I. Statement of Purpose
The purpose of this project is to launch a new and improved Laddawn.Com in the [TBD following scoping] timeframe. Laddawn 2.0 will:
- Serve as a destination for our customers and consistently provide them with a model service experience – through intuitive yet robust, real-time quoting tools (that eliminate the distinction between stock and custom and between what we make and what we source); and a very personalized, proactive and engaging online experience.
- Clearly demonstrate – through look and feel, new features, functionality and content – Laddawn's brand (competent, sincere, reliable, easy, fun); value proposition (we help you win orders with quick quotes and turnaround, guaranteed quality); core values (honest dealing with distributors, made in America, environmentally responsible, civic engagement through charitable giving); and how Laddawn is fundamentally different from its competitors.
II. Project Governance and Roles
Susan will manage the project, and will be accountable to the leadership team – Ladd, Dawn, Owen and Jim – who will meet weekly to review status, manage risk and address issues. She will break work down into a few key blocks – user experience (functional requirements, visual design, usability testing, content and information architecture); programming (front and backend); quality assurance and testing; and rollout planning and communications. The chart below illustrates this work breakdown structure. Please note that it is subject to change as the needs of the project dictate:
III. Project management methodology
The project will adhere as much as possible to the "Agile Manifesto," which values:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.
Susan will use WorkZone to assign tasks and establish timeframes and milestones and strive for WorkZone to be the "single source of truth" for the project.
She will schedule and run weekly status meetings with the leadership team, as well as weekly meetings (more frequent if necessary) with project resources.
Each lead or resource assigned to the project will have one of four types of "RACI" involvement with tasks:
- Responsible - Those who do the work to achieve the task
- Accountable (also approver or final approving authority) The one ultimately answerable for the correct and thorough completion of the deliverable or task (typically delegates to person who is responsible)
- Consulted - Those whose opinions are sought, typically subject matter experts; and with whom there is two-way communication
- Informed - Those who are kept up-to-date on progress, often only on completion of the task or deliverable; and with whom there is just one-way communication
IV. Project Scope
At a high level, the scope of this project consists of:
- a complete visual redesign;
- implementation of more robust product search tools which streamline search by eliminating distinctions between stock and made to order, and what we make v. what we source, and ability to search by tagged items or past orders;
- predictive ordering suggestions;
- an enhanced checkout
- a Facebook-like narrative thread with user- and system-generated posts;
- more robust user account management including customization and user preferences
- new marketing and company content
As planning, design and programming progress, we may document specific features that are out of scope, and slate those for future releases.
