Project Management

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What is Project Management?

Project management is how you plan, organize, and keep track of your own project to make sure everything gets done the right way and on time.

It’s important because it helps you stay focused, avoid last-minute stress, and finish your project successfully.

For our DigiTech L2 and 3 Standards, it is necessary for you to consider these four project Management aspects:

Project Management Techniques: These help you plan, organize, and complete a project efficiently by breaking it into clear steps and deadlines.
Organisation and Tracking Tools: These keep tasks, deadlines, and progress in one place so you know what to do and when
Version Control: These help you save different versions of a project, letting you track changes and go back if something breaks
Asset Management: How you organize and store all the files, images, sounds, code, and more used in a project so they are easy to find and use.

PM Techniques

There are many different ways to manage a project. We're focusing on two here.

Agile and waterfall are two distinctive techniques to manage complete projects or parts of them. They work in quite different ways:

Agile is an iterative technique that uses a cyclic process often built around sprints.
Waterfall is a sequential technique where tasks are generally handled in a more linear process.

Which one to choose depends on the type of project, how complex it is, and who is involved.

Watch this video:

https://youtube.com/shorts/7vBPfGIg2EY?si=1Q8QEBMnoDt3vGXe

Then read this article:

https://medium.com/the-curious-coffee-club/wtf-is-waterfall-vs-agile-43837c747814

Waterfall

Waterfall is a linear project management approach that involves completing each phase of a project before moving onto the next. Each phase has defined inputs, outputs, and deliverables.

Advantages:

Provides a clear structure and roadmap for the project
Allows for easy tracking of progress and milestones
Can be effective for projects with well-defined requirements and limited scope

Disadvantages:

Can be inflexible and difficult to adapt to changing requirements or priorities
Can result in delays or rework if issues are identified late in the project
May not be suitable for projects with significant unknowns or uncertainties

Agile

Agile is a project management approach that emphasises flexibility, collaboration, and rapid iteration. It involves breaking a project into smaller, manageable chunks and working on them in short sprints.

Advantages:

Enables quick adaptation to changing requirements or priorities
Encourages continuous improvement and innovation through iterations
Ensures "sprints" of progress rather than getting bogged down on one thing
Allows you to create projects that can be tested and trialled with others, before making an improved version

Disadvantages:

Can be challenging to manage for more complex projects
Can result in scope creep if not managed effectively
May make deadlines harder to achieve

Hybrid

There is no need to stick simple to one method however. If you are on a fixed timeline and need to follow a set structure, then you could follow a general waterfall process to ensure the project progresses, but use more agile methods when it comes to design and development.

Find out more

See this great Forbes article on the seven most used proejct management teachniques:

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/project-management-techniques/

PM Tools

Organisation and Tracking Tools

Organisation and tracking tools are used to plan and track the progress of tasks in a project. By tracking your project, you can compare your actual to planned progress, and identify issues that may prevent the project from staying on schedule.

Here’s two good tools you could use:

Gantt Charts:

Gantt charts are a visual representation of a project schedule that displays tasks and timelines.

They are great for Waterfall style project management

Advantages:

Provide a clear overview of project timelines, dependencies, and milestones

Helps to identify potential bottlenecks and delays

Can be useful for managing complex projects

Disadvantages:

Can be difficult to update and maintain

May not be suitable for projects with frequently changing requirements or timelines

Kanban Boards:

Kanban boards are a visual representation of a project management system that tracks the progress of tasks and workflows.

They are great for an Agile approach to Project Management

Advantages:

Here are 8 benefits of using Kanban boards for a digital media process, each explained in one short sentence:

Visual clarity: Tasks are clearly displayed, making it easy to track progress at a glance.

Faster workflow: Tasks move smoothly from one stage to the next, reducing delays.

Easy prioritization: High-priority tasks can be visually highlighted and tackled first.

Better time management: Bottlenecks are visible, helping teams manage time more efficiently.

Flexibility: Boards can be easily adjusted to fit any type of digital media project

Disadvantages:

May not be suitable for managing large, complex projects

Requires a high level of individual and team discipline to be effective

Trello - A great all in one tool

Trello is a great free Kanban board creator and editor that will do everything that you need for your project. You can find it here: https://trello.com/

How to manage your board:

Log in with your school Google account
Create your Kanban board with a list for each section of your project
Add all the cards you can think of for each stage
Add to do, doing, and done cards for each list
At the start of each session, look at your board and choose what you are working on.. Move it to "doing"
At the end of each session, go back to your board and update it
As you get into your project you will think of more things to do. Just add them as cards

Need more help? Watch this video

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xky48zyL9iA

Version Control

A version control (VC) system helps you manage your resources and the versions of your designs. With a version control system in place, you can:

See each step of the development of your design or product
Return easily to previous versions
Keep multiple back-ups of your files
Compare before and after versions
Work on different parts of your project at different times
Easily communicate changes
Keep your files structured and tidy

Larger projects use automated version control software. This ensures that many people are able to collaborate and work on different parts of a project.

Here's a great video that shows how this works: What is version control?

However for smaller projects where you are the only designer, you will usually be using a Local Version Control System.

Digital Asset Management

Digital Asset Management (DAM) is a management tool that’s used to efficiently and securely store, organize, manage, and share digital files and assets.

Good DAM helps with:

Saving time
Maintaining control
Increasing efficiency
Having a centralised file storage system
Easier management of assets
Collaboration

Digital asset management systems come in all shapes and sizes depending on the needs and specific use cases of the organization.

See this article to find out more

Setting up your VC and DAM systems

For your project I suggest the following processes to manage your versions, files, and assets:

Set up a clear file structure, with folders for each phase of your project
Save your files with logical names and version numbers (e.g. main body v1, main body v2, etc). Use a “final” or “commit” label once an element has been completed.
Take a screengrab of the changes in each version or write down the main changes
Keep these screengrabs and notes in a version “database”
Take regular backups of your files onto a cloud storage system (e.g. OneDrive) or USB drive
GitHUB can be really useful for software and game development.

You may wish to look at using a software version control system, especially if your project requires the development of multiple elements (e.g. website, program, game)

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