🌐 Rethinking Web Project Management with Stakeholder Radar Mapping

📍 Project Overview

I led a reflective research initiative aimed at uncovering systemic issues and improvement opportunities within Doe-Anderson’s approach to managing website projects. Using a facilitated radar mapping method, I collaborated with fellow project managers to visualize team pain points, priorities, and questions across the entire project lifecycle.

  • Role: Lead Researcher & Facilitator
  • Duration: 2 weeks
  • Tools Used: Radar Mapping, Stakeholder Interviews, Miro, Affinity Grouping
  • Team: 3 project managers (peer-led)
  • Focus: Organizational Design, Team Operations, Design Research

❓ The Problem

Web-based projects were widely recognized as painful, chaotic, and consistently over budget—to the point that internal staff actively avoided them. Despite multiple attempts at process optimization, there was no shared understanding of where things were breaking down or how to fix them.

“Everyone knows this doesn’t work—but no one is owning the solution.”

🔍 Research & Discovery

I organized and facilitated a radar exercise with fellow PMs. Each participant was asked to reflect on their experience managing website projects across seven dimensions:

  • What’s Not Working
  • Pain Points
  • Opportunities
  • Questions
  • What Makes Things Easier
  • What’s Working
  • Concerns & Challenges

Participants had experience ranging from 4 months to 15 years and provided both critical and constructive insights. I intentionally positioned myself to emphasize systems-level observations and emerging patterns.

🧠 Key Insights from Analysis

  • Structural Issues: Lack of leadership and role clarity was consistently cited. The absence of dedicated website leads or standardized blueprints caused constant confusion.
  • Process Gaps: Missing wireframes, unclear sprint planning, and poor handoffs from sales to PMs were recurring friction points.
  • Communication Breakdowns: PMs were frequently excluded from key meetings, leading to misalignment and lost context.
  • Team Dynamics: Creatives were frequently pulled from web work, undermining momentum. Teams often worked in silos or were “at each other’s throats.”
  • Tool Friction: Wrike, while helpful, was overcomplicated—leading to task overload and timeline slippage.

One participant asked: “Have we ever finished a website on time and on budget?”

💡 Synthesis & Recommendations

I synthesized radar inputs into actionable recommendations:

  1. Create a Dedicated Website Project Role: Empower a single leader to own these projects from kickoff to launch.
  2. Refactor the Blueprint: Redesign Wrike templates and workflows specifically for website project needs, including wireframe and UX checkpoints.
  3. Standardize Resourcing and Sprint Planning: Add clear scoping protocols and cross-functional briefings upfront.
  4. Design a Web-Specific Training Guide: Equip PMs and team members with aligned vocabulary, expectations, and strategies.
  5. Establish Rituals: Introduce retrospectives and cross-functional weekly check-ins as default—not optional.

✹ Outcomes

  • Surfaced unspoken frustrations and disconnected efforts within the org.
  • Created alignment across PMs and built buy-in for next-phase stakeholder mapping.
  • Set the foundation for a lightweight prototyping sprint to reimagine web project flow.
  • Sparked conversation around treating web work as strategic, not supplemental.

🔁 Reflections

This project was a deep dive into organizational empathy and designing for the internal user. By holding space for candid reflection, we surfaced the root causes of burnout and bottlenecks, and translated them into actionable prototypes.

“Sometimes the best design thinking isn’t flashy—it’s helping teams feel heard, seen, and supported.”