Overview 

This standard is about your ability to understand and specify the project’s high-level creative and commercial requirements and/or purpose. 

This function has a close relationship with ‘pure’ project management but focuses on the project’s creative requirements rather than the mechanics of running it however; the two functions are often combined in practice.


Performance Criteria

You must be able to:

  1. identify and specify design, technical and commercial parameters
  2. devise solutions to meet requirements within design parameters
  3. select technologies and approaches to achieve the work
  4. specify the requirements of the work
  5. liaise with strategic, creative, technical, project management and management staff to ensure the requirements
  6. liaise with external and/or internal project sponsors to clarify their requirements and expectations
  7. liaise with the client to obtain approval for the work
  8. evaluate and give constructive feedback about creative and technical work produced by others
  9. recommend viable design changes when necessary


Knowledge and understanding

You need to know and understand:

  1. the resources and timescales required to carry out the work
  2. the different specialist skills that may be required for a given project
  3. the needs and expectations of your organisation’s design and production staff
  4. the nature of the client’s business and the context in which the product is required
  5. how to communicate effectively with the different people involved in development
  6. how to evaluate creative and technical work to ensure meets requirements
  7. how to reconcile client, user and commercial requirements
  8. the different technologies, platforms, online services, tools, formats, and creative or technical approaches that are available, and their advantages, disadvantages
  9. how to identify which technologies, tools, and creative or technical approaches to use
  10. how to submit work for approval, manage change requests and obtain sign-off
  11. current trends in design, concepts and use of industry technology
  12. the need to consider multi-channel delivery and the impact this may have on design and development
  13. the importance of project management, including the need to obtain approval for one key stage before proceeding to the next
  14. the importance of strong creative direction and clear lines of accountability in the team
  15. an overview of project management processes and methodologies such as waterfall and agile