planning & production

budget & resource management | process documentation | project planning

There aren't too many pretty images to go along with "budget & resource management". Just a nice, simple spreadsheet I use that allows me to map out every budgeted hour of a project, for each phase of a project, then adjust those hours as necessary to ensure they're optimally balanced with a bit of padding for the inevitable.

After mapping out the hours, I plug in all the requisite numbers that will allow me to keep a close eye (by day, week, month or whatever) on the budget, throughout the project lifecycle.

This simple tool makes it easy to keep projects on track and profitable, even if something blows up (which *always* happens).

planning & production

budget & resource management | process documentation | project planning

Documenting process can be fun - seriously. But only if you know what the process *should* be. That's sort of important.

It might be a simple intake process for new projects or a content development and publishing process for a large website.

With input from all involved parties, it's fairly easy to map out a simple flow chart everyone can follow to keep things moving efficiently.

planning & production

budget & resource management | process documentation | project planning

Whether it's a quick website update or a comprehensive redesign with dozens of moving parts, it can all be planned and scheduled. All it takes is a desired deadline and detailed requirements.

There's the rub... the requirements must be crystal clear to make a solid plan, but there can be a wee bit of wiggle room if we're not quite sure of every detail in the beginning.

Every project plan ever made becomes obsolete the moment it's printed. It helps to remain flexible in the critical things - timeline and scope (and if possible, budget).