Protect Yourself: Predict Your Production Costs
Only on infrequent occasions do I come across stakeholders on ambitious streaming video projects who strongly resist planning a comprehensive road map to guide 生产. 在这里, the term "生产" could refer to an actual video 生产, 比如现场直播, or the 生产 of custom software or services that a client wants to put into place. With a well-planned project, this road map enables you to achieve several key objectives:
- 为项目创建里程碑
- 确定必要的百家乐软件对于这个项目
- 围绕每个里程碑计划冲刺
- 预测项目的成本 完成
没有这些部件到位, a project’s budget is entirely up the air, and cost overruns are much more likely to occur. The most common reasons that stakeholders refuse to commit to the thoughtful process of planning are the following:
- 恐慌和焦虑: 发布时间 was yesterday, and the 生产 just needs to start now.
- 浪费性支出: The time and resources needed to build out a comprehensive plan could be better spent on actual 生产.
- Perception of management and management tasks: Those assigned to a project should be able to map out their own tasks and plans without management or oversight.
If these reasons sound sensible to you, you are most likely in the position of being a single stakeholder. In my nearly 30 years of experience in business, the scenario in which planning is rushed and/or overlooked occurs when one person is making all stakeholder and product owner decisions. 这个利益相关者可能 also be funding the effort entirely from his or her own pocket, with no other investor(s) involved to weigh in or demand proper due diligence.
I’ve written about the importance of planning and discovery in prior columns (see "The 9 Starter Questions to Answer Before Creating a Live Stream," but I want to stress that there’s an inherent risk for any vendor participating in a 生产 that is not planned. If goals and milestones aren’t agreed upon and mapped out, you run the risk of not knowing who’s accountable for what, and your liability risk is much higher than it should be.
So what can you do to protect yourself, either as a well-informed stakeholder or a vendor/resource participating in a 生产?
- 从发现开始. Get on board by spending whatever time is necessary to gather all of the business requirements, 和文档, 文档, 文档. The more organized you are, the better. Agree early on which tools will be used by the team to coordinate activities, tasks, and schedules.
- 聘用熟练的经理. Managers don’t need to know all of the technical details, but they need to be brought in at the start of a project and kept on through the end. They need to be empowered to allocate the resources necessary for the job.
- 指定产品负责人. In software development and scrum development, the product owner is responsible 的用户 intended 生产 result, as well as for representing the interests of 涉众.
- Estimate budgets as finely as possible. Do your best to outline all resource allocations to complete each milestone.
- 保持一个可预测的时间表. For longer projects, make sure there is consistency week to week. Don’t skip or cancel regular meetings, as the velocity of the project 会受到影响.
- 经常汇报你的工作进度. Keeping stakeholders and product owners informed of the status of the project is never a bad idea, even if progress is slower than expected. At minimum, send a report once a week, and include the burn rates of the resources involved.
- 保持更改订单的检查. Even the best laid plans will need to adjust to changes in project scope. 如果范围改变了, get key resources on the project to weigh in on the repercussions of change orders with respect to time and budget. Be aware of “scope creep” when small changes start to accumulate and add significant time to the original extent of the work.
- 保持专业性. Longer 生产 cycles with multiple vendors can often create an atmosphere of finger-pointing when results aren’t being produced on schedule or on budget. Do your best to address conflicts head-on in a constructive manner that seeks an efficient resolution to the problem without assigning blame.
These pointers are just the start to a successful project plan—and every project has a unique combination of business requirements, 个性, 技能, 和预算. Making the various factors all work together is not always an 简单的任务. The time and effort you spend on planning will serve your interests well.