academic agility: navigating higher education web development

Academic Agility: Navigating Higher Education Web

Development

Ryan Dellolio

Given at eduWEB 2011, San Antonio, TXAugust 1, 2011

Web Program ManagerColumbian College of Arts and Sciences

The George Washington University

Adjunct LecturerDepartment of Information Systems

School of BusinessThe George Washington University

&

Tips, tricks, observations, and lessoned at The George Washington University in Washington, DC.

Overview GWU Overview Pose a question Pose a revision to that question Establish necessity of answering question What makes academia different when it comes to

web management Why be agile? Tale of two projects Staffing

The George Washington University1821 University founded

25,000 Total students at all locations

4 Campuses

225,000 Alumni worldwide

10 Colleges and Schools

Web Activity at GW

University

Colleges

Departments

Research Centers & Institutes

ColumbianCollege ofArts & Sciences

500+ faculty and researchers

3000 students

100+ staff

University’s largest academic unit

Africana StudiesAmerican StudiesAnthropologyApplied Quantitative Risk AnalysisArt TherapyBiochemistryBiological SciencesBiomedical SciencesBiostatisticsChemistryClassical and Semitic Languages and LiteraturesClassical ActingCounselingEarly Modern European StudiesEast Asian Languages and LiteraturesEconomicsEnglishEnvironmental StudiesEnvironmental Resource PolicyEpidemiologyFilm Studies

Fine Arts and Art HistoryForensic SciencesGeographyGeological SciencesGenomics and BioinformaticsGlobal CommunicationsHistoryHominid PaleobiologyInterior DesignJudaic StudiesLinguisticsMathematicsMedia and Public AffairsMedicine, Society and CultureMuseum StudiesMusicOrganizational Sciences and CommunicationPhilosophyPhysicsPolitical ScienceProfessional Psychology

PsychologyPublic Policy and Public AdministrationReligionRomance, German, Slavic Languages and LiteraturesSociologySpeech and Hearing SciencesStatisticsTheatre and DanceUniversity Writing ProgramWomen's Studies

50+ Departments and Programs

Brochureware

Information Management

Web Services

Research

Classroom Resources

Other

Web Properties

Our organization

Web Program Management

Web Program Manager

Content and Content Strategy

Web Content Producer

Marketing & Social Media

Director

DevelopmentWeb

DesignerWeb

DeveloperWeb

DeveloperProject Analyst

IT Program Management“Dotted line” to IT group

Columbian Web Landscape

35+ department

websites

4+ online collaboration

tools

15+ program websites

30+ wikis and other

online research

tools

14+ dept/prog

blogs

15+ online tools and

mgt. systems

500,000+pageviews / month

• New development• Redevelopment• Information architecture• Web marketing• Social media• Web strategy and consulting

Our Pipeline

How can University staff navigate the delicate balance between their requirements and available resources?

Higher education…

Higher Impact

Higher Reward

Higher Cause

Higher Risk?

Higher education…

Higher Stress

Higher Volume

Higher Expectations

Higher Bureaucracy

The “everyday” viewRequirement Solution“The Department of Religion needs an informational website”

Meet with stakeholders to design website, implement in CMS, coordinate content, and launch.

“The Physics Department’s website needs to integrate with an online data analysis tool for current students and interested non-affiliated researchers”

Establish capabilities of current website, integrate into existing CMS or build custom functionality for integration, and launch.

“The Center for Economic Research’s new website needs to make its research internationally available through RePEc (Research Papers in Economics)”

Meet with stakeholders to design website, implement in CMS, build in RePEc XML output, coordinate content, and launch.

The “academic” viewRequirement Solution“The Department of Religion needs an informational website”

What other design & CMS assets exist that we can apply to the Dept. of Religion?


Who else in the University is using tools like this? Plot as future functionality.

“The Center for Economic Research needs to make its research internationally available through RePEc (Research Papers in Economics)”

One-off RePEc solution, faculty sponsored or dept sponsored.

The too oft-seen realityRequirement Solution“The Department of Religion needs an informational website”

What other projects are going on that we can group together with this one? Who else needs a website and why the Dept. of Religion?


Can our current systems support this? Has someone in the department already integrated in a one-off solution (probably yes!)

“The Center for Economic Research needs to make its research internationally available through RePEc (Research Papers in Economics)”

Let’s build RePEc functionality on a separate system as the central system(s) do not support custom XML out.

How can University staff navigate the delicate balance between their requirements, available resources and the unique challenges of the higher education arena?

Why Academia is Different 1

Web is traditionally seen as far from the core mission

Where is the web in relation to a university's core mission?


“The George Washington University, an independent academic institution chartered by the Congress of the United States in 1821, dedicates itself to furthering human well-being. The University values a dynamic, student-focused community stimulated by cultural and intellectual diversity and built upon a foundation of integrity, creativity, and openness to the exploration of new ideas. The George Washington University, centered in the national and international crossroads of Washington, D.C., commits itself to excellence in the creation, dissemination, and application of knowledge.”

Competition in Academia

• Enrollment competition is only one piece of the puzzle

• Competition extends to:o Student attention to university news and eventso Alumni participation and developmento Prestige, online and off lineo Academic attention on the weboUse of in-house services vs. the wild west

How to respondEvaluation criteria must always be comprehensive

• Management costs• Development resources• In-house expertise• Availability needs• Budget• TCO• Impact on “creation, dissemination, and

application of knowledge”


Lack of quality control feedback loops

How to respondBake people, process and technology into existing bureaucratic structures, establishing web governance.

• “Strategy, not sparring”• Educate upwards

ScenariosScenario Governance Example

No web management organization Website checklist or website guidelines

Integrated web management organization (e.g. ‘Web Guy’ on comm staff)

Monthly web sync meetings with non-web staff incl. non-comm staff

Small web management organization, lack of formal procedures, standards, and systems

Codified web checkpoints, goals and metrics. Monthly web sync meetings with non-web staff incl. non-comm staff

Mid-to-large size web management organization, formal procedures, standards and systems

Weekly web sync meetings, matrix organization of resources to distribute skills and productivity

Small decentralized web management groups (e.g. ‘web guys all around’, blend of formal and non-formal procedures, standards and systems

Weekly web sync meetings, codification of web practices and standards. Design/style guidelines, assets & themes pool


Non hierarchical structures

How to respondWe must redesign our use cases and think outside the box. Consider:

• Current students browsing admissions sites• Prospective students browsing information for current

students• Prospective partner institutions browsing information

for current students• Prospective students browsing internal department

websites• “Navigation-phobia” – the chronic Googlers• Entrance paths that often defy logic

“Agility” summarizes how best to respond to this environment.

Break the waterfall, be agile!

Building the Web at the pace of research

Requirements

Analysis

Design

Implementation

Validation

The traditional systems development lifecycle is not well suited to most higher education web projects

A comparison

• We’ve seen improvement in nearly every metric by adopting development agility.

Better

• More requirements scoped and met, we can innovate• User satisfaction increases

Faster

• Deadlines are exceeded• More QA time

Cheaper

• Agility reduces resource drain• Costly requirements changes can be accommodated

Agile software development is necessary but not sufficient

Agility is also…

“the gracefulness of a person or animal that is quick and nimble”

“the power of moving quickly and easily; nimbleness”

Source: Princeton WordNet

Source: Random House Dictionary

The group tasked with web management must also be

organizationally agile

What must be nimble?

• our websites• our access mechanisms• our integration needs• our environments,• our present and future requirements

What’s moving? (or: why must we be nimble?)

• departments, programs, institutes• bureaucracy• research interests• faculty members• staff• research itself• priorities

“Agile Abe”

Manifestation of Agility 1

Recognize the web is more than a marketing tool.

Marketing Mindset

Misplaced metrics

Poor Design

Decisions

User experience

suffers

Enrollment push Marketing is

just one component of a successful web strategy


Lose control.

Full control is difficult in the academic community, and misguided

• Empowerment vs. limitation• Governance vs. government• Guiding vs. requiring• Advising vs. insisting


Let strategic tools foster positive outcomes

Consider:

• Intuitive newsletter generator• A CMS that makes it easy to edit and

understand• Web services model

Lagrangian points of multi-site management

“One of five points in the plane of orbit of one body around another (e.g., the moon around the earth) at which a small third body can remain stationary with respect to both.”

Source: OxfordSource: NASA JPL

Stability through agility is:

• Responding to changing requirements with repeatable processes

• Allowing innovation to occur within the fold• Fostering intra-University relationships even if they do

not yield desired end results• Fostering extra-University relationships of cooperation

and collaboration

This does not mean keep your web operations stationary. It means keep them stable.

A tale of two projectsInternational Art Therapy Research Database

Abstract: Art Therapy Program needs an advanced collaboration platform for content management and delivery , spearheading international Art Therapy research.

Statistics Department Website Overhaul

Abstract: Statistics Department has an old (4+ years) website and needs a fresh one with fresh content, that’s easily updated and conforms to University design templates.

• Common infrastructure• Common helpdesk• Common student content-entry support• Common authentication system• Stability through agility made both projects a success.

How we’ve found our Lagrangian point

• Project-based matrix organization of technical resources

• Formal issue and project tracking• Standard intake process• Single front door• Common methodology, design parameters

and principles• Assets for those who can utilize them

How we’ve found our Lagrangian point

• Out-of-box repeatable solutions including:– Content management systems (Drupal)– Research collaboration tools (Wikis)– Hosting infrastructure (LAMP)– Information architectures– Content templates

• Student “army” with standard on-boarding procedures

• Central authentication management

Output

Process

ContentTech.

Holistic approach to web management

With 100+ websites, dozens of applications & countless organizations to support, there are few alternative approaches.

Finding your Lagrangian point (small/limited web management)

• Identify sources of technical expertise, and make contributions repeatable

• Codify processes, make them repeatable• Embrace ‘web as a platform’ for common tasks• Factor people, process, technology into large

projects (e.g. contractor-supported web overhaul)

• Ask: Does every request/new requirement have a path to completion?

Finding your Lagrangian point (larger web management group)

• What are our common pitfalls and how can we empower our constituents to avoid them?– “____ Department always produces poor quality

newsletter or webpages”– “Our technology consultation costs have

skyrocketed”– “University leadership imposes strict visual

guidelines”– “Our in-house IT team can’t keep up with changing

technologies”

Finding your Lagrangian point (larger web management group)

• How can we structure our processes?– Single front door– Issue tracking– Knowledge base

• What does our organization look like?

Dir/VP of Comm.

Web Developer

Web Designer

Content Creator

Web Manager

How are new projects chosen?How are new technologies chosen?Which comes first, content or function?How agile will this group be on the web?

Compare to

CIO

Web Developer

Web Designer

Content Creator

Web Manager


Compare to

Dir/VP of Comm

Comm Staff

Comm Staff

Web Developer

Web Designer

Content Creator


52 informational sites, 1200+ pages at last audit

It is a privilege to work on the web.

Contact

Ryan DellolioThe George Washington UniversityWashington, [email protected](202) 994-5497

academic agility: navigating higher education web development

Technology