How to Choose the Right Approach for Large-Scale Projects
Adapt recently completed a large-scale migration project with Workhuman, a leader in cloud-based human capital management software solutions. Read on to see how we managed such a large-scale project
Our main goal was to take Workhuman’s previous CMS and create a comparable experience in a new system, this time without technical debt and the manual work of recreating large chunks of content. The actual execution of the project was an enjoyable challenge, and a large part of its success is thanks to our stellar Project Management team.For this piece, we talked with Adapt Project Managers, Sophia Inman and Keisha Card.
What was the main objective of this collaboration?
The main goal of the Workhuman corporate site project was to migrate the existing site, consisting of WordPress and Uberflip content, to Contentful. Because we like a challenge, we teamed up with the Workhuman folks to identify even more important and exciting goals like implementing a new design system, optimizing the site’s information architecture, customizing the content editing workflow, and creating a beautiful new component-based front end.
With a project of this breadth and depth, Project Managers (PMs) were crucial to keeping the Workhuman and Adapt teams organized at all levels and milestones, ensuring adequate documentation and communication, and keeping stakeholders involved and informed through the lifecycle of the project. PMs from both Workhuman and Adapt collaborated daily to cover all the bases from technical migration efforts, design and UX work, website development, content and SEO endeavors, and the QA and acceptance process. This group of PMs kept our ambitious project productive, upbeat, and on track.
How do Adapt’s Project Managers like to approach a collaboration like this?
We like to start from a collaborative, agile approach, with an emphasis on implementing Scrum to initiate and maintain effective processes. A project as ambitious as the Workhuman corporate site demands a large, diverse, and distributed team with many different stakeholders. We identified several different tracks, each of which had their respective owners and decision-makers: Migration, Creative, Development, and Content/SEO.We have a lot of tools and frameworks to make this project run as smoothly as possible, including:
Tools: Project and ticketing management, RACI and Gantt charts, Kanban boards, design and UX platforms like Figma, async communication tools like Slack
Methodologies and frameworks: Hybrid Methodology using Agile, Scrum, Kanban, and selected Waterfall components
Which methodology did Adapt use for this collaboration?
A hybrid methodology was the best choice for managing this large project because it combines the best of both the waterfall and agile methodologies. Waterfall methodologies are good for large, complex projects with a clear scope and defined deliverables while agile methodologies are great for projects with a lot of uncertainty and change. By using a hybrid methodology, we were able to take advantage of the strengths of both methodologies to successfully manage the project. The benefits of utilizing a hybrid methodology include:
Increased flexibility: We were able to easily adapt to changes in the project scope or requirements
Improved communication: The hybrid approach ensured that everyone involved in the project was kept informed and on the same page
Increased efficiency: We were able to use our time effectively, making the most of the project’s allotted time.
From the beginning, we introduced agile concepts and Scrum elements. We started by understanding the stakeholders’ needs and expectations. We intentionally used clear and concise language, aligned to terminology within the Scrum framework, to speed up the process of understanding. And, we provided examples of how the framework was used successfully in other projects of similar size and complexity. Providing evidence of successful frameworks is essential for getting the entire team on board.
We also collaborated with Adapt Denmark’s Design and UX teams to successfully deliver this project. As previously mentioned, we approached this by setting a Creative Track to manage the team’s work in parallel to the other tracks. This choice enabled the teams to work independently while targeting key intersections and handoffs to propel the other tracks toward their goals and ultimately resulted in the successful fulfillment of the project deliverables.In the end, we couldn’t be prouder of our team’s hard work and dedication to this project!Explore More: