"Navigating the Initial Stages of a Project When a New Project is Proposed"

Its often happened to me during my initial days as a project manager that i jumped to various activities when someone says that a project is coming up. During the course of the projects natural evolution, i see many critical checkpoints are missed or not followed diligently and as a result of that i had to rework on them or start doing something which suppose to be done at the first place.

So there has been a question in my mind what are the few thing that i must ensure that i will complete before i start with the project planning?

This list may vary for different projects. Though each project is unique, the following key points/ tasks are mandatory before starting the project planning.

No matter the project's size or duration, these preliminary steps help the project manager gather important project details, document them, and make the project planning process much smoother. Let's take a look at these crucial steps.

#1: Choose the project manager. This is typically done by the project management office or the Sponsor. In smaller and medium-sized organizations, the sponsor or program manager usually already has a project manager in mind as soon as the project is conceived. The project manager might not have much involvement in this task unless they are already working behind the scenes to initiate the project and are aware that the project is coming up.

#2: Understand the existing system and company culture. Get familiar with the current system and company culture. If you are working on internal projects within your own organization, you can skip this step since you already know the culture and system. However, in cases where project managers are assigned to work with external organizations, there is a chance that they haven't interacted with the customer before. In such situations, project managers need to consciously understand the company culture and existing systems to ensure a successful project.

#3 Gather the process , procedure and historical information. This will give you insights into what worked well in your previous projects and what precautions are necessary. These details are valuable for the project manager at different stages, including project planning and execution. They aid in creating a realistic timeline, cost management plan, and risk management, among other things.

#4 Divide projects in to phases or smaller projects. Break projects into phases or smaller projects. This is a common practice in project management, known as a phased approach or incremental approach. Each step or smaller project represents a distinct section of the main project. In the phased approach, the project manager can have stages like initiation, planning, execution, monitoring & control, and closing. In the incremental approach, the core product and functionalities are built first, followed by additional features in the next phase. Enhancements and feedback are incorporated as separate phases.

In all these cases, dividing a larger project into smaller projects or phases is a regular practice in project management. This approach helps manage complexity and allows for better control and organization throughout the project's lifecycle.

#5 Understand the business case and benefit management plan. These are crucial documents during the project's initial phase and define its success. Without them, a project lacks its core foundation. The business case is a vital document that explains why the project exists and why it should be undertaken. It provides a detailed account of the project's purpose, benefits, costs, and risks. This document serves as a reference for the project sponsor or leadership team to decide whether the project should be funded. A complete business case includes a clear cost-benefit analysis and ROI statement.

On the other hand, the benefit management document is a strategic plan that outlines how the expected project benefits are identified, measured, tracked, and realized. This document helps ensure that the project's intended outcomes are achieved effectively.

#6 Uncover initial requirements, assumptions, risk, constraints and existing agreements. This steps provide critical inputs to the planning stage. In this step project manager focus more on gathering the requirements and build a clear understanding on what a project aim to achieve. What functionalities are required. During the same time, project manager explores various agreement to review what are the legal contracts in place that could impact the project. This is tasks is so important since the risks , assumptions and constraints are visible to the project manager during the requirement gathering workshop or meeting.

#7 Assess the product and project feasibility. Is this project worth pushing? There is no better time to do this assessment. Imagine that you executed a a project and in the middle you realize that the product does not have the market demand or have a legal or regulatory feasibility issue? How about in getting in to another situation which is technically feasible or it doesn't align with the organization strategy? So do all the feasibility study at this stage.

#8 Define measurable objective and success criteria. One thing that strike to all the project managers when this statements is listed is SMART. Success criteria are the specific SMART goal that must be met to call the project as success. Having a clear success criteria would help every stakeholders to align to the project objectives. We will have another blog talking about key metrics that define the success of a project manager.

# 9 Develop project charter. This is the lifeline, with out this document approved, the project is just in concept and have no life. A project is born when the charter is signed. A project manager get the authority only when the project charter is signed. A charter should have all the details such as project objective, sponsor, project manager name, schedule, Assumptions, scope etc.

#10 Identify key stakeholders , determine their expectation, interest, influence and impacts. Its the time to make a list of key people those are directly or indirectly involved in the project. From various meetings and interaction so far, you would be able to identify their expectation, interest and impart to the project. In the end you would come out with a document known as stakeholder analysis matrix.

#11 Develop stakeholder register. Trust me stakeholder register is not just a document with the people name and email address. Its references as a valuable document that indicate how should a project manager engage and communicate with all the stakeholders. Project manager need to document the stakeholder expectation and influence in the register.

#12 Develop Assumption log. Assumptions plays critical role and during the initial days, a project manager would see series of assumptions and its the project managers duty to document all those assumption and validate them. Assumptions can be anything that is assumed to be true, but not validated. Assumption should have the details of the validation and impact of those assumption on the project.

#13 Request changes. This comes in every stages of the project. If there is a requirements to make changes, project manage to do the evaluation and understand the impacts of the change. Changes require documentation and follow the formal approval process.

These are the key steps that a project manager has to go through during the initiation of a project and if its done well project manager will have a fruitful period in the planning stage.