The Guide from MultiLingual Computing & Technology PROJECT MANAGEMENT #63 Supplement April/May 2004 3 TheThe HubHub ofof thethe WheelWheel WillemWillem StoellerStoeller 7 WorkingWorking WithWith thethe ClientClient toto EnsureEnsure aa SuccessfulSuccessful ProjectProject ClaireClaire IngramIngram 10 FourFour TranslationTranslation ProjectProject ManagementManagement ToolsTools ThomasThomas WaßmerWaßmer 15 ProjectProject Churn:Churn: CountingCounting thethe CostCost KennethKenneth McKethan,McKethan, Jr.Jr. contents contents 17 ProjectProject ManagementManagement ChecklistChecklist JeffJeff AllenAllen 18 LPMLPM Best Best PracticesPractices SurveySurvey 19 BestBest PracticesPractices BuildBuild SolidSolid ProjectsProjects MLCMLC Research Research GETTING GUIDE GUIDE STARTED GETTING GUIDE STARTED PROJECT MANAGEMENT Project Management MultiLingual Computing & Technology in the Localization Industry Editor-in-Chief, Publisher Donna Parrish Project management (PM) as a concept has been around as long as there have been Managing Editor Laurel Wagers projects. Or, more likely, it developed after the first project limped to a less-than-stellar Translation Department Editor Jim Healey completion. At any rate, PM is a well-established concept with a wide variety of applica- Copy Editor Cecilia Spence tions. A search for books on PM listed with Amazon returned 6,297 results. Research Jerry Luther, David Shadbolt So why are we talking about it here? Certainly there are sound principles and prac- News Kendra Gray, Becky Bennett tices of PM that apply to localization projects, but there are aspects of translation and Illustrator Doug Jones localization projects that bring additional concerns and requirements. Perhaps it is a Production Sandy Compton sign of maturation in our industry that we are now discussing best practices for local- ization project management (LPM). A search for books on LPM listed with Amazon Photographer Aric Spence returned no results. Editorial Board Willem Stoeller sees the localization PM as the hub of the project wheel, responsible Jeff Allen, Henri Broekmate, Bill Hall, for defining and controlling the project. He outlines the critical factors for a project’s suc- Andres Heuberger, Chris Langewis, cess in the introductory article of this supplement. The importance of beginning with good information is described by Claire Ingram. Ken Lunde, John O’Conner, The old adage of “garbage in/garbage out” has never been more apt than with localiza- Mandy Pet, Reinhard Schäler tion projects. Advertising Director Jennifer Del Carlo As localization and translation projects have grown, our more technical friends have Advertising Kevin Watson, Bonnie Merrell responded with some interesting PM tools. In this supplement, Thomas Waßmer reviews four of them. More resource tools are listed on page 14. Webmaster Aric Spence Kenneth McKethan, Jr., talks about the true cost of project churn — the changes in Interns Rael Ammon, Kyle Elsasser project schedule and scope. This is something that we are all painfully aware of but have Advertising: [email protected] probably not had the courage to quantify. www.multilingual.com/advertising How large is your localization service supplier? How big does it claim to be? Jeff Allen 208-263-8178 gives us a checklist of questions for a localization manager to ask the small to medium- Subscriptions, customer service, back issues: sized vendors. The questions also work well as a self-test for these vendors. [email protected] For this supplement, we worked with Karen Combe to survey project managers on both the client and vendor sides of localization. We asked them for their priority items in www.multilingual.com/subscribe different categories of PM. Controlling updates was the universal hot issue. The two most 208-263-8178 common nightmares were the chronically under-budgeted project and the impossible-to- Submissions: [email protected] meet schedule. You can see the results and some of the comments on pages 18 and 19 and Editorial guidelines are available at more at www.multilingual.com/LPMSurvey www.multilingual.com/editorialWriter —Donna Parrish, Publisher Reprints: [email protected] 208-263-8178 This guide is published as a supplement to MultiLingual Computing & Technology, the magazine about language technology, localization, Web globalization Jeff Claire Kenneth Willem Thomas and international software development. Allen Ingram McKethan, Jr. Stoeller Waßmer JEFF ALLEN is integrated project manager and knowledge manager of the Product Division of Mycom International. He is also a member of the MultiLingual Computing & Technology editorial board. He can be reached at [email protected] CLAIRE INGRAM is Wordbank’s assistant director of production and can be reached at [email protected] KENNETH MCKETHAN, JR., a globalization project manager for IBM’s Tivoli divi- sion, can be reached at [email protected] authors authors WILLEM STOELLER is a certified project management professional and a vice- president at Welocalize. He can be reached at [email protected] MultiLingual Computing, Inc. THOMAS WAßMER works in Mainz, Germany, with the Chemistry Education 319 North First Avenue Network as a science educator, multimedia developer and Web designer. Besides his Sandpoint, Idaho 83864 USA employment, he works as a freelance translator, software reviewer and information 208-263-8178 • Fax: 208-263-6310 specialist. He can be reached at http://infotom.com [email protected] www.multilingual.com 2 GETTING PROJECT MANAGEMENT GUIDE STARTED TheThe HubHub ofof thethe WheelWheel Willem Stoeller Control Qua What really is localization project man- lity particular, to be an outstanding professional, the agement? First, some concepts. Let’s look at LPM needs to be able to create and maintain p s a es M a formal and somewhat dry definition of m r o energy in the project team and to foster cre- d og n localization project management. a r i ativity among the team members. In other o P to R k r “Localization is the process of c words, a good LPM needs to be a coach to e a R & n r adapting and manufacturing a prod- i i a team. Often these qualities are over- f T s M e k a r & uct so that it has the look and feel of s looked, and the focus tends to be on the D n e L a nationally manufactured piece of o g a analytical techniques. The latter are a g D c goods. Thus, localization is the piece a n e essential but not sufficient. Without the e li a f z M of the global business puzzle that in ati t communication and coaching skills a e on Projec enables companies to do business in & project will never be an outstanding one. C markets outside of their home market.” o s Let’s return to the LPM as the hub of n ion (The Localization Primer, LISA) tro tat the localization wheel and see when and l S ec “A project is a temporary endeavor co Exp where each of the five major activities come into pe Manage undertaken to achieve a particular aim. Projects play. We will do that in the context of a localiza- differ from operations in that operations are tion project management model. ongoing and repetitive while projects are tem- Localization project management activi- porary and unique.” (Project Management has graphical user interface and message local- ties and phases include the following: Institute, ©2002) ization and testing, help localization, docu- The Statement of Work (SOW) Form- When we put it all together, localization mentation localization and often marketing ulation phase provides project stakeholders with project management is the application of collateral localization. Many of the localization a clear understanding of what needs to be done knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to activities for these four components take place in terms of requirements, constraints and localization project activities in order to meet in parallel with many dependencies among assumptions and the project objectives. In the project requirements. them. For example, screenshots for the manual typical client-vendor relationship, the SOW is Now let’s look at a more dynamic view. can only be taken once the sample data has the proposal from the vendor written in The accompanying graphic shows the localiza- been localized and once the software has been response to a Request For Proposal by the client. tion project manager (LPM) as the hub of the localized and tested. The main focus here is on what needs to be localization wheel. These capabilities of planning and tracking done — the scope of work. How did localization project management are no longer enough to be an outstanding LPM The Project Approval phase is the official evolve over time? Initially, LPMs were mainly in today’s economic environment. The com- starting point of the localization project with a expediters and file movers. They worked in a plexity of many localization projects (large cor- committed contract. This phase also provides pre-planned environment, and their entire porate Web sites with interactive components, the LPM with the authorization to start the focus was moving files to be localized from the multitier enterprise applications, e-learning project. In the client-vendor relationship this is client through translation, editing and desktop content and so on) and additional job pressures the point in time when the proposal becomes a publishing and back to the client. Projects were — such as poorly understood or shifting local- contractual agreement to perform certain local- small; they required few, serial localization activ- ization requirements, the need for simultaneous ization services. ities and used well-understood, simple technol- shipment (simship) of localized product, the The Project Initiation phase provides infor- ogy. A good example would be the translation of focus on return on localization investment and mation on how to do the project, when the proj- a small manual. The activities are mainly trans- finally a very competitive environment — force ect can be completed and how much the project late, edit, correct layout and review. These are all the LPM to be foremost a communicator.