While there are as many ways to
organize a multilingual website design and development project as there are
interactive and localization agencies to help you, there are definitely some
fundamental steps which should be included in every project plan. If you have
already been through a few website projects, or if you are starting with your
first, this series of articles should help you make a fairly comprehensive
project plan, or at least help you tweak your current plan.
The 4-part series will explore 21
Critical Questions to a multilingual website
project by providing "sample answers" and "some things to think
about" for each question, AND detail how the answers fit into a Six Phase
Design and Development Process.
Of course, every project, client,
budget, schedule and creative vision is different. So hopefully these articles
will at least provide you with some "real templates" and some
"idea templates" you can use to organize your efforts.
Having been involved in a few
website design and development projects over the years, including the
internationalization and localization aspects of developing global websites,
I have found that these six phases, in various forms, are part of most
projects.
Phase I: Planning and Strategy
Phase II: Design and Specification Prototyping
Phase III: Production
Phase IV: Testing
Phase V: Launch
Phase VI: Project Delivery
Phase II: Design and Specification Prototyping
Phase III: Production
Phase IV: Testing
Phase V: Launch
Phase VI: Project Delivery
All of the project management
articles, books and reference materials you can read will essentially say the
same things. "It all comes down to planning…" "Battles are won
and lost before they are ever fought…" "90% planning and 10%
execution…". Some things are certainly worth repeating.
By expanding Phase I: Planning and
Strategy, we see our first step, and one that sets the course for, and serves
as the foundation of our entire project.
Goals
and Objectives
Answer these "21
questions" to begin documenting your requirements and plan.
- Who are your website stakeholders and development team?
- What are the benefits you want from the site? What is
the site for?
- What are the benefits to prospects or clients who
browse your site?
- Who is your target audience?
- What type of design do you want? Note some sites that
you like from both a content and design perspective.
- What type of architecture "functionality" are
you looking for? List features and functionality you would like.
- Does the site need to integrate with any existing tools
already deployed? (forms handling, web-based admin, password protected
areas, databases). If so, list.
- List some competitors' URLs for review. All of your
prospects will be browsing their sites as well.
- What is your expected schedule for the website project?
- What is the expected budget for the website project?
- What is your plan for ongoing maintenance and support
for the website?
- What is the plan for hosting the website?
- Who will write the content for the website?
- Who will design the "look and feel" for the
site?
- Who will architect the website?
- Initial list of content resources? (text, graphics and
multimedia)
- What platforms and authoring tools will be used for the
project?
- Will you internationalize the site, and if yes who will
do the work?
- Will you localize the website, and if yes who will do
the work?
- What is your marketing and launch plan for the website?
- What is the expected ROI from building and running the
website and how do we measure it?
It is essential to collect this core
information from your client, or website stakeholders when embarking on your
project. Once you accomplish this, you can flush out more details in a draft
project plan.
These questions will get you started
by helping you commit to writing the foundation of your plan. Each question
will evolve into a chapter in your multilingual website development plan book.
For now, a paragraph or two will do. It is good to write-up the questions using
two columns where your second column lists the person(s) needed to answer the
questions (see below).
#
|
Question
|
Person(s)/
Stakeholders
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1
|
Who are your website stakeholders
and development team?
|
|
2
|
What are the benefits you want
from the site? What is the website for?
|
|
...
|
...
|
|
21
|
What is the expected ROI from
building and running the website and how do we measure it?
|
Let's take a look at the first 5
questions.
Q1: Who are your website
stakeholders and development team?
The first step in answering the 21
Questions is of course to identify the per- son(s) who can answer the
questions.
Sample Answer:
A team roster for a multilingual
website project may look like the figure below:
Team
Roster for Multilingual Website Project
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||
Team
Member
|
Responsibility
|
Email
|
Company Stakeholders (sales)
|
||
Company Stakeholders (product
development)
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||
Company Stakeholders (marketing)
|
||
Funding Source
|
||
Project Manager-Owner
|
||
Webmaster (webmaster team)
|
||
Site Marketing Team
|
||
Content author
|
||
Content author
|
||
Content author
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||
Project Manager: Localization
|
||
French language team
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||
Italian language team
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||
German language team
|
||
Spanish language team
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||
Japanese language team
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||
Portuguese language team
|
||
Chinese language team
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Graphic Designer
|
||
Graphic Designer
|
||
Animation Multimedia Specialist
|
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Sound Audio Multimedia Specialist
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Project Manager: Internationalization
|
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Architecture - I18N specialist
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Architecture - programmer
|
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Architecture - programmer
|
||
Architecture - programmer
|
||
QA Manager
|
||
QA Team
|
Some things to think about:
- Make a list of the website project team and all contact
information.
- Set up a mailing list or several mailing lists to
facilitate communications flow.
- Fill in as many positions as you can.
- Several positions will be filled in as the project
planning proceeds, certain decisions are made, and required skill sets are
identified.
- When determining stakeholders do not forget other
country offices.
Q2: What are the benefits you want
from the site? What is the site for?
List what you want from your site
and its purpose.
Sample Answer:
"Our website www.greatsite.com,
is primarily to create leads for our company. It must be a standout among all
other competitors' sites in order to guarantee our inclusion in the first round
short list of a prospect's research." So the site is a selling tool.
Some things to think about:
- Ask all stakeholders what they want from the site.
- Review each benefit and try to assign a dollar value to
the benefit in terms of either additional revenue or decreased costs.
Q3: What are the benefits to
prospects or clients who browse your site?
Clients primarily use the internet
to conduct their initial research in selecting a product, a service, a company.
Sample Answer:
Prospects or Clients who browse our
website want to immediately locate the information about our products and
services. Prospects and Clients want to see that our products and services
match what they are looking for AND that our site can provide a level of detail
on the product or service offering quickly and thoroughly. They also want to
use our website to contact us easily.
Some things to think about:
- Contact your top clients and ask them what they would
like to see in your website.
- Ask your stakeholders to make a list of questions
prospects and clients usually ask of the company, and think of ways to
make this information easily available via your site.
Q4: Who is your target audience?
Typically the value of this question
is that many companies cannot answer it.
Sample Answer:
Greatsite.com's target audiences are
those prospects looking for our products and services. We are not sure of the
number of people who use or will use our site.
Some things to think about:
- Learn about various site analysis tools such as
WebTrends' Log Analyzer in order to help understand the composition and
origin of visitors to your site.
Q5: What type of design do you want?
Note some sites that you like from both a content and design perspective.
We want the coolest website on the
Internet! Good answer. How about…
Sample Answer:
We want a design that is in line
with our current branding initiatives, and exudes a cutting edge technology
company. Our site should be very easy to navigate.
Some things to think about:
- If you do not have a "Branding Plan"
including a Style Guide, get one together.
- Ask all of your website stakeholders to come up with a
list of sites and design features they like.
- Have a review session "Site Cinema" day or
evening where the stakeholders brainstorm on what they like, and view
different sites on a big screen.
As you can see, your first 5
questions are really all about determining what you want from the website, and
what your prospects and clients may want from the site.
It is critical that you devote the
amount of upfront time necessary to receive ALL feedback from the stakeholders
and clients. This will ensure that you'll avoid misconceptions, and a lot of
wasted time in redesign, recopy writing and redevelopment.
"21 Questions essential to
every Multilingual Website Project Plan" is the first in a 4 part series
which details how to plan your website project. Next article will address
questions 6-11.
-MS
Phase
I: Planning and Strategy
|
||
(Relevant 21-Questions)
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A.
|
Goals and Objectives
|
|
1
|
ALL
|
Answer "21 questions" to
begin documenting requirements and plan.
|
B.
|
Research
|
|
1
|
ALL
|
Review and approval of 21
questions from team
|
2
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5, 8
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Review Competitive Sites
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3
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3, 4
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Target Audience/Users discussion
|
4
|
Collect additional client
information and discuss 1-3
|
|
C.
|
Initial Project Proposal
|
|
1
|
5, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19
|
Organize and discuss initial
Content Brief (content)
|
2
|
5, 6, 8, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19
|
Organize and discuss Creative
Brief (treatment)
|
3
|
5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17,
18, 19
|
Organize and discuss Technology
Brief (technologies)
|
4
|
Agree on acceptance test criteria
|
|
D.
|
ALL
|
Draft Initial Statement of Work:
Scope
|
E.
|
9
|
Draft Initial Statement of Work:
Schedule
|
F.
|
10
|
Draft Initial Statement of Work:
Costs
|
G.
|
1
|
Assign final teams
|
Phase
II: Design and Specification Prototyping
|
||
A.
|
5, 6, 8, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19
|
Concept Planning
|
1
|
Concept Planning (design, colors,
graphics, navigation)
|
|
2
|
Site Map and Major Link
Development
|
|
3
|
I18N - L10N planning and education
for writers-designers-programmers
|
|
B.
|
5, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19
|
Content Development (content)
|
1
|
Collect content sources
|
|
2
|
Conduct content refinement
discus-sions (search optimization issues, I18N and L10N issues)
|
|
3
|
1st Draft English content
|
|
4
|
Client proof of content
|
|
5
|
2nd draft content
|
|
6
|
Client review and approval
|
|
7
|
Localization project management of
language versions begins
|
|
C.
|
5, 6, 8, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19
|
Design Development (treatment)
|
1
|
Develop specified number of comps
|
|
2
|
Conduct design refinement
discussions (search optimization issues, I18N and L10N issues)
|
|
3
|
1st Draft design
|
|
4
|
Client proof of design
|
|
5
|
2nd draft design
|
|
6
|
Client review and approval
|
|
7
|
Localization project management of
language versions begins
|
|
D.
|
5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17,
18, 19
|
Technical Development
(technologies)
|
1
|
Conduct client
architecture-platform discussions
|
|
2
|
Convert design work into usable
code
|
|
3
|
Determine integration issues with
existing tools
|
|
4
|
Client review and approval
|
|
Phase
III: Production
|
||
A.
|
ALL
|
Site Development
|
1
|
Implement design
|
|
2
|
Web Page Development
|
|
3
|
Database - technologies design
|
|
4
|
Use one other language version for
test
|
|
Phase
IV: Testing
|
||
A.
|
5,6,7
|
Site Testing
|
1
|
Conduct user-client acceptance
testing
|
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B.
|
Site Finalization
|
|
1
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Changes
|
|
Phase
V: Launch
|
||
A.
|
Product Delivery to Client
|
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B.
|
Notify client site is ready
|
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C.
|
20
|
Site Marketing Campaign
|
D.
|
4
|
Search Engine Optimization
Campaign
|
E.
|
21
|
Activate Site Monitoring tools
|
Phase
VI: Project Delivery
|
||
A.
|
Project Deliverables
|
|
1
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Site and documentation delivery
|
|
2
|
Training of web-based maintenance
|
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B.
|
11
|
Provide on-going maintenance
|
1
|
Updates and changes special
|
|
2
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Ongoing Relationship
|
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