One of the most exciting things of being a project manager is when you have a new project starting from scratch and you need to get a good understanding of what you need to do and how you are going to deliver it.
There are lots of methods that you can use, my preferred method is a very basic rapid planning tool.
Some methods suggest getting all the stakeholders together and creating the project framework as as a group. I prefer a smaller group of the obvious key stakeholders and subject matter experts in their field to start and aim to cover off 6 key components.
- Desired Outcome
- Purpose of Project
- Stakeholders
- What do we need to do
- Constraints
- Timescales
Desired Outcome
It may be strange but it it always good to check and document what the desired outcome of the project is, sometimes stakeholders are not sure other times they may vehemently disagree on what the project is trying to achieve.
Purpose of the Project
As with desired outcome it is is always good to clarify, the project may be designing a new product but is the purpose to generate new sales or provide a vital add on for the existing product set.
Stakeholders
Many a project has been sunk by not involving the correct stakeholder early whose backing you need or may have some vital information that could have saved you a ton of time and money. You really need to be exhaustive in this process and don't just leave it to internal stakeholders, the need to engage with third parties is also key particularly in technology projects.
What do we need to do
The obvious key part of the project, as the project manager you will be completing a detailed plan to cover every moving part of the project, but it is a good idea to get a view of what needs to be done at the very early stage, this is also good for helping the stakeholders come up with a realistic timeline for completion of the project.
Constraints
The normal project constraints of budget, resources and technology will come up, but this is a good opportunity to identify constraints which can range widely from a key person being on maternity leave to a major migration project which the whole organisation has their eyes on.
Timescales
Sometimes these will be obvious such as mandatory change when legislation requires solution to be in by X date. However in lots of business driven change this will not be obvious, and some initial debate with the stakeholders over what is desirable and practical in terms of delivery date.
This session should taken no more than an hour and you should come away with some rich data to move your project forward.
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