We’ve officially got the green light to prepare the project plan for Lund University’s web development project. The project is part of the Development Programme which the Vice Chancellor, Per Eriksson, has ordered and is included under the title ‘Increased Visibility’ (’Ökad Synlighet’). The project length is 3 years, and the project budget has been estimated, though not finalised, as 15 million kronor (1.4 million  Euro or 2 million USD). I am the project leader, and my first task is to prepare the project plan.

Here’s the meeting when it was officially approved, and here’s the decision itself.

A Positive Project – Which will change the way we work with the web

This is a great, and positive change. The university needs to use the professional skills and people it already has in a better way. We need to raise the level of our ambition with how we use the web and this project provides us with the time, and resources, to energize and invigorate how we work now, as well as enabling innovation and development. This project gives us the time, and resources, to investigate and act on 3 key issues: what is our website for? what are we trying to acheive with our website? How do we measure our website’s performance in relation to the university’s goals?

What is Increased Visibility (Ökad Synlighet)?

There are, currently, no measurable goals associated with the Web Development project; the project is still in its embryonic, scoping, phase.  There is no definition of what Ökad Visiblity means in the context of the web. Visibility for me, may be entirely different to, for example, the Vice Chancellor’s definition of visibility. Furthermore, visibility to what end? Do we mean marketing at specific target groups to meet the goals of the university, or do we mean more general brand building to make more people aware of Lund?

The Project – A challenging scope which needs definition

The official documentation ordering this project describes 4 areas for the project plan to describe (I have provided a literal English translation):

- LU – Webb, mål, inriktning och roll – LU’s web, goal, focus and purpose

- Webbarbetet, organisation och kavalitetssäkring – Web management, organisation and quality assurance

- Tjänster på webben, prioritering mm (Content Management System, Learning Management System mfl) – Services on the web, prioritisation (Including, Content Management System, Learning Management System)

- Teknisk Grundplattform – Technical Infrastructure/platform

If there’s anything about this project which is going to keep me awake at night; it’s this stage, where we’re trying to define what it is we’ll actually do. The more issues that are included in this project, without an increase in the budget, the more the risk of failure grows.

My first job, as I write the project plan, is to define and prioritise this list. Some immediate reflections. I’ve got no real idea what ‘technical platform’ actually means; and I don’t think a single, clear, definition exists. This list also includes ‘Content Management System’, and ‘Learning Management System’; if our external and internal users say that changing our CMS, or introducing a single CMS for the entire university, will improve their experience of Lund University then the challenge of this task is not to be underestimated.

What’s Next?

The deadline for the project plan is September 10^th 2009; and I have to write this whilst doing my day job as web editor. Once the project formally begins in late 2009, I will be working on the project 100% and a new web editor will be recruited.

There are several main activities now, which have either begun or are planned:

- Communicating the existence of the project to all the relevant stakeholders

- Meetings with the university’s web editors, and publishers

- Pinning down definitions of all the terminology we’ve currently got associated with the project, for example, Ökad Synlighet

- Meetings with the Vice Chancellor, and other university management

- Setting up a reference group

- Involving some consultants for an external perspective

- Writing the project plan (which will include identifying other project positions)

- Desk study of other universities experiences

- Project website and development of this blog

This project will not deliver anything useful, or innovative, if it tries to get satisfy everybody. Some of the goals of this project will require people to change the way they work, and will almost certainly prioritise things in way which does not suit everybody. My task is to deliver a project which meets the goals of the university, and which is based on user need. A project based on facts, disseminated and acted on through good communication, is the only way forward.

What do you think? Your comments are important.

I need to have your comments. You can reach me through all the normal channels but being able to comment here, and see what others have written, is incredibly valuable for both me and you.  My previous experience of blogging has been very rewarding and I see no reason why this should be different.

Right now, any general comments or questions regarding the content of the Rektor’s Beslut (Vice Chancellors Decision) would be appreciated, but anything goes.

Regarding language; this is not an internal blog and I’ll be encouraging visits from outside of Sweden but there are no ‘rules’ concerning whether you use Swedish or English. I am comfortable with either.

You can find all my contact details here, or leave a comment below. Comments will appear straightaway, but I will be moderating them.

Write or view comments

Tags: content, development, governance, john, learning, lund, management, project, system, university, web, wedderburn