled for other projects before this one we’re planning, staffing plans etc. But knowing how any hours a project will take is the place to start. We take the stages of the project as drafted in the project task list created as part of the scoping step and use our timing documents to determine hours for each of the stages. Prepping, Digitization, Metadata Creation, Loading into the FSUDL, QC, Closedown steps. Once I know how many hours total we’re looking at for a project, I can look at DLC schedule, and at the work our Metadata Librarian is doing outside of DLC work, and schedule a time frame with dates for the project to be completed.
11. This is a screenshot of the digitization times document our studio manager of the DLC maintains; this allows me to estimate the digitization time depending on the types of materials to be digitized and the equipment needed. Our metadata librarian has a similar document – metadata creation estimates change however depending on who is doing that work (for example, our metadata librarian will move faster in this stage than a student or other volunteer) These documents are updated on a yearly basis (or as needed if something changed before then) – anyone can see these documents including those filling out a proposal form so they will have some idea of the time involved with their projects before they ever talk to us.
12. Steps at this stage: Collocate everything you created/discovered/documented in the other tasks of the planning stage into the Project Briefing document and/or other documentation as well Finalize project task list in whatever PM tool you are using Finalize your timeline; put into the tasks list and take into account any changes since you first drafted the timeline Prep the physical collection(s) for the project; movement of collection between spaces, anything being omitted from the project should be clearly marked etc.
13. So this is a screenshot again of Producteev but of a project that had deadlines for each task – all of the tasks and deadlines were placed in Producteev before the project started, we’re looking at a screenshot long after we finished the project. However, this was all outlined with dates when the team sat down for the Project Briefing meeting.
14. Get the project team and all the external-to-DLC stakeholders in a room together Review Project Overview – the big picture, why are we doing this project? Scope Major deliverables Possible issues or concerns with project – what’s the “weird stuff” they might encounter during the project Timeline – make sure everyone is aware and agrees to the proposed timeline (do they see any possible problems?) Communication paths for project (Producteev, Google docs, SharePoint, Slack are the usual ones for us)
15. This is a page from our project briefing document for a project we’re working on right now
16. The work of the project commences; if planned correctly, each person knows what they need to do Digital imaging, metadata creation (structural and descriptive), QC, Loading into FSUDL Communication about the project occurs throughout via updates at meetings and the various communication channels in use Troubleshooting as things are discovered during a project (this will ALWAYS happen)
17. At the Project Debriefing, the following questions are asked and then documented and saved with the rest of the project documentation for future reference Challenges What didn’t go as planned? Why? Successes What worked well for the project? What can we do better next time? How can we fix any problems that occurred? How can we take what we learned and use for the next project?
18. Screenshot from a project that imploded on us
19. Documentation is all placed for every project into its final form and into SharePoint An archive of all project tasks and notes are included in this Outreach and next steps Tell people we’re finished! Make sure, if needed, library catalog and/or Archon are updated with the new materials
20. Tons more; running a Google search for free project management software or free team communication options will get you lots of options. Remember, project management needs for an institution is unique for all of us; you need to be willing to try a few probably before you find one that fits. Don’t be afraid to say, this isn’t working, why not and what tool could fix the problem? Sometimes, the fancy software cannot do for you what a spreadsheet can depending on your team and the way you manage projects. **Pm software can sometimes cause more problems than its worth. Some have too many bells and whistles, you don’t get enough buy-in from staff to use them, you find one that have 3 things you need but it’s missing the 4th etc.
21. I also wanted to list some other sources for digital project management in general for you to explore as well.