The 7 Dimensions for Blockchain Project Management

Salahuddin Khawaja

Published: September 29, 2022

Tech has taken off. The first wave was Web1 (remember Yahoo and Craigslist?) and then came Web2 (think Netflix and Uber). Think about all the apps your phone … God forbid we have to live without our phone for a day? This is what the famous adage “software ate the world” refers to: our addiction to tech.

The revolution is not stopping – the tech party goes on. Now “Blockchain and Crypto is eating the world” and powering the Web3 revolution. From DeFi to Metaverse to DAOs to Gaming – Web3 projects are disrupting everything!

For Web3 projects to be successful, sound project management plays a critical role. This is what this post is all about!

Our founder ran digital transformation on Wall Street for 20 years (Deloitte, JP Morgan & Bank of America) and now runs Hypermode Consulting – a services company helping build and scale crypto/web3 projects. He has adopted what he has for Crypto and Blockchain consulting into “Hypermode’s 7 Dimensions of Blockchain Project Management”

Blockchain Project Management: 7 Dimensions

All digital projects, especially web3 ones, are complicated. To manage projects efficiently and effectively, do the following: 

1. Portfolio View

2. Planning/Roadmap

3. Status Communication

4. Storytelling

5. Resource Management

6. Risk Management

7. Financials Management

7 Dimensions of Blockchain Project Management

Lets double click into each one … 

1.Portfolio View:

Crypto/Web3 projects have multiple workstreams and each of those workstreams can have multiple projects inside. Here is a typical lifecycle of a web3 project. 

Approach to Scaling Web3 Communities

Blockchain Project Lifestyle

Lots of moving parts. How to manage efficiently? A simple portfolio view. It is important to have a holistic view to organize, plan, control and align teams – towards strategic objectives. Portfolio view can be understood as a dashboard, where we can have an overview of the key areas and their status, hence, it becomes possible to utilize the resources where they are supposed to be. 

2.Planning/Roadmap:

It is important to have a Blockchain roadmap – bring all the pieces together. Every workstream has a start, a middle and clear finish line. The roadmap shows what’s next. There can be an internal version (see example below) and an external one (link to the blog post) 

Planning/Roadmap of a Blockchain Project

3.Status/Communication:

Simple status reporting is needed to keep all stakeholders (internal project resources, management, investors etc.) aligned and organized. It helps to establish performance metrics as well. There might be multiple efforts going on at the same time in a crypto project such as – acquiring NFTs, building crypto Economies of scale, renting NFTs, creating wallets, running IDOs and creating community effort. Projects are linked and independent at the same time, therefore, effective communication helps to streamline the workflow of the project.

Status Communication of a Blockchain Project

4.Storytelling:

Storytelling is a key aspect of Blockchain project management – it helps facilitate complex decision making. It is important to develop insightful presentation and convey messages in a compelling way. Stories makes the vision personal and communicates “what’s in it” for all the stakeholders.  

Structure ideas in a solution-oriented way and get the insights out. It enhances the planning phase by personalizing the process and eliminating vagueness.  

Stories provides “why” of a decision and can make decisions more personal to stakeholders. 

Storytelling

5.Resource Management:

Clear roles and responsibilities enable project success. Project members understand what workstreams they will be working on. An organizational chart can help to manage project resources optimally. Overlapping and not identifying the right resources, especially in a crypto and blockchain space burns precious time, capital, and effort. 

Resource Management

6.Risk Management:

Crypto and blockchain projects must manage risks (potential issues) and issues (realized risks). In complicated projects risks and issues are bound to occur. The goal is to minimize them and when they occur, quickly recognize them and resolve them. Effective project risk management helps in the smooth running of a large project. 

Risk Management of a Web3.0 Project

7.Financials Management:

Clearly documenting the forecasted budget and then tracking actuals is important to ensure the financial health of a project. Variances happen – projects spend less (e.g. it takes more time to onboard resources) or overspends (e.g. need more front–end engineers). It is critical to monitor the variances monthly and update subsequent forecasts.  

Financial Management of a Blockchain Project

Conclusion

To run complicated crypto and blockchain projects, having strong project management discipline is key. All the angles need to be covered from Portfolio View to Planning/Roadmap to Status Communication to Storytelling to Resource Management to Risk Management to Financials Management. 

Need help running your web3 project smoothly? We have world class crypto project managers for Crypto and Blockchain consulting.  

 

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