Dara Renton Manager, E-Services @drenton

Terry Costantino Principal & Design Director @umatters

Managing Digital Projects: !Staff, Vendors, Stakeholders and Library Members

OverviewContext

Need

Plan

Design & Build

Implementation

Evaluation & Evolution

Prototype & Iterate

Why are we doing this presentation?

Digital has redefined all organizations

Bureaucracies are honed by the past and almost never can they deal effectively with the future”

Dr. Leroy Hood, noted biologist

Digital is driven by consumer technology

TPL of old• Project based and no staff focused on

continuous enhancement and development

TPL Today

• Major work still project based, but a robust team that can work on small and medium projects in their day-to-day work

Services not projects

• What you have is a set of services delivered digitally

• They always require maintenance and sometimes they require a project for major changes

What does a digital project look like?

User experience

design

TechnologyBusiness

Processes

Content

THE NEED

Chart the course for your project

High level goal and project drivers

Identify resources needed - identify gaps

Get approval for the project from decision-makers

Charter your approach

Identify business impacts – resourcing, technology, service management

The Team• Service Manager or

Product Owner

• Delivery Manager or Project Manager

• Designer

• Content Designer

• User Researcher

• Technical Architect/Lead

• Developer

• Web Ops Expert

https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/the-team

Context

Questions about context, the need or the team?

PlanCreate a shared vision for the service/product

Lay the foundation for design

Clarify the users and their needs

Get approval for the plan from decision-makers

Scope the design and build

Plan

Create a shared vision for the product/service • goals & objectives • measures of success • requirements & constraints

Clarify users and their needs • profiles • personas • tasks or scenarios

Possible activities: • review existing documents • consult with staff & users • review competitor/peer offerings

Dawn, Family Hub

I want one stop for my family’s needs

Dawn is a 34-year-old mom of two young children and an avid mystery reader. She works part-time for a friend’s catering business and spends a lot of time chauffeuring her children to activities, so her time is limited. She needs to get in and get on with it, so she likes to research new offerings and events at the library on the website ahead of time and place holds on materials she might pick up later on her weekly visit with the kids. She has a library card and has signed her kids up too because she wants to teach them to be library users.

• No time – she can’t spend a lot of time tracking down what she wants

• Isn’t aware of the full breadth of what the library system has to offer, but knows a lot about family resources and events in her branch

• Usually has kids with her when she visits the library, is distracted

Challenges

Access profile• Get the latest from her favourite

authors and recommendations for similar books

• Let the kids pick out books to borrow.

• Find out about resources and events for kids

• Find what she needs quickly because she is always on the run

• Check family’s account information online (due dates, fines, etc.)

I want one stop for my family’s needs

I want to find the latest book by my favourite author

I want recommendations for new titles related to my preferences

I’d like to know about events for my kids during March break.

I want to find the next book in a series

I’d like to find people to socialize with that share my interests

I’d like to know about events in my neighbourhood that are targeted at kids

I want to know about new service offerings and how to use them (downloadable books or music)

I want to set up holds and research new materials online for my entire family before I stop by

I want to check my family’s account details (due dates, fines) online

branch across town and want to know about parking there

• Access to online recommendations, updates and holds so she can get organized for her next visit

• Needs current information and new offerings brought to her attention so she doesn’t have to seek them out

• Might be interested in alerts based on her preferences (opt-in)

• Wants to easily manage her children’s (and sometimes husband’s) accounts

• Managing her children’s library use needs to be convenient (e.g. dealing with misplaced books, fines, uncatalogued items)

Critical requirements

Dawn, Family HubExample scenarios:

PlanLay the foundation for design • user stories and/or journey maps • service blueprint • content and functionality list • technical requirements • organizational impacts

Get approval for the plan from decision-makers

Scope the design and build • estimate the time and cost • consider buy, build and partner options • adjust the plan as needed

Plan

Questions about planning?

Design & BuildUser experience (UX) design

Visual design

Technical design

Business process design

Content design

Get approval from decision-makers

Prototype development

Design & Build

• Refine journey maps • Create information architecture (IA) • Create wireframes and user flows, if needed

• Contribute to IA and labelling • Identify content needs, style, and sources

Content Design

UX Design

Design & BuildVisual Design

• Set creative direction • Create graphic standards - colours,

typography, iconography, etc.

Prototype Development• Create HTML prototype/build

Design & Build

Technical Design

Business Process Design• Identify current business processes affected

by the new or redesigned service • Work with appropriate stakeholders to adjust

the business processes and/or the design

• Map technical approach

Design & Build

Questions about designing and building?

Prototype & Iterate

• Develop and iterate working prototype

• Invited library members to:

• join web advisory panel

• comment on blog posts

• participate in usability test sessions

• UX, content, visual, business processes also iterate during this phase

Prototype & Iterate

Questions about prototyping or usability testing?

Implementation

• Setting up where site/services will be hosted

• Hooking up systems

• Testing (functional, QA, performance, regression testing, failover, security etc.)

• Planning a beta launch.

Evaluation and Evolution• post-mortem - what worked, what didn’t, what

would you do differently • metrics • on-going feedback from users and stakeholders

References

• gov.uk Service Design Manualhttps://www.gov.uk/service-manual

• Hemingway Apphttp://www.hemingwayapp.com/

• Webaim colour contrast Checkerhttp://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/

• TPL’s Digital Library Service Bloghttp://tpl.ca/webteam

• Digital Adaptation - Paul Boag http://www.digital-adaptation.com/

• Practical Guide to Managing Web Projects - Breandán Knowlton http://www.fivesimplesteps.com/products/a-practical-guide-to-managing-web-projects

Contact infoDara Renton !Manager, E-Services Toronto Public Library Twitter: @drenton!drenton@torontopubliclibrary.ca

Terry Costantino !Principal & Design Director Usability Matters Twitter: @umatters!terry@usabilitymatters.com