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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: [email protected]
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
www.kcl.ac.uk/kdcs
© 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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© Tanner, KCL 2005
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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© Tanner, KCL 2005
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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© Tanner, KCL 2005
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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© Tanner, KCL 2005
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: [email protected]