BradEgeland.com #PMP #PPM #project #Agile #cybersecurity #planning #ai #SAFe #coronavirus #virtual #mindmap #remote #COVID19 #scaledagile #fintech #webdesign
  • Welcome
  • Contact
  • Mentoring Contact Form
  • Expertise
  • Blog
  • Find Local PM Jobs
  • Books / White Papers
  • Software / Service Reviews
  • This Week in PM
  • PM Video Series
  • Awards/Recognition
  • Templates & Downloads
  • Clients
  • Professional Services
  • Past Survey Results

Before You Start Your Next Project

2/6/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Eager project managers – and new project managers – may like to just jump in head first into a new project and show enthusiasm and prove to their senior management that they are go-getters. That’s nice, but it may also be stupid. Or these overly eager PMs may be sending the wrong message to their leadership who is really looking to see if they show any knowledge at all about how they should go cautiously into the night on a project… not jump in with pistols blazing.


The best way to start the project properly, make sure both feet are firmly planted on the ground, and you are ready to serve the customer appropriately is to go into the engagement knowing a few things first.


This all comes to mind mainly because – amazingly – I was handed a project and nothing was known. Seriously… nothing. We had a developer working on the project already. He was doing some preliminary work on an interface for the project working with a project manager on the customer side. Other than the generic interface we were tasked to do, we knew nothing about the project. Nothing. And I was about to jump on a call with the sponsor on the customer side. I had nothing to go on – no documents, no status reports (everything had been verbal sprint meetings to this point), and no statement of work (SOW). Nothing. Ummm…ok. Actually really it was very not ok.


So, here’s my list of a 5 key things I like to know going into a project:


What exactly is expected of the PM and team? It is imperative that the project manager knows what the team should be delivering on. Without proper documentation such as a statement of work or previous notes, status reports, etc. when taking over… he is heading blind into any discussion he is having with the project sponsor and customer team. It’s a no win situation – no ability to plan, no ability to ask or answer questions intelligently. Before – yes, before – starting a project or taking over a project… before engaging the project client… the project manager needs an idea at least of what the project involves.


Is funding in place? Is there money for this effort? This tells you how serious the project customer is. Are they looking for free advice or are they really planning to engage your services? I had a potential consulting client who I suspected was just looking for me to propose something to his idea so he could refine his idea for the project. He basically wanted a free strategy proposal. I created a proposal – a good one and it was detailed – but I also required that it be a paid deliverable. He was surprised, but he paid for it. I knew it was the only money I was going to get from him because he was just fishing and I couldn’t afford to give my time away for free.


Does a legacy system exist? Are we building something new or is there a legacy system in place that currently does this work? That can help us – because it can help us figure out a few things like what not to do, or possibly some added insight into current business processes, or maybe make the project more affordable by proposing an add-on to cover the needed functionality rather than completely rebuilding the system. There are always options – you just need the full picture in order to propose those options.


What data integrations will be necessary? If you are still working through the financials/pricing for the project, then whether or not loading legacy data into the system and how data will be integrated into a new solution are two critical pieces of information. They may seem trivial, but data can be very complex. Loading old data may mean data needs to be cleansed – basically cleaned up and reformatted to fit into a new solution. And as far as integrating it into a new solution – tying it into the data fields and getting the new functionality to talk to the existing data the way it needs to can be very difficult. This is key information that is needed for requirements definition and pricing.


What is the timeframe from the project? Finally, when is this project needed? You may start out putting together a plan to propose to the project sponsor based on what you have been given and you’re about to propose a 14-month project schedule. It would be very helpful to know from the project sponsor that they MUST have the solution within 6 months. Knowing that before you put the effort into the schedule allows you to either somehow plan to meet that incredibly tight timeframe or to plan a phased implementation and begin planning negotiation points on why your approach will work for them.


Summary


Heading into the unknown is tough going. We can waste a lot of time and look like fools in the process trying to plan for and prepare for a project engagement that we know little about. The key is to get as much information together – up front – as possible. And knowing the right information is critical to planning properly, making good estimating and team building preparations, high level requirements definition, and knowing how to prepare for and execute any project kickoff activities. Going into a project engagement or any discussion with the potential project sponsor completely blind is dangerous and can lead to a project not getting off on the right foot.


What’s your take on this? When have you had to take on a project with nothing to go on? What did you do? If you were a consultant did you skip that project? Did you dig further? Did you head into meetings with no clue hoping to gather some helpful information? What other key info – especially on tech projects – other than what I’ve listed above, do you usually need to know before getting started or even meeting with the client?
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author:

    Picture

    Brad Egeland


    Named the "#1 Provider of Project Management Content in the World," Brad Egeland has over 25 years of professional IT experience as a developer, manager, project manager, consultant and author.  He has written more than 7,000 expert online articles, eBooks, white papers and video articles for clients worldwide.  If you want Brad to write for your site, contact him. Want your content on this blog and promoted? Contact him. Looking for advice/menoring? Contact him.

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    November 2009

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.