Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project

1. Initiating the project

2. Identifying project scope, goals, and deliverables
3. Measure the success of a project
4. Identifying stakeholders
5. Scoping project tools and resources

Initiation- problem or opportunity is identify

- Beneft
o What value will this project create
o How much money could this project save our organization
o How much money will it bring in from existing customers?
o How much time will be saved.
o How will the user experience be improved.

Key component of make up initiation

1. Goals- what you try to achieve
2. Scope- process to define the work that needs to happens to complete the project
3. Deliverable -product and services that you will create
4. Success criteria -standards by which you measure how successful a project was in reaching its
goals
5. Stakeholder -people who both have an interest in and affected by completion and success
implementation of project
6. Resources -budget, people, material, and any items on your reachable
Project charter- documents that defines that project and its goals, and outlines what is needed to
accomplish them. Set up framework (Get approval)

1) Project Goals (Deliverable)

a. Desired outcome of the project
b. Well-defined and clear goal is an excellent goal
c. SMART goals- Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time Bound.
 i. Specific: The objective has no ambiguity for the project team to
misinterpret. 
ii. Measurable: Metrics help the project team determine when the objective is
met.
iii. Attainable: The project team agrees the objective is realistic.
iv. Relevant: The goal fits the organization’s strategic plan and supports the
project charter.
v. Time-bound: The project team documents a date to achieve the goal.
1. OKR- Objective + Key Results -Combine a goal and a metric to determine a measurable
outcome
a. OKR LEVELS
i. Company/organization
ii. Department/team
iii. Project
2) Project Scope -An agreed upon what’s included and excluded in the project.
a. Project time
b. Budget
c. Resources

Triple constrain model: Scope, Cost, Time

 Stakeholder analysis

Let’s review the key steps in the stakeholder analysis:

1. Make a list of all the stakeholders the project impacts. When generating this list,
ask yourself: Who is invested in the project? Who is impacted by this project? Who
contributes to this project? 
2. Determine the level of interest and influence for each stakeholder—this step helps
you determine who your key stakeholders are. The higher the level of interest and
influence, the more important it will be to prioritize their needs throughout the
project. 
3. Assess stakeholders’ ability to participate and then find ways to involve them.
Various types of projects will yield various types of stakeholders—some will be
active stakeholders with more opinions and touchpoints and others will be passive
stakeholders, preferring only high-level updates and not involved in the day-to-
day. That said, just because a stakeholder does not participate as often as others
does not mean they are not important. There are lots of factors that will play a role
in determining a stakeholder’s ability to participate in a project, like physical
distance from the project and their existing workload.

 A power grid is a two-by-two grid used for analysis to determine the stakeholders'
roles based on the position on the grid. Thus, the project manager knows how to
manage stakeholders.
o Communicate closely with key stakeholders (top right corner) to reach
desired results.
o Consult with stakeholders of higher influence-lower interest (top left
corner) and meet their needs.
o Keep stakeholders of lower influence-higher interest (right bottom corner)
up to date.
o Keep stakeholders of low influence-low interest (bottom left corner)
informed.
  A steering committee is the key stakeholder and has the authority to change the
budget and approve new timelines or scopes.
 Stakeholder buy-in is the process of involving stakeholders to have an agreement
about the organization's future.

A RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) chart describes the roles and

responsibilities for team members.

 There are four types of participation in a RACI chart

o Responsible; doing the work to complete the task
o Accountable; ensuring that the work gets done
o Consulted; giving feedback
o Informed; just needing to know the final decisions.

Resources

 A budget is the cost needed to complete the project. During the initiation phase,
get the information about all hidden costs to create the budget so that it can be the
reference to compare proposals from vendors, estimate upcoming costs, and track
the money flow in the project.
o Team: the cost of the people performing the work
o Services: any outside vendors helping your project
o Materials: any tangible items purchased to complete the project
 The team members are the people who help execute the project's tasks and could
be the people outside the company if they have the particular skills to do some
tasks that the company's employees cannot do.
 Materials are all the items that help to get the project done.

 There are numerous benefits of having clear and consistent documentation.

o Ensure transparency and clear communication
o Help in setting the project stages
o Communicate the answers to key questions. For example, what problem
are you trying to solve? What are the project goals? What are the scope and
deliverables, and who are the project’s stakeholders? What resources does
the team need to complete their work?
o Help preserve decisions made early on
o A reference for new team members
o Helps in uncovering tasks, timelines, or costs which have not been
considered previously.
o Record all timely information to be reviewed after completing the project
  Two types of documentation track details and keep your stakeholders informed:
project proposal and project charter. There are some differences between these
two.
o A proposal helps in understanding the goals and impacts; a charter helps
in getting organized and set-up plans.
o A proposal comes at the beginning; a charter comes at the end of the
initiation phase.
o A proposal is used only at the earlier stages; a charter is the reference
throughout the project's life.
o A proposal persuades the stakeholders to perform the project; a charter
defines the project details to reach its goal.
o A proposal can be formal or informal; a charter is a formal document.
 A charter contains all information about the benefits (values, money, and time).
o The project charter approval means that the project management
supports it, and the project can be performed.
o The project manager reviews and develops the charter, adapting to its
audiences and the stakeholders' needs throughout the process.

Project charters will vary but usually include some combination of the following key
information:

o introduction/project summary
o goals/objectives 
o business case/benefits and costs
o project team
o scope
o success criteria
o major requirements or key deliverables
o budget
o schedule/timeline or milestones
o constraints and assumptions
o risks
o OKRs
o Approvals
 Many formats of project charters can be used. We have considered the template
often used by program managers at Google:
o Project name
o A summary of the project
o Smart project goals
o Project deliverables that can be tangible or intangible
o The reasons for initiating the project
o The benefits and costs (cost-benefit analysis), where the benefits should
always outweigh the cost
o Project scope and out-of-the scope so that everyone understands the ones
where they should focus their efforts
 o Project team that includes the sponsors, the leader, and important team
members
o Additional stakeholders, if any
o Success criteria metrics
o z

 There are some benefits of using project management tools.

o Two-way communication, including sharing information
o Time and energy saving
o Visibility and transparency of the tasks so that any changes that impact the
project can be noticed quickly.
o Accomplishing many tasks: tracking progress (tasks, deliverables, and
milestones); managerial activities (budget, contracts, and licenses);
building charts and diagrams; and updating information for stakeholders.
 Tools can be simple or advanced; the simple tool could be more effective for small
projects and the advanced one is meant for bigger projects because the more
complicated the tool, the more time is needed to learn and work.

Here are some important considerations and keys to successfully introducing new tools:

- Discuss the tool early and often, if possible.

- Ask for feedback from key stakeholders.
- Involve the key stakeholders in demonstrations as you get closer to making the final
decision on the project tracking tool. Y
- Ensure the tool is fully functional before the team is introduced to it.
- Set up training for the tool as needed before you ask the team to actually use it.
  Project management tools are used to make the work more effective.
 Scheduling and work management software
o Assign tasks to the team members.
o Track team progress so that the issues will be known and resolved
immediately; thus, the project stays on track.
 Productivity tools
o Word processing tools are used to create shared documents and build
documents.
o Spreadsheets are versatile and are used to make graphs, charts, and plans.
o Presentation tools are used to show the project visually.
 Collaboration tools are used to quickly communicate with the team members.
 Because productivity and collaboration tools are simple, they are suitable for small
projects where tasks and people are fewer. Scheduling and work management
software is more appropriate for projects that have many tasks and people.

Common project management tools

 Asana
o Asana is a platform that helps in planning and coordinating work.
o For building plans, assigning tasks, automating workflows, tracking
progress, and communicating with stakeholders
o Tasks are visible and organized.
o Designed for transparency and connection with all tasks
o Can share status updates and other communication with people outside
the company
 Spreadsheet
o Versatile
o For various tasks: timelines, billing charts, managing budgets, and tracking
tasks
o Can add and view project information
o Can filter tasks to see the things you are responsible for
o Can highlight tasks
o Can transform, visualize, and manipulate information