Factors in Multimedia Project and Process Management--Australian Survey Findings

During 2005 we conducted a survey of Australian multimedia developers to gain an understanding of current development processes. As part of this study we asked respondents about their project management practices. Fifty percent of respondents indicated they used a commercial project management tool, while thirty-two percent used an in-house or customised approach. Less than half created a project management plan for all developments and fewer still revised this plan during development. This paper presents reasons for this, along with factors considered important in predicting development effort; measures for project size and complexity; measures for media content development time and effort; and metadata for media asset archival. As the majority of the projects were relatively small, in addition to content considerations, the findings show to support this class of project a task framework that provides effective management without "over managing" is required.