Website project management checklist
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A website project management checklist is a tick list of the tasks in each phase of a client build, from kickoff to handover. You go through it each week to see what's done, what's late and what's waiting on the client. It also tracks each deliverable you promised in the proposal.
What's on a website project management checklist?
A website project management checklist lists the tasks each phase has to finish before the next phase starts. Copy the table below into your own sheet and add an owner and a date to each line.
| Phase | Task to tick off |
|---|---|
| Kickoff | Signed proposal on file |
| Kickoff | Kickoff call held, with notes sent to the client |
| Kickoff | Client contacts and the person who signs off listed |
| Kickoff | Shared folder set up |
| Discovery | Goals written down and confirmed by the client |
| Discovery | Page list approved |
| Discovery | Content owner named for every page |
| Design | Mockups sent |
| Design | Feedback logged |
| Design | Design approved in writing |
| Content | Copy in for every page |
| Content | Images in for every page |
| Content | Copy approved by the client |
| Build | Every page built on the test link |
| Build | Forms set up and sending to the right inbox |
| Build | Pages checked on a phone |
| Quality checks | Links and forms tested |
| Quality checks | Spelling checked on every page |
| Quality checks | Page speed checked |
| Launch | Domain pointed to the new site |
| Launch | Live site checked again |
| Launch | Backups turned on |
| Handover | Logins sent to the client |
| Handover | Short how-to notes sent |
| Handover | Final invoice sent |
The list tracks the tasks, and a project lead runs the build around it. For the project lead's job on one build, see web design project management.
How do you use a website project checklist each week?
Pick one day a week, go through the checklist line by line, and update it before you talk to the client. The update you send them comes straight from the list.
- Copy a fresh checklist at kickoff for each client build.
- Each week, tick what's done and add the date beside it.
- Flag each late item, and name who'll fix it and by when.
- List what you're waiting on from the client.
- Send the client a short update built from the list: done, next and waiting on them.
- Hold the next phase until every item in the current one is ticked.
If one item stays late two weeks in a row, raise it with the client or your team on the next call.
DeskTeam360 has a free Ultimate Task Delegation Template for handing off tasks. Website builds are one kind of task it names, and it's yours for an email address.
How do you track website deliverables on a checklist?
Give each deliverable its own line, and fill in who owns it, when it's due, where it stands and where the file lives. Match the list to the signed proposal, so nothing promised gets missed and nothing extra slips in.
Each deliverable line holds:
- The deliverable's name, as the proposal words it
- The owner
- The due date
- The status: not started, in progress, with the client, or approved
- A link to the file
- The date the client approved it
Move a deliverable to "approved" only when the client's yes is in writing. Keep that yes in the shared folder next to the file.
Due dates come from the build's timeline. For setting the dates, see the website timeline template.
To hand off checklist tasks to someone else, use DeskTeam360's Ultimate Task Delegation Template. It costs nothing, and it names website builds in the work it fits. Share your email to get it.
More on Managing the build
- Web design project management for a small agency
- Web design workflow: how a small agency moves a site from brief to launch
- Agency project management: what a small agency needs
- All guides
Sources
- DeskTeam360's page for the Ultimate Task Delegation Template, start.deskteam360.com/ultimate-task-delegation-template
- DeskTeam360's About page, deskteam360.com/about
What changed
- : Page first published.