Website Development and Planning Strategy Essay

Creating the website development strategy

This stage of the process involves developing a “vision” for the website in terms of what is its specific purpose for the company (i.e. will it sell products or merely present information regarding the company itself). This stage of the process involves analyzing what must be put in, what functions must be present and to what specific category of internet users must the website appeal to.

Translating the website development strategy

Translating the development strategy involves the creation of an effective framework of approach regarding how the idea for the website can be implemented in reality. This comes in the form of developing the conceptual framework for the website, creating teams to implement the intended functions and information that should be present as well as outlining specific deadlines for task completion.

Aligning the organization

This stage of the process involves aligning the company in such a way that it incorporates the new website into its operational framework. For instance, in the case that the company is developing the website to sell its products, this involves implementing a back system that seamlessly incorporates an order with warehouse operations, delivery service as well as customer service to deliver the product to the customer. Without such a system in place, chaos ensues which shows the need for proper organization alignment for online operations.

Planning operations

This stage of the process involves focusing on how the entirety of the website should function; who should monitor and be responsible for it, as well as determine what teams of individuals should be in charge of online market promotions, information posting, social media and other similar tasks that are an aspect of website development.

Monitoring, learning, testing and adapting new processes

This stage of the process involves examining the operations of the website in real-time and determining whether adjustments need to be made here and there to manifest optimum performance in website operations

Starting the Web Journey

This is the end of the project life cycle and involves normal website operations.

Three Levels of Planning

In this particular example, the three levels of planning complement one another to create a more competitive framework for the company. For example, in the case of corporate-level strategy, this involves the vision of the company for its operations while business strategy involves tactics to gain a competitive advantage. In this case, an online website acts as a means of manifesting the company’s corporate strategy (ex: become the number 1 bed and bathroom supplier) with its business strategy of staying ahead of the competition by selling online directly to consumers. Combining this with a functional strategy in the form of online marketing and advertising campaigns shows how the different levels of planning complement one another in this strategy.

Teams and Teamwork

As indicated by Thanhain (2005) four characteristics are in demand within a technology-oriented enterprise (in this case an enterprise that is trying to be more digitally oriented through the creation of an online sales website), namely: high market responsiveness, fast developments, low cost, and finally high levels of creativity, innovation, and efficiency (Thamhain, 2005). What must be understood though is that such characteristics are dependent upon the type of technical teams that are the backbone of the company wherein through the utilization of a variety of management practices a seamless integration of vertical and horizontal means of collaboration need to be implemented to create a stable organizational structure for proper operations and product development. Teams and teamwork are thus an indispensable aspect of the process since it would be necessary to delegate various tasks and important activities to specific teams to get things done right.

Without proper task delegation, activity management as well as proper communication and collaboration in the form of teamwork, it is very likely that a project can become stalled, mired in administrative red tape or may even be released albeit with an invariably reduced level of quality resulting in a negative image being attributed to the company itself. Morgeson et al. (2005) explains that teamwork enables a seamless transition between task creation and task accomplishment wherein every individual that is part of the project openly communicates regarding their current activities, problems that they encountered and what possible alternative solutions could be implemented to resolve a particular issue. Without communication and collaboration in the form of teamwork and teams during a project life cycle, mistakes are often made resulting in a far inferior project outcome as compared to what might have come about if proper teamwork was implemented. Based on what has been presented in this section, it can be seen that teams and teamwork are a beneficial aspect in the creation of a new company website since it enables the project to be completed efficiently and effectively.

Development and completion of the final project

By outlining the tasks necessary in completing the project as well as the various factors that are necessary in its inception to completion, this helps to expedite the process by enabling me to better understand what it is that I must do to accomplish the project in the most effective way possible. As explained by Smith-Daniels & Smith-Daniels (2008), one of the problems with the project planning process is a lack of sufficient “vision” and planning. “Vision” in this particular case refers to the taking into consideration the various nuances that are a part of all project development processes. In the case of developing a corporate website, it would be necessary to take into consideration its functionality, its purpose (i.e. whether it’s merely to present information about the company or will sell the company’s products) as well as determining its aesthetic appeal in terms of targeting a specific market segment.

It is this and other such factors that showcases the importance of “vision” when it comes to project development since you need to determine what must be implemented beforehand to avoid potential pitfalls later on. When it comes to planning, this activity enables a project manager to create a conceptual framework regarding proper task delegation involving specific activities as well as determine task completion schedules. By doing this type of activity beforehand, this enables the creation of a more efficient project development process by conceptualizing what needs to be done instead of determining what has to be implemented while the project is underway. This prevents possible problems later on related to redundant functions, inefficient processes and lessens the likelihood of going over budget.

Reference List

Morgeson, F. P., Reider, M. H., & Campion, M. A. (2005). Selecting individuals in team settings: The importance of social skills, personality characteristics, and teamwork knowledge. Personnel Psychology, 58(3), 583-611.

Smith-Daniels, D. E., & Smith-Daniels, V. L. (2008). Trade-Offs, Biases, and Uncertainty in Project Planning and Execution: A Problem-Based Simulation Exercise. Decision Sciences Journal Of Innovative Education, 6(2), 313-341.

Thamhain, H. (2005). Management of technology. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.