Make a Plan
The final result of the Advise and Plan period is a comprehensive project plan. This plan should cover the following:

• Business Objectives – Details how the proposed website will add meaningful value to the client’s business objectives and fulfill identified success requirements
• User Centric Objectives – Details what the identified user needs are and how they proposed website will address them
• Resource Needs - Details on what resources will be required to fulfill the scope
• Project Schedule - A project schedule that identifies major milestones and interdependencies
• Technical Specifications – Provides the team a list of each identified technical requirement and how it will be addressed
• Project Risk Analysis – Review of identified project risks (dependencies, time restraints, technical risks, etc.), escalation path for communication and resolution, and a list of possible contingencies.

Sticking to the Plan
The waterfall method of project planning is great to keep a project moving forward. Its defining characteristic is there is no “back flow” to revisit previous steps. All actions are focused on moving the project towards completion.

A criticism of the waterfall method of is that it assumes that the team knows precisely what the project needs at the beginning during the planning phase. In reality, many times during the later phases of the project, new information is discovered which creates a desire to change the overall project objectives.

Unfortunately, the scope, budget and resource planning of the project are determined during the early Strategy stage. Changing the project plan in the middle of the project can often have repercussions on budget, resource management, and timeline.

If a potential change to the scope arises during the course of a project, its value-add will need to be weighed against its cost.

Here are a few questions that are good to review when a situation arises where the team wants to substantially change the project direction:

• What has changed that has made previous decisions and priorities invalid? The project plan should be based on the client’s business objectives and end users. Have those things changed?
• Is the new situation a reaction to something? Reactionary decisions tend to be bad ones. That is why a company’s business goals and mission statement are held sacred; a steady course ensures success.

Interactive Strategist: If possible, an interactive strategist should be engaged who is experienced reviewing research data and establishing insights which can be turned into tactical recommendations.

Features and Functionality Matrix
After determining the needs of the audience, the project team creates a list of what functionality and services the website should provide to help the user successfully complete their tasks. These tasks can range from finding a specific piece of information, completing a transaction, downloading an asset, uploading a file, creating an account, or countless other activities.

A “features and functionality” matrix is a list of the tasks that the target audience wants to complete and the recommended solution that will allow the user to accomplish that task. This helps the information architect know what kind of functionality needs to be present in their plans and what technology the developer team will need to accommodate.

Design Brief
This is a document generated by the design team. After taking in the client’s brand requirements and the messaging goals of the project, the design brief will describe the creative approach they will take with the project.

The document is often focused on the desired reaction will be to the design – not specific, tactical aesthetic decisions. It will put into words the designer’s mind set when approaching the “blank canvas” of the design phase and where they hope to end up. What emotions and inspirations they hope to create in the end user. It will not attempt to detail design execution at a strategic level (font usage, color, etc.).

This document is only meant to give the rest of the team, including the client, a peek into how the designer feels about the visual execution of the project. It also allows the client to determine if the designer has absorbed the client’s brand culture in a way that meshes with the larger brand direction.

Content Strategy
This document is meant to relate the chosen theme and core message that needs to be woven throughout the website content. It also details the voice and tone in which this message will be delivered. At times, the different goals for the separate audience types will dictate their own variation of the content implementation, but there should be an overall, unifying strategy.

The content strategy document may also detail what content is currently available in a matrix audit. This matrix can list out all the webpages or pieces of content and detail the following:

• Revise, edit or delete the content
• What content needs to be created
• Who is responsible for each piece of content
• When should it be refreshed (daily, weekly , monthly, yearly)
• If the content comes from external source, identify the source
  

Technical Specifications
The technical specifications connect and synthesize all the strategic research and functional planning.

This can include:

• The system’s current state and desired state
• Servers being used
• Coding platform
• CMS system
• Website functionality
• Database schema and table definitions
• Quality assurance plan
• Documentation process
• Feasibility Studies
• Performance Requirements
• End user technical profile (operating system, browser spec, screen resolution, bandwidth)
• Glossary of definitions

Technical and Functional Specifications Example 40kb

Strategy Brief
This is the master document. It is the summation of the Strategy phase with documentation of all analysis, recommendations, and project plans. It also traditionally contains various appendixes of data gathered during the process as a way of showing the validity of the plan’s recommendations.
Sample Strategy Brief 4.1mb