Multimedia Project

Management
Multimedia application development lifecycle

• Most similarities can be found with the software

development lifecycle
• computers involved – the product itself is software
• requirements often vague and unstable
• Important differences:
• both technical and creative/artistic parts are present, with
creative/artistic aspect often more important
• special equipment – interface/conversion problems
• prototyping is a must
Phases

•conceptualization and planning

•design and prototyping
•production
•testing
•distribution and follow-up
•and (of course) management
Management

• phase 0, because it …
• spans all other phases, including activities such as:
• planning
• estimation
• control
• resource management
• documenting
Business Plan

• Defines objectives and means to achieve these

objectives
• Analyze and define
• finances
• markets
• products
• distribution channels
• key employees
• Develop a business model
Project Management

• Planning, estimating, monitoring, controlling, and

coordinating resources
• finances
• people
• material resources (equipment, tools, materials, ...)
• content
• in order to achieve the project objective
• Most important variables: time, cost, quality
Multimedia project management

• Traditional project management tasks

• Additionally, the manager of a multimedia project
must orchestrate different:
• technologies
• persons (with skills and personalities)
• resources
in a marketplace that is constantly evolving and
changing
Project plan

•A common document which should help all

interested parties to:
• understand the defined goal
• understand the way of attaining the goal
• follow the schedule
• cooperate with others
• use the resources (tools and content) properly
Finances

• Funding: the process of finding sources of capital to

develop your product
• Various types of funding:
• loans
• grants
• self-funding
• venture capital
• But each has good and bad sides.
People

•Many different specialties are required in

each phase of the project
•Both technical and artistic specialties are
needed
•They have different
• backgrounds (professional and cultural)
• skills and expertise
• personalities
Material resources

• Different types of resources

• Computer hardware and software
• Production equipment
• Content (existing and new)
• How to obtain them?
• Borrow
• Lease
• Purchase
• Make your own
Legal issues

• Securing sources of funding

• Licensing content and/or technology
• Hiring employees or contractors
• Drafting contracts
• Purchasing or leasing the necessary equipment, props, office
space
Phase 1: Conceptualization and Planning
• Every multimedia project begins
with an idea or concept
• The concept and the plan define a
project
• Planning should make the
realization of the concept as
straightforward as possible
The Kickoff Meeting

• Projects often start with a

meeting to discuss the
project direction and plan
• Usually only a group of key players
• Serves to create and unite the team
• Defines and/or clarifies goals, roles, expectations, and
strategies
Project Scope
•What are you making? … … the concept
•What is it for? … … the purpose
•What do you want to say? … … the message
•What will be used? … … the approach
Types of projects
• Electronic Books and • Interactive Music
Magazines • Interactive Movies
• Kiosks and • Interactive Art and
Information Centers Performance
• Multimedia Databases • Interactive Sales and
• Corporate Training Marketing
• Interactive Education • Presentations and
• Interactive Games Communications
Target Audience

•what is their background? (with respect to

age, education, gender, …)
•what are their preferences? (even those
prescribed by current fashion)
•are there some cultural and other constraints
to be observed?
•what equipment will they use to access your
product? (environment)
The Message

• What is the message that you want to convey to

your audience?
• All components of your project must be related to
its message
• Consistency
• Focusing
• Creativity
• Closely related to the “approach”
Market Research First …

• Identification:
• Is there a target audience at all?
• Is there significant competition?
• What could be our edge
in the marketplace?
• Classification
• business vs. consumer
• early adopters vs. lazy ones
… Technical Research Later

• Is it technically feasible to create a product that is

better, cheaper, more useful than anything else
available?
• Think about:
• Delivery media
• Installed base
• Storage capacity
• Speed
• Economy
Phase 2: Design

•Bridging the gap between

the audience and you
•Design should embody
concept, purpose, and messages
•Technology helps and is often indispensable –
but technology alone without the proper
design creativity cannot do the trick
Design goals

• Simplicity
• Consistency
• User involvement
• Affordability
• Fun, efficiency, timing
Simplicity

• Multimedia, by definition, includes user interaction

and exploration
• Note: prettiest designs may not be the simplest, nor
the easiest to use
• Good interaction design should instill a desire to go
on and find out more
• However, efficiency is always an issue
Consistency

• Primarily related to user interface (we will have

more to say about this)
• A good product should behave in a consistent
manner
• Consistency reduces learning time and reduces
chances for surprise, even with functions you have
never used before
• Increased familiarity translates into increased
productivity
User involvement

• Most people like to get “involved”

• Adding a human dimension to the communication
with a mindless machine
• People enjoy exploring and discovering new paths –
reward curiosity by designing depth
• Allow users to explore more than one level of
information – but only if they explicitly choose to do
so
Affordability

•Analyze what the users from

the target group can afford
•Different audience segments have
different amounts they are willing to
spend on a given product
•Design goal: accommodate as much as
possible within a given price range
Other qualities

•some applications can be fun to use (but

each user have his or her own definition of
what exactly is “fun”)
•user comprehension has its own pace – try to
be neither too fast, nor too slow
•performance is always an issue: but this is
predominantly a technical problem
Shaping the Design

• Often begins with a

brainstorming session
• a dynamic process of gathering
ideas and exploring possibilities
without judgement or constraint
• A good brainstorming session results in a collection of
ideas and solutions that become the foundation for
both the design and the prototype developed from it
Information Design
•How to organize and present information in a
clear, accurate, meaningful and useful form
•Includes the information in all media and their
visual interaction (to an extent)
Phase 3: Prototyping
• A limited implementation of a design
• Emphasizes exploration and
experimentation
• Prototyping helps simplify and improve
production process
• Often used as proof-of-concept and/or
testing purposes
• Multimedia applications must be
prototyped
Product Specifications
• A complete list of features that
covers structure and behavior of
the product should emerge from
the prototyping phase
• In multimedia, this means type and
amount of content, interface
characteristics, and interaction
Phase 4: Production

•Organizing people and resources

•Providing and producing content – text,
graphics, videos, sound, animation, VR
•Integrating all of the above into a
meaningful, coherent product
•Details of production related to different
media types will be covered in a separate
lecture
Organizing the Production Schedule

• Specification of all the tasks and their

interdependencies in sufficient detail
• Estimates should be made for each task (i.e., time and
effort/manpower)
• Appropriate resources should be allocated
• A number of milestones has to be established
• Main project goals must be established
• Deliverables: the product itself, documentation and
additional materials
Organizing People

• Responsibilities and roles should be clearly

delineated and defined
• Some people may take on different roles (well-
defined tasks are a must)
• Professional services should be used whenever
possible (at a cost)
• Remember: quality obtained is always proportional
to investment made
Organizing Production Resources

• Organizing resources: define what is required and a schedule

of its usage
• Equipment selection: based on the project script and on the
actual shooting location
• Major equipment has its own schedule, with each major
piece assigned to a person
• Compatibility issues must be resolved
Source Materials

• Source: any item containing media data that can be

used in our product
• Production may involve:
• creating new source materials,
• converting (re-purposing) existing materials,
• or (most often) both
• Source materials must be indexed and kept in order
(do not delete anything, never)
Selecting the Right Tools

•Most important criteria:

• Whether the production artists are familiar with
the tool(s) selected
• Whether the format used by the tool is
compatible with other tools
•Availability and cost may be important for
small projects: in large projects, the cost is
never a big part of the overall budget
Production Integration

•Integrating content elements: usually the

responsibility of programmer(s)
•Project manager must overview integration
•Project manager should make sure that no
content is forgotten or missing
•Problems of all types tend to multiply as the
delivery time is approaching
Style guide
• This is necessary in order to create a product with a
sense of integrity and unity
• Use of punctuation, grammatical conventions, use of jargons
• Samples, illustrations and templates for graphical layout
• Graphics production: standards used, layout templates
• Video production
• Sound production
• Conducting and attending production meetings
Documentation

• Different types of documentation may be needed,

depending on the project
• Both size and scope depend on the project and its
intended audience
• Mass audience requires the documentation to be as
simple as possible, together with additional materials
(getting started, tutorials, … )
• Narrow, well-educated audience require in-depth
coverage, description of more sophisticated functions
• Internet helps.
Phase 5: Testing

• Walking in user's shoes – before the user does so

• Main questions
• When to test
• What to test
• How to test
• When to stop testing
• But the crucial question is: can testing give us
complete confidence in the product?
More on testing

•Different types of testing: functional, content

testing, collateral materials testing, user
testing
•Different timing: alpha, beta, user testing
•Test plan with relevant information on
• schedule
• resources
• testing environment
• deliverables
Phase 6: Distribution

•Activities related to:

• Preparation and duplication of physical media
• Choosing distribution options and channels
• Marketing
• Sales
Marketing

•Public relations – press releases, press kits,

trade shows
•Promotions
•Advertising
•Meetings, presentations and negotiations
•Sales calls
•Product demonstrations
Phase 7: Follow-up

•Development wrap-up
•Maintenance
•Training
•Documentation
•Customer relations
•Pursuing additional opportunities
Development Wrap-up

•To determine the actual schedule and costs

and to compare them against the original
estimates
•To find out ways in which the process (and
subsequent products) could be improved
•In other words: how we did it, and what have
we learned by doing it (that could help us
fare better next time)
Customer Support

•Providing assistance to customers and clients

in response to specific problems and
inquiries
•Internet helps here, as well
•Main activities:
• maintenance
• training
•Multimedia titles generally need little
support
Maintenance Classification

•Maintenance: managing the operation and

use of a product once it has gone into
distribution
•Different classifications possible
• according to strategy (preventive vs. defensive)
• according to type of changes introduced
(corrective, perfective, or adaptive)
Training

•Teaching and educating an audience about

the purpose and use of a product
•Training equips users to be self-sufficient
with a product – reduces users’ need for
support
•Consequently, training should reduce the
cost of supporting the product
User Feedback
(What do they think of us?)
• mail-back registration cards
• online customer comment forms
• direct customer contact (e.g., by phone or email)
• press reviews; and
• sales statistics
Pursuing additional opportunities

• Some products are suitable for organizing user

groups – some are not:
• Oracle user group makes sense
• Encarta user group does not (why?)
• New versions or upgrades
• Reuse of the content material in a different
publishing medium
• Creation of companion products
Multimedia Project
Management