How to Manage a Website Project

A website project needs enough management to make scope, decisions and risks visible, but not so much administration that progress stops. For a small business, a simple shared plan, named owners and regular acceptance checks are usually more effective than a complex project system no one maintains.

Establish five project controls

1. Scope: pages, functions, content and exclusions.
2. Schedule: milestones, dependencies and decision dates.
3. Responsibility: one owner for each deliverable and approval.
4. Change control: how new requests affect cost and time.
5. Acceptance: how the working result will be tested.

Create a deliverables register

Simple project register

Deliverable	Owner	Due	Acceptance evidence
Page map	Client and strategist	Date	Approved list and purpose of every page
Website copy	Writer and business reviewer	Date	Approved text with sources and status
Article template	Designer and developer	Date	Mobile, desktop and content-component test
Contact form	Developer and business owner	Date	Real submission received and stored correctly
Launch package	Developer	Date	Backup, redirects, access and rollback confirmed

Plan dependencies

Website work is not always sequential, but some tasks cannot finish before others:

• navigation depends on an agreed page map;
• page design depends on realistic content;
• migration depends on a content inventory and URL map;
• forms depend on business handling rules;
• launch depends on access, testing and approval.

If a dependency is late, change the plan openly rather than pretending the final deadline is unaffected.

Use short, decision-focused meetings

A regular project meeting should cover:

• what was completed;
• what is blocked;
• which decisions are required and by when;
• changes to scope, cost or schedule;
• the next acceptance point.

Record decisions after the meeting. Discussion is not approval.

Control changes

When a new request appears, record:

• what is being requested;
• why it is needed;
• whether it replaces or adds to existing scope;
• the cost and schedule effect;
• who approved it.

Not every good idea belongs in the first release. Keep a later-improvement list so useful suggestions are not lost.

Review working pages, not only mock-ups

Visual approval is only one part of acceptance. Test actual tasks:

• find a service from the home page;
• send an enquiry;
• complete a booking or test order;
• use the site on a narrow phone screen;
• navigate with a keyboard;
• update a page through the CMS;
• check that important old URLs redirect correctly.

Manage content as a production workflow

Each page should have a status such as:

• source material missing;
• drafting;
• fact review;
• business approval;
• entered into website;
• layout checked;
• ready for publication.

“Copy done” is too vague when the text has not been checked in the final layout.

Prepare launch as a controlled change

Before launch, confirm:

• a current backup and rollback route;
• domain, DNS and hosting access;
• redirects and sitemap;
• forms, payments and notifications;
• analytics and Search Console;
• privacy and cookie behaviour;
• the person monitoring the first day and week.

Close the project properly

The handover should include:

• all accounts and named users;
• source files and licences where applicable;
• backup and restoration information;
• update instructions;
• known limitations;
• support arrangements;
• a list of deferred improvements.

The next practical step is to create a single deliverables register and assign one owner and acceptance test to every item.