Effectively Engaging Stakeholders in Drupal Projects

Effectively Engaging Stakeholders in Drupal Projects(aka: How to make your Executive Director happy)Julia Kulla-Maderhttp://www.juliakm.com@JuliaKM

Julia Kulla-MaderProject Manager/Web Developer5 Years of Drupal Experience 2

Why am I qualiﬁed to give this talk?• Nonproﬁt website redesign alumna• Relaunched AASHE.ORG twice• Involved in redesigning many other Drupal sites• Long-time Drupal user/developer 3

How to make your stakeholders happy today andtomorrow• Rely on objectives, not hunches• Design and implement a user-driven redesign process• Plan for support after the launch 4

Three Things I Want You to Remember • Rely on objectives, not hunches • Design and implement a user-driven redesign process • The fourth trimester: plan for support after the launchSection: Rely on objectives, not hunches. 5

Start By Identifying Stakeholders Sandra BobSection: Rely on objectives, not hunches. 6

How do we meet Sandra and Bob’s needs? • Doesn’t see a need for change • No familiarity with HTML, comfortable to send edits to IT • Wants to be able to quickly point members to website information • Prefers to spend as little money as possible Sandra Staff MemberSection: Rely on objectives, not hunches. 7

How do we meet Sandra and Bob’s needs? • Thinks the current site is “cluttered” • Heard about a great new CMS from his nephew last week • Wants the site to look professional • Loves lots of pictures and movies Bob Board MemberSection: Rely on objectives, not hunches. 8

Before You Begin: Gather Background Information • What is the problem we want to solve? Why are we doing this? • Has this been attempted before? Why did it fail or succeed? • Is anything at my organization in ﬂux that might change this project?Section: Rely on objectives, not hunches. 9

Develop Objectives with Sandra and Bob • How will we measure whether the project is successful? • Each person on the team needs to agree to the project objectivesSection: Rely on objectives, not hunches. 10

Example - from AASHE.ORGSection: Rely on objectives, not hunches. 11

Plan to engage stakeholders throughout the process • What phases of the decision process would beneﬁt from involvement by various stakeholder groups? {What phase would not?} • Should Bob participate in every decision? What about Sandra? Core Team Extended TeamSection: Rely on objectives, not hunches. 12

Example - Engaging Stakeholders Core Team Sandra - Program representative You* - IT Manager/Web developer Matt - Web developer Paul - Exec. Dir * Project Manager Extended Team Board member Member representative Representative from Team A Representative from Team B Representative from Team C Core Team

Objectives: Rinse and Repeat • Throughout the process, when questions or suggestions arise, measure against your objectivesSection: Rely on objectives, not hunches. 14

Three Things I Want You to Remember • Rely on objectives, not hunches • Design and implement a user-driven redesign process • The fourth trimester: plan for support after the launchSection: Design and implement a user-driven redesign process 15

What does a user-driven process look like? Before you launch Develop clear, Use card sorting to Wireframe Again and test with universally accepted develop your Again While Testing stakeholders and objectives navigation Against Objectives non-stakeholdersSection: Design and implement a user-driven redesign process 16

Start with Navigation • Navigation visually deﬁnes your organizations priorities • Navigation helps people from veering off track • Navigation keeps people on your websiteSection: Design and implement a user-driven redesign process 17

Navigation: Card Sorting Is Your Best FriendSection: Design and implement a user-driven redesign process 18

Card Sorting Tools • Paper-based: Index cards, Post-it notes • Web Based: OptimalSort, Websort • Mac: Xsort • Windows: UXSort, CardZort • Analysis Tools SynCaps (Windows), Card Sort Analysis SpreadsheetSection: Design and implement a user-driven redesign process 19

Wireframe Everything Major • You can go through iterative wireframes and data migration at the same time • All pages where people are likely to have strong opinions should be wireframed The homepage should only have 2 columns!Section: Design and implement a user-driven redesign process 20

Wireframing Tools • Balsamiq, Omnigrafﬂe, Visio, Photoshop, WordSection: Design and implement a user-driven redesign process 21

Test Wireframes • Test wireframes with your stakeholders through questions against your objectivesSection: Design and implement a user-driven redesign process 22

Wireframe and Test Again Until You Feel Good • Making changes to a wireframe is easier than making changes to a live site designSection: Design and implement a user-driven redesign process 23

Go Through The Same Process for Designs• Create a survey for gathering design feedback• Make improvements using an iterative approach Green isn’t the color of sustainability!

Reﬂect Before Moving On • Does something not seem right? It’s easier to change things before you launch. • Feedback Army is a good resource for quick testsSection: Design and implement a user-driven redesign process 25

Test and Test Again • Develop personas to test your site Claire - Grant Ofﬁcer Shironda - StudentSection: Design and implement a user-driven redesign process 26

Engage Stakeholders Again at the End • Let your stakeholders evaluate whether you have met your objectivesSection: Design and implement a user-driven redesign process 27

Launch! 28

Three Things I Want You to Remember• Rely on objectives, not hunches• Design and implement a user-driven redesign process• Plan for support after the launch 29

Support after the launch • Monitor feedback to your revised site • Monitoring Tools: Contact Form (Webform module), Feedback Tab, User Voice • Have a plan in place for responding to questions and concernsSection: Plan for support after the launch 30

Think Carefully About Permissions • As you give staff access to the website, think about who should have what editing privileges carefully • How will the Executive Director feel about an intern editing her bio?Section: Plan for support after the launch

Educate and Support Your Content Editors • Provide a knowledge base for answering frequently asked questions • Have one line of communication for questions (ticketing system, email address, etc.)Section: Plan for support after the launch

Don’t Forget to Update Your Site’s Code • Update code when needed • Have a plan in place for how you will ﬁnd out about and implement code updatesSection: Plan for support after the launch

Summary: Three Things I Want You to Remember• Rely on objectives, not hunches• Design and implement a user-driven redesign process• Plan for support after the launch 34

Thanks for listening!

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Effectively Engaging Stakeholders in Drupal Projects

by Julia Kulla-Mader

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Effectively Engaging Stakeholders in Drupal Projects Presentation Transcript