Important factors to consider when managing a WordPress project

Lean, Agile, Waterfall; there are dozens of project management methodologies, each abstracting your project into a series of common tasks and formulas.

This can get complicated when it comes to software engineering. For example, it can cause problems between developers and managers with different organizational styles. Managers need this abstraction layer to track necessary metrics. However, developers may suffer from constant small-task fatigue and the feeling of being micromanaged.

No matter what the programming language, framework or library is, they do not fit perfectly into the various existing project management methods. So how do we improve the process?

By classifying the differences between tools. Let’s take a deeper look at WordPress’ unique features and how they impact managers and developers’ perspectives.

How to adapt your project management system to WordPress

In order to adapt to our system, we first had to understand the nuances of WordPress. Of course, we don't need to consider every coding standard or feature difference, but we do need to refer to the important ones that may have an impact. We divide them into three categories:

• Challenge: Any part that requires planning when defining project tasks, milestones, and implementation.

• Risks: Significant issues that should be hedged as much as possible. These may be weaknesses in the framework that may hinder development if they come to fruition.

• Opportunities: Unique advantages in the framework can provide additional functionality, improve development efficiency, or provide competitive or internal advantages in some way.

The difficulty in identifying these parts is that, while most of them can be learned through study and preparation, many are simply experienced in the process of trying. Furthermore, defining them requires rigorous evaluation by developers and managers, which may not always happen.

To adapt your current project management system to WordPress, let’s take a look at the unique challenges, risks, and opportunities typically faced.

Unique Challenges of Using WordPress

Each content management system inherently has its own shortcomings. With different goals involved, compromises are bound to occur. Whether it's users sacrificing customization or developers losing maintenance convenience, something has to give. Here are some of the challenges of using WordPress:

Use open source libraries

Having an open source foundation comes with many advantages and disadvantages. In terms of the resulting challenges, the following are the most significant:

Code Base Maintenance

WordPress’s open source foundation means you’ll benefit from regular improvements to the system, but have little control over those improvements. If your build has an issue with a specific bug or feature change, there's no guarantee when that issue will be addressed. Of course, you can always contribute to the base itself to speed things up, but due to the large number of users, your additions may not be approved. After all, what you have in mind may not be the best solution for most users.

Processing updates

To solve this problem, you can modify your code base or extend it as needed, but this will bring a new set of challenges. If you have created a workaround, you will need to be aware of changes to the central code base that may change or correct your solution in the future. If you modify your codebase, you need to be aware that updating WordPress core may change the functionality you build, and plan accordingly.

Build a non-generalist website

Due to the sheer number of websites that rely on WordPress, there is a good chance that one day the future of your website and WordPress may conflict. This becomes even more true when your website no longer looks like a typical WordPress website.

To resolve this issue, please try to work within the limitations of WordPress as much as possible to minimize any issues that may arise with future updates. If when planning your project, a large part seems to be fighting against the core rather than benefiting from it, consider using another CMS. Otherwise, you can also advise the client not to update WordPress after the project has started, although this will bring a new set of challenges.

"piecemeal" development

The last major challenge to note is the separation of components in WordPress. A divided structure of plugins, themes, and core can be a great tool for planning and hierarchy, but introduces additional third-party software.

Plugins and themes that are being used but not created in-house should receive extra attention. Take the time to properly discover these components to prepare for possible complications.

Unique Risks of Using WordPress

Risk is a level beyond challenge and usually indicates a problem that could be catastrophic to the project or whose solution does not belong to the development itself. Take a look at the two biggest problems I've encountered:

Security Question

Since code comes from multiple sources, sometimes it is inevitable that bugs or vulnerabilities will appear, which may make your project vulnerable. While these problems usually resolve within a few days of exposure, the time in between can be particularly dangerous.

Due to the large number of websites using WordPress, the exploit quickly became known and had the potential to be exploited on a large scale. Ensuring your project uses a variety of security measures can help reduce risk these days, but sometimes the only solution is to wait for a patch.

Contains third-party projects

Plugins are one of the most important features for many WordPress users. However, on the development side, plugins introduce unknown elements. Since they can be upgraded separately from the rest of the system (and potentially by your customers), using plugins as critical components in your project can cause problems later on.

Additionally, plugins need to be properly vetted before inclusion, otherwise you may run the risk of including dangerous code in your project.

Unique advantages of using WordPress

WordPress may have its own risks and challenges, but it also has many benefits. After all, there’s a reason it’s the most popular CMS on the web. Here are the pros and cons above:

Use open source libraries

We discussed the disadvantages of open source foundation, but there are also many advantages. Using WordPress is free, and it has extensive documentation as well as plenty of tutorials on the internet. This means developers can quickly get up to speed on your project, and expanding the team's knowledge during the project isn't a daunting task.

Another major benefit of an open source foundation is the large number of people working together to make it happen. A team of a few people could make something similar, but it's unlikely to happen at the same speed and quality as WordPress.

Having many different developers contributing to the code, coupled with structured reviews, means your project is built on reliable, high-quality sources. Having a large number of contributors also speeds up production, allowing features to be added quickly and patches released in a limited time frame.

Powerful third-party solution availability

WordPress has a wide range of plugins, themes, and snippets that can help streamline the production process. By leveraging these third-party solutions, you can quickly prototype or even implement complete components into your project, providing additional functionality and efficiency.

Even if a plugin doesn’t exactly meet your requirements, the most popular plugins follow WordPress coding standards, making them easily adaptable to your needs.

Separated design

Predefined and well-structured hierarchy and template system helps projects start in an organized manner. Instead of spending time deciding on a project structure, WordPress works efficiently within a well-established system. Additionally, it works with most project management systems and allows multiple parts of a project to be developed simultaneously.

This partitioned design also makes it easy to identify the source of problems and maintain code throughout project iterations.

Adjust team perspective

Taking a content management system like WordPress and breaking it down into how managers and developers view it can simplify overall communication. Integrating these perspectives into your project management style should alleviate some of the developer anxiety. This gives them the benefit of the doubt while adding some much-needed understanding to the team.

If you are looking for other utilities to help you build your growing WordPress toolset or learn to code and become more proficient at WordPress, don’t forget to check out what we have to offer in the Envato Market.

Am I missing any key parts of WordPress that project managers should be aware of? Let me know in the comments!

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