The Fast and the Functional: Pragma's Strategy for a Successful Website Rebuild
Time: Thursday 18th May 10:00-10:30
Room: Track 2
Track: Showcases & Project Management
This session is a must-see for professionals seeking to deliver high-impact and meaningful outcomes for their clients across both the public and private sectors.
Since 2020, Pragma has been engaged by a high-profile Australian government client to manage the maintenance and improvement of its public-facing GovCMS website.
More recently, when preparing to implement a new information architecture system and redesigned page layouts, Pragma saw an opportunity to completely overhaul the website and build it from scratch.
This came after Pragma’s evaluation of back-end functionality, user testing, and content review identified significant opportunities to reduce site complexity, align with best-practice standards, and significantly improve the user experience.
But before Pragma could start, there was a challenge: how to convince the client to rebuild their whole website.
Pragma had to develop a strong, evidence-based pitch to get the client on board. It had to show the client that not only would a rebuild improve the end-user experience, it would have significant business benefits. It would enhance the back-end user experience and publishing processes, and reduce technical debt and site issues.
After successfully gaining support from the client and additional project funding, Pragma had only three months to build a new GovCMS website from the ground up, incorporating a whole new design system, redesigned information architecture and multiple interactive features.
In this session Pragma share insights into:
- How the team was able to pitch the website rebuild, get client buy-in, and secure extra project funding to stand up an additional agile team
- How the uplift was conducted, from project kick-off through to go-live
- The team’s biggest challenges and wins across management, development, design and content streams.
Using real-life examples, Pragma will share practical ways to effectively advocate for change with clients.
Since 2020, Pragma has been engaged by a high-profile Australian government client to manage the maintenance and improvement of its public-facing GovCMS website.
More recently, when preparing to implement a new information architecture system and redesigned page layouts, Pragma saw an opportunity to completely overhaul the website and build it from scratch.
This came after Pragma’s evaluation of back-end functionality, user testing, and content review identified significant opportunities to reduce site complexity, align with best-practice standards, and significantly improve the user experience.
But before Pragma could start, there was a challenge: how to convince the client to rebuild their whole website.
Pragma had to develop a strong, evidence-based pitch to get the client on board. It had to show the client that not only would a rebuild improve the end-user experience, it would have significant business benefits. It would enhance the back-end user experience and publishing processes, and reduce technical debt and site issues.
After successfully gaining support from the client and additional project funding, Pragma had only three months to build a new GovCMS website from the ground up, incorporating a whole new design system, redesigned information architecture and multiple interactive features.
In this session Pragma share insights into:
- How the team was able to pitch the website rebuild, get client buy-in, and secure extra project funding to stand up an additional agile team
- How the uplift was conducted, from project kick-off through to go-live
- The team’s biggest challenges and wins across management, development, design and content streams.
Using real-life examples, Pragma will share practical ways to effectively advocate for change with clients.
Speakers
Emily Mills
Emily is a Managing Consultant at Canberra-based consultancy Pragma Partners, specialising in running digital product and services for high-profile government clients.
Emily is currently leading an agile multi-disciplinary team of development, design and content professionals. She has also led user research, content audit, and strategy advice for a range of Australian government agencies.
With a background in communications and marketing, Emily uses these skills to work collaboratively with her clients to understand their needs and deliver impactful and meaningful solutions.
Emily is a member of the Canberra Women in ICT committee and winner of the organisation’s 2022 Defying Gravity Award. In this role, Emily works to raise the profile of women in the ICT industry and show other young women that there are many diverse and rewarding careers in the technology industry.
Emily is currently leading an agile multi-disciplinary team of development, design and content professionals. She has also led user research, content audit, and strategy advice for a range of Australian government agencies.
With a background in communications and marketing, Emily uses these skills to work collaboratively with her clients to understand their needs and deliver impactful and meaningful solutions.
Emily is a member of the Canberra Women in ICT committee and winner of the organisation’s 2022 Defying Gravity Award. In this role, Emily works to raise the profile of women in the ICT industry and show other young women that there are many diverse and rewarding careers in the technology industry.
Additional speakersAlex Monaghan
Alex is a software developer at Canberra-based consultancy Pragma Partners.
Working with high-profile, national clients in the Drupal GovCMS environment, Alex is driven by a desire to create top quality solutions for any problem.
Most recently, Alex has worked to deliver a large-scale digital uplift project for a high-profile Australian government website. He played an integral role in building a new GovCMS website from the ground up, working to reduce site complexity and improve user experience.
Alex has a Bachelor of Software Engineering and Computer Science, and a Diploma of Information Technology. He has diverse experience across the technology landscape, including web development and software design, data science, AI and Machine Learning, and visual and interactive computing.
Alex is a software developer at Canberra-based consultancy Pragma Partners.
Working with high-profile, national clients in the Drupal GovCMS environment, Alex is driven by a desire to create top quality solutions for any problem.
Most recently, Alex has worked to deliver a large-scale digital uplift project for a high-profile Australian government website. He played an integral role in building a new GovCMS website from the ground up, working to reduce site complexity and improve user experience.
Alex has a Bachelor of Software Engineering and Computer Science, and a Diploma of Information Technology. He has diverse experience across the technology landscape, including web development and software design, data science, AI and Machine Learning, and visual and interactive computing.