Methodology

Methodology/ies used to manage web projects include Scrum, Waterfall, DSDM, Prince, XP, Agile, RUP, RAD, EssUP.

I use Prince as that's the most widely used methodology in the UK.

If an organisation doesn't already have an accepted methodology in place. It's very important to get a grasp on the business strategy and overall corporate / project objectives before deciding if certain methodology should be used.

I often find that even in large organisations, staff may not really fully understand the reasons for planning documentation, communication standisation and process methodology. It's important to explain to others you work with why it'll be an advantage to use certain project methodology. I do not suggest that methodology must always be defined and adhered to (sometimes this can just generate lots of paperwork).

Some people who want 'pretty pictures' first, by this I mean that they often want to see a site designed before higher level questions have been asked. (Don't get me wrong here thought, having worked at the largest branding Agency in the world, I fully support the creative pitch and sometimes this can be the main driving force in a project.)

In a typical in-house project management role I would be looking to ask these kind of questions about the organisation I would work for. (Once these types of questions have been covered then one can look at potential appropriate methodologies to use.)

• How many teams are responsible for all internet sites (both internal / external) and what is each team responsible for?
• What is the structure of those Internet teams? (e.g. Number of designers / developers / content staff.)
• How are the teams currently coping and what are the turnaround times for getting content change requests to be implemented?
• Is there transparency for staff to understand their role within the context of the rest of the organisation?
• What guidance is given for adding content to sites? + How is this guidance updated and staff informed of procedural changes?
• Are there routine times where and when staff communicate with each other (both virtual and physically)? (What about impromptu corridor meetings?)
• Are productivity benefits being explored with communication methods like: video / voice / conferencing, Instant Messaging / mobile news / transcribed typing and voice tools / wireless environments for laptop / data syncing for PDAs etc.
• Where are the sources of information on intranets and what system is in place, if any to look for duplicate information. (Deduping filtration system.)
• What format does the content exist in (HTML, XML, database, PDF, Word)
• What are the server and platform types. (IIS, Coldfusion, Apache)
• What are the standard software applications used e.g. Outlook, Lotus Notes, Powerpoint, Visio, Internet management tools. (Dreamweaver, GoLive, Flash).
• Which code languages are currently used (ASP, JSP, PHP).
• Are all sites hosted in-house?
• Are budgets allocated for each department by year or with an on going basis? (Fixed or time and materials?)
• With regard to reporting to others with finding, planning and implementation suggestions. Are there guidelines as to when this happens, to whom, and in what format?
• Who would I be reporting to and which department would I be working with.

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Search methods:

You can normally use Boolean terms when searching on the web.
For example, if you want pages only about Star Trek's 'deep space nine' but not 'voyager' search this way:
"star trek" -voyager +"deep space nine" -"next generation"

One of the most powerful features available is the ability to control what sites are included or excluded from a search. For example, imagine you wanted to see all the pages from the Mars Exploration web site run by the NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory but not mentioning Mars Pathfinder. You could do that this way:
host:mars.jpl.nasa.gov -"mars pathfinder"

Here's how someone in the UK might search for football (soccer) information:
"football scores" +host:uk

Let's say you want to find PDF files about mars exploration. Entering "mars exploration" isn't enough, because that could bring back both HTML and PDF pages. To solve this, you can use the inurl command to specify that URLs must have the word "pdf" in them, which will increase the chances of getting PDF files. Here's both commands, combined:
mars exploration inurl:pdf

In contrast:
california power crisis filetype:asp
brings back Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP) files, while
california power crisis filetype:html
brings back ordinary HTML files that end in .html, that contain the words. It will not bring back HTML files the end in .htm, however.