Self-Service for Your Project Website: Do's and Don'ts

Joe Wynne is a versatile Project Manager experienced in delivering medium-scope projects in large organizations that improve workforce performance and business processes. He has a proven track record of delivering effective, technology-savvy solutions in a variety of industries and a unique combination of strengths in both process management and workforce management.

  Communications Management   Innovation   Teams  

You want to communicate about your project in an effective way, so it is not surprising that you choose to leverage some kind of web-share technology (project website) when you can. This technology can take you beyond just a set of folders acting as a document repository. It can provide your project workers and partners with calendar alerts, automatic document review management and sophisticated meeting support, among other services.

When used properly and with the right expectations, you can improve communication and save time. Having the wrong expectations, however, can get you into trouble.

Do: Create views targeted to different user groups. The key to a user-friendly project website is to give different user groups just what they need. Project workers need quick access to different information than stakeholders, for example. Users hate to have to look around to find the one thing they need. Adjust view settings or create different sections on your homepage for the different user groups. Think about what they need and provide links to that information wherever it resides on the site.

Do: Put key links in your email signature. You can send everyone a single email with key links to your project website, but they will not necessarily keep that handy. Think like a marketer and keep information "top of mind," or easily accessible. Put the key links where they …

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