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© Tanner, KCL 2005

Fundamentals of managing digital projects

Session 1: Planning and project management

Simon Tanner

Director

King’s Digital Consultancy Services

Email: simon.tanner@kcl.ac.uk

www.kcl.ac.uk/kdcs

© Tanner, KCL 2005

Overview

Key elements of management

Assessing the feasibility to digitize

Building selection criteria

Project planning

Why technology projects fail

Vision, risk and resource management

Management toolkit

Skills base and organization change

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© Tanner, KCL 2005The Key Elements of Management (1)

Goals not just technology

Institutional buy-in & long term policy commitment

Project to programme and/or service development

Economic considerations

Collection development

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© Tanner, KCL 2005The Key Elements of Management (2)

Technical development and integration

User issues of access, authentication and needs

Digital preservation policy

Organisation change issues

Staff and skills development

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© Tanner, KCL 2005Assessing the feasibility to digitise (1)

Can the originals be handled safely

Accurate information of the number of items?

Adequate catalogue?

Copyright and intellectual property rights

Sufficient hardware/software and technical infrastructure?

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© Tanner, KCL 2005

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© Tanner, KCL 2005Assessing the feasibility to digitise (2)

Suitably skilled staff?

Enough time available to plan and manage the project?

Preserving the physical reliability of the data

Ensuring the continued usability of the data

Costs versus benefits

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What can be digitised?

PaperText contentBound volumes or manuscriptsPhotographs - prints, slides & transparenciesMicrofilm, microfiche and aperture cardsVideo and audioMaps, drawings and large paper formatsOriginal art works, textiles etc.Physical 3-dimensional objects or views

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Durham Libae Vitae Penny Illustrated Paper, October 1868

Design Council Archive, University of Brighton

Lambeth Palace, church plan of St. James Sheldwich

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Building selection criteria

Stakeholder studies

Understand your audience

Address actual information needs and

goals

Avoid online brochures

Avoid repetition

Create a narrative

Add value

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Building selection criteria

policy and information goals

identify collections of value to goals

plan most effective route to create resource

seek funding

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Project planning

“Planning is an unnatural process. It is much nicer to just get on with the job: failure then comes as a complete surprise instead of being preceded by a period of worry and doubt.”

Sir John Harvey-Jones(with thanks for quote to Hazel Anderson - Testaments Project, Scottish Archive Network)

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Why technology based projects fail

32% - inadequate project management & control

20% - lack of communication

17% - failure to define objectives

17% - lack of familiarity with project scope & complexity

14% - incorrect technology, project size & other.

Figures courtesy of KPMG

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Project Planning: 3 Key Factors

Visioncan you see the whole picture?

Risk managementensuring the vision is achievable.

Resource managementputting vision into practice.

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Planning: Vision

Describe the complete project

Understand how the elements fit together

Be holistic - think about the lifecycle!

Do not need to understand the detail of every

technical element but must understand it’s

project implication

Be able to define solid objectives, goals and

deliverables.

The “Hollywood pitch” !

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© Tanner, KCL 2005Planning: Risk and Resource Management

Employ a good project manager

Empower the right people

Ensure good communications

Training - invest

Define your acceptance criteria and assign ranking

Ensure early scheduling of equipment delivery

Have a quality plan

Be honest about the problems and risk of failure

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The Managers Toolkit

Clear vision = clear goals = clear success criteria

Stakeholder studies: defining the value of the asset base according to users/policy makers

Feasibility studies: to extend the evidence base

Infrastructure survey: can your goals be achieved with the technology available?

Matrix of requirements: supports technology implementation

Risk assessment: enables planning to mitigate future risk

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Organisation Change and People

Managing digital assets changes the organizationSupporting the users requires everyone to be skilledNew technologies = new skills, same principles

“There is an overall understanding that digital and electronic library development will lead to new management styles and changes in organisations, but these changes, and the problems connected with them, are usually underestimates.”Carpenter, J. What makes a digital librarian? A critical analysis of the management culture needed for effective digital library developments, BLRIC, Report 174

Training is the solution

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© Tanner, KCL 2005Unrealistic Requirements Means Failure!!

“Qualifications required for this post are detailed knowledge of the technical and managerial processes involved in setting up a production facility, including scanning, benchmarking, workflow, production metadata, quality assurance; knowledge of a wide range of formats of original materials, their handling, and their optimal digitization requirements; experience of training scanning operatives in a production environment; good interpersonal skills; knowledge of digital camera operation, with preferably at least one year's experience of managing a digital production facility and knowledge of image compression, storage and transfer.”

Temporary Digital Production Co-ordinatorSalary 19,482 - 25,213 Pounds SterlingClosing date 4th December 2000As advertised on various Mailbase lists.Post was never filled.

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The Skills Base

Professional skills - management & subject skillsTechnical & IT skillsProject management skillsSkills are overlapping and interwovenTransferable skills are essential e.g. planning, communication, negotiating, team working.There is a skills shortage

look for aptitude and lateral experiencehave flexibility in the post and in job specifications

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How Do We Proceed?

Focus on goals not just technology

Shape achievable goals

Gain institutional policy commitment

Turn projects into programs and/or services

Gather a dynamic and flexible workforce

Establish best practice - document it and apply it

Manage risks and be aware of opportunity costs

Implementation is not research - do it because there is an evidence base for success.

www.kcl.ac.uk/kdcs

© Tanner, KCL 2005

Fundamentals of managing digital projects

Session 1: Planning and project management

Simon Tanner

Director

King’s Digital Consultancy Services

Email: simon.tanner@kcl.ac.uk