ektron london conference: managing responsive projects

Danny Freeman & Simon Asplin

Project Managers

Managing Responsive Projects

Copyright © 2013 Ektron, Inc.

Agenda

• What is a Responsive Project?

• Why go Responsive?

• When to go Responsive?

• Myths of Mobile Content

• Project Phases


What is a Responsive Project?

• Web pages that respond to screen

widths

• Delivers quality experience to desktop

computers, laptops, tablets, mobile

phones and now internet on your TV

• Using new CSS techniques, fluid grids,

flexible images and media queries


What is a Responsive Project?


Why go Responsive?

• High level of continuity between

different devices

• Same URLs for every device

• Not tied to specific devices

• The proliferation of smart phones and

tablets


PC vs Mobile

Source: comScore (02/13)


Where are people using mobile

devices? • 84% at home

• 80% during miscellaneous downtime throughout the day

• 76% while queuing / waiting for appointments

• 69% while shopping

• 64% at work

• 62% while watching TV (alt. study claims 84%)

• 47% during commute into work Luke Wroblewski. "Mobile Context Revisited." http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1333


Why go Responsive?


When to go Responsive?

• Difficult to retro-fit an existing design,

may be best to start from scratch

• Most appropriate when continuity

between different devices is a priority

for target audience

• Responsive design does not constitute

a mobile strategy


Myths of Mobile Content

• Mobile users are always distracted, in a

rush

• Mobile users really only need location

information.

• Mobile users wouldn’t be interested in

XYZ.


Project Phases

• Research and Strategy

• User Experience Planning

• Design

• Development


Project Phases - Waterfall


Project Phases – Agile


Research & Strategy

• Focus Groups

• Stakeholder Interviews

• Audience Interviews

• Site Audits

• MoSCoW / Timeline workshops

• Baseline Usability Tests


Things to consider

• The device does not necessarily imply a

context (stationary or mobile).

• There is a misconception that mobile

users want different things from your

website than desktop users do.

• Responsive design offers a high level of

continuity between different devices.

• You only need to develop, manage and

maintain one site and one content silo.


User Experience Planning

• Small screen sizes forces you to

prioritise.

• Slow connections and limited data

plans require you to be vigilant about

performance.

• Small touch targets lead to BIG

problems


Design

• Discuss and test the developers’

design recommendations.

• Review, design, build and repeat.

• This closes the gap between traditional

“design” and “development” cycles.


Development

• Developers act as UX designers.

• Close the communication gap across

the project team.

• Communicate to stakeholders how the

responsive design will work.

• Design within the constraints of the real

medium.


Testing…

• Real or virtual devices?

• What devices to support?

• Tools & devices

• Ektron V9

• Android emulator

• iOS emulator

• W3C MobileOK Checker


Testing…

• Testing and test preparations

• Orientation

• Touch

• Error reporting

• Regressions

• Budget – QA time should not be skimped

on!

• Collaborate with different teams and

work together to meet compromises


Implications for the Project

• Responsive design takes 20-30% longer

than a desktop-only site

• Reduces ongoing maintenance costs

compared to a stand-alone mobile site

• Major milestones are unchanged, but a

few new minor milestones are added

• Bulk of time increase will be in

development and testing


Implications for the PM

• Change makes people uncomfortable.

• UX and Design teams may feel out of control.

• Developers may feel overwhelmed by increased responsibilities.

• Requires a high degree of trust.

• The PMs role is to encourage, support, and promote conversation.

Danny Freeman & Simon Asplin

Project Managers

Questions

ektron london conference: managing responsive projects

Technology

mobile devices

mobile strategy

mobile phones

mobile context

mobile users wouldnt

rush mobile users

responsive projects

project phases research