@ncsumarit @oitdesign

THE MAKING OF A

WEB TEAMJen Riehle McFarland

#highedweb16 #mpd8

▸The Making of a Web Team

▸The Positions

▸The Processes

▸The Planning

▸No one has paid me for my opinions

▸ I like to use Storm Troopers to explain my points

ABOUT THIS PRESENTATION

st3f4nflickr#highedweb16 #mpd8

9/2014 1 full-timer 9/2015 3 full-timers4 part-timers/interns

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▸Started in the NC State Help Desk during undergrad

▸B.S. & M.S. from NC State

▸Self-taught in web design

▸Likes Star Wars

ABOUT ME

#highedweb16 #mpd8

▸Located in Raleigh, NC

▸Land-grant college established 1887

▸ 34,015 students; 2,336 faculty; 6,733 staff

▸ 11 colleges plus the Graduate School

▸Go Wolfpack!

ABOUT NC STATE

#highedweb16 #mpd8

Major Campus Multisites

Unit-level Multisites

Stand-aloneSingle Installs + Small Multisites

OIT

ORIED

DASA

OFA

HR

Free “Blogs” Environment

Premium “Hosted” Environment

Rest of campus…?

ABOUT NC STATE WEB

▸Housed in central IT; part of Outreach, Communications & Consulting

▸Maintain major campus WordPress multisite environments

▸Build custom WP themes and plugins for campus general use

▸Web design, development, support, & training for campus-based clients

ABOUT OIT DESIGN

#highedweb16 #mpd8

THE POSITIONSPART ONE

#highedweb16 #mpd8

▸October 2009: Web Hosting Service rolls out to campus

▸ 2012: Drupal & WordPress Services (free WordPress “Blogs” and premium “Hosted” environments)

▸ July 2013: Nick “the Drupal guy” leaves

▸ July 2014: Ross “the other Drupal guy” leaves

A LITTLE HISTORY…

2009 2012 2013 2014#highedweb16 #mpd8

ADD REQUISITE 3 MONTHS…

OCTOBER 2014▸HighEd Web Portland & Leadership Academy

▸Perspectives on Leadership

▸Being More Strategic

▸Governance Planning

▸What’s next for you?

▸Here’s Brian!

▸Two WordPress people, OMG!

#highedweb16 #mpd8

AND IT WAS GOOD

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FALL 2014▸More work coming in all the time

▸Moving Drupal users to WordPress

▸New clients, including DASA (60+ sites)

▸New campus brand released

▸New OIT website

#highedweb16 #mpd8

HOW DO WE GROW?We have the clients.

There’s a need for our services.

How do we get positions in an era of hiring freezes and budget cuts?

#highedweb16 #mpd8

1. INTERNS

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2. LEVERAGE

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3. PARTNERSHIPS

NEW POSITION▸ Joint position with Office of Research, Innovation &

Economic Development

▸ “Lives” in our unit and reports to me

▸Primary on ORIED projects, but Design team shares support

▸Here’s Chris!

▸We have three people!

#highedweb16 #mpd8

9/2014 1 full-timer 9/2015 3 full-timers3-4 part-timers/interns

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THE PROCESSESPART TWO

#highedweb16 #mpd8

INTERNS

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THE INTERN PROGRAM▸Unit 1 Topics (Fall)

▸ Introduction to the NC State Web and WordPress (Sept)

▸Communications and Customer Service

▸Branding

▸ Security (Oct)

▸CyberSecurity Awareness Month

▸WordPress Security

▸Advanced WordPress Administration (Nov)

▸Unit 2 Topics (Spring)

▸Data Security (Jan)

▸Campus rules

▸Crisis and Change (Feb)

▸Communications

▸ Project Management basics

▸Accessibility & Usability (March)

▸Documentation & Communications (April)

#highedweb16 #mpd8

TEAM BUILDING

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TEAM BUILDING: FRISBEE GOLF

TEAM BUILDING: BOWLING!

TEAM BUILDING: HOCKEY!

TEAM BUILDING: COWORKING

st3f4nflickrOFFICE HOURS

▸Client information

▸Meeting notes

▸Project status updates

▸ Incoming help requests

▸Known issues

▸Awesome new ideas!

▸Personal schedules

SHARING IS CARING

#highedweb16 #mpd8

TOOLS: SLACK

TOOLS: SERVICE NOW

TOOLS: GITHUB

TOOLS: GOOGLE DOCS

TOOLS: ASANA

TOOLS: WUNDERLIST

TOOLS: SLACK

MEETINGS

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MEETING SPACE

JUST SAY “NO” TO TECHNOLOGY

THE WHITEBOARD

THE CLIENT BOARD

DESIGNATED DISSENTER

THE PLANNINGPART THREE

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RETREATING

RETREAT▸August, 2016

▸1/2 day; included Kim (ORIED) and David (PT-er)

▸Agenda

▸Myers-Briggs Test

▸Assessing the viability of our goals

▸Specific Fall 2016 semester goals

▸Evaluating our tools

#highedweb16 #mpd8

N (INTUITION) S (SENSING)I solve problems by working through facts until I understand the problem.

I am pragmatic and look to the "bottom line."

I start with facts and then form a big picture.

Sometimes I pay so much attention to facts, either present or past, that I miss new possibilities.

I solve problems by leaping between different ideas and possibilities.

I am interested in doing things that are new and different.

I like to see the big picture, then to find out the facts.

Sometimes I think so much about new possibilities that I never look at how to make them a reality.

#highedweb16 #mpd8

1.) IMPROVE SOME OF OUR HABITS2.) WORK MORE/BETTER WITH OCC UNITS 3.) DEVELOP NEW CAMPUS PARTNERSHIPS

4.) DEVELOP NEW TRAINING FOR CAMPUS

5.) CONTRIBUTE TO THE WORDPRESS COMMUNITY

GOALS

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GOALS: NEW TRAINING

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GOALS: GROW THE COMMUNITY

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GROW THE COMMUNITY

https://wpcampus.org

#wpcampus

@wpcampusorg

#highedweb16 #mpd8

Major Campus Multisites

Unit-level Multisites

Stand-aloneSingle Installs + Small Multisites

OIT

ORIED

DASA

OFA

HR

Free “Blogs” Environment

Premium “Hosted” Environment

Rest of campus…?

GOALS: NEW PARTNERSHIPS

GOALS: BIG PICTURE st3f4nflickr

REMEMBER CHRIS?

YEAH, HE LEFT.#highedweb16 #mpd8

BACK TO TEAM BUILDING

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GOALS: WORK WITH OCC UNITS

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SUMMING UP…

1. Positions

2. Processes

3. Planningoffice politics

office politics

office politics

human resourcestraining

campus policies

communication

management responsibilities

time-management

managing expectations

crises

turnover

project management

orientation

deadlines

requirements-gathering

funding sourcesbudgets

new technologies

new services

relationships

employee schedules

priorities

destroying dreams

the unexpected

scope creepjustifying stuff

#highedweb16 #mpd8

THIS IS MY STORY…

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WHAT’S YOURS?

BIG THANK YOUS!

St3f4n (aka DocChewbacca) https://www.flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/

My Team(<3)

#highedweb16 #mpd8

QUESTIONS?Jen McFarland, @ncsumarit

#highedweb16 #mpd8

OIT Design: https://design.oit.ncsu.edu Github: https://github.ncsu.edu/oitdesign WP Campus: https://wpcampus.org/ Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/ncsumarit/