All new projects are challenging. In any new project we must pass a series of stages. The first could be identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the product in question. Next, curiosity gets the better of us and we search for competing products. “How are others doing it? Better? Worse?” Everything depends on our point of view.

Before we know it, we’re brainstorming: “Who is the product actually geared to?”, “Who is our audience?”, “Will the target audience be so straight-forward?” – Of course not. We knew from the start that there would be improvements to be made. We would have to pay more attention to our students and capture the interest of candidates, without forgetting about the needs of our professors, researchers and non-teaching employees. We have created personas. We tried our best to put ourselves in everyone’s shoes, because everyone plays an important part in maintaining our institution and, nowadays, something just as important, the digital hub that is our website.

After much discussion, we devised a strategy: reconstruct what already exists, modernise the layout and make a significant improvement to the browsing. It was crucial to create several paths that lead to the same destination, and to transform our digital showcase into something intuitive, eye-catching and user-friendly. And so began the real adventure of a project that involved a lot of dedication, time and inevitably some stress: the reconstruction of the FMUL website.

We promised the Faculty Board that the site would be in place, replacing the old one, on 16th September, Faculty Day. We had about 11 months. On 15th November 2018, we went into our first meeting with the company that would develop our new platform. For this first meeting, we did our homework: we introduced all of the improvements we wanted to make, some based on previous meetings with some representative figures of our various divisions. We wanted everything and we wanted to attract everyone: how naive we were!

As the platform’s potential was presented to us, it became easier to make decisions and, with this new insight, we then constructed the site map. The foundation of the new project. Weeks of intensive work followed. 3 people, 1 room. We had laptops with Excel files, mobile phones, designs, scribbles and loose notes all over our table. After a few hours, the decisions made had nothing to do with the original ideas. Changing your mind is all part of the project’s maturity process.

Everything began to take shape. We even recognised the need to create new content or reformulate old content. But who will do what? What should be prioritised? What cannot be left out? What can be removed? There were months of meetings, task forces, discussion, but above all, exchange. We were fully committed; we had a baby in our arms…

Finalising the content reformulation work went hand in hand with uploading and moving it. We had reached the month before our deadline and it seemed like our work would never end. The funny thing is that it doesn’t.

The development and management of a website is a work-in-progress. As a team, we are aware of the constant need to update. Despite websites being considered more static platforms, when compared to other media, they always require changes and improvements. It is with good reason that it’s said that the average life expectancy of a website is 4 years. At a time when the digital world prevails, where clicks can simplify our lives, letting us carry out financial and business transactions, or simply express our opinion, following the latest digital trends has become crucial. Especially for organisations that want to stand out for being different and excellent. The need to maintain these current, objective and dynamic platforms requires greater attention from the teams responsible.

…

There were two days until Faculty Day. We had just one weekend to go. Stress filled the office. The whole team was aware of the exponential increases of visits in the following week, but we were sure that we had done and were doing everything that we could. Despite leaving the office late that day, everything went as planned, including the movement of the site to the Rectory server, a procedure that could have taken hours, but only took us 60 minutes. A smooth Friday the 13th. Can you believe it?

Throughout the whole process, we always wanted to stay true to the needs of our academic community’s segments, as well as improve the optimisation of procedures between teams and services.

It took months of hard work, there’s no denying that. However, it’s so rewarding to see the new project take shape and be set up.

I’ll take this opportunity to give thanks, because one thing is certain: without the support and cooperation of the following people, the success of the project would have been jeopardised, so:

– We give a word of thanks to the Faculty Board of the FMUL, especially to Dr. Fausto J Pinto for his vote of confidence

– To Raquel Viegas for her patience, especially when tensions ran high.

– To Margarida Roberto for proving herself to be an encouraging partner with great analytical skills.

– To Raquel Moreira for being prepared to take on this whole challenge. She never refused anything.

– To Rui Fonseca, for his willingness to clarify more technical aspects and for helping us to build a bridge with the Rectory IT team.

– And of course, to João Rochate and his Adj3 team. Without them, this wouldn’t have been possible. A team of tireless professionals.

Congratulations to everyone!

Isabel varela
Editorial Team.