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