Project Initiation: Starting a Successful project.

Module 2

Initiation phase

Project goal - is the desired outcome of the project

Well defined goals are clear and specific

The examples mentioned before to improve the response time to customer inquiries via
email by 20% and to increase the Office Green revenue by 5% are two well-defined goals
because they tell you what you’re trying to achieve. But wait, there’s more. These goals
also tell you how to do what you’ve been asked to do. In this case, it’s via email through
a new service offering. And that’s not all. These goals clarify the goal even further by
saying to improve by 20% and increase by 5%.

*Project Deliverables* refers to

the tangible outcome of the project.
What gets produced or presented at the end of a task, event, or process.
help us quantify and realise the impact of the project

How to set SMART goals.

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-bound

Specific

What do I want to accomplish?

Why is this a goal?
Who is involved ?
Where should the goal be delivered?
To what degree?

Measurable (meaning we can determine that they were objectively met)

How much?
How many ?
How will I know when it’s accomplished?

Metrics - what you use to measure something.

Benchmarks i.e. points of reference to make sure you’re choosing accurate metrics. For
instance, if your overall goal is to increase revenue, you can look at last year’s data as a
benchmark for deciding how much to increase revenue this year. If last year’s revenue
increased by 3 percent, then an increase by 5 percent in a booming economy would be a
reasonable goal for this year.

Attainable

Can it be reasonably reached?

How can it be accomplished?

Relevant

Does the goal make sense?

Is the goal worthwhile?
Is it the right time?

Time-bound
Has a deadline or clear time frame

OKRs for the project

Creating OKRs for your project

Set your objectives

Project objectives should be aspirational, aligned with organisational goals, action-

oriented, concrete, and significant. Consider the vision you and your stakeholders have for
your project and determine what you want the project team to accomplish in 3–6 months.
Examples:
Build the most secure data security software
Continuously improve web analytics and conversions
Provide a top-performing service
Make a universally-available app
Increase market reach
Achieve top sales among competitors in the region
Strong objectives meet the following criteria. They are:
Aspirational
Aligned with organizational goals
Action-oriented
Concrete
Significant
To help shape each objective, ask yourself and your team:
Does the objective help in achieving the project’s overall goals?
Does the objective align with company and departmental OKRs?
Is the objective inspiring and motivational?
Will achieving the objective make a significant impact?
Develop key results

Next, add 2–3 key results for each objective. Key results should be time-bound. They can
be used to indicate the amount of progress to achieve within a shorter period or to define
whether you’ve met your objective at the end of the project. They should also challenge
you and your team to stretch yourselves to achieve more.
Examples:
X% new signups within first quarter post launch
Increase advertiser spend by X%
New feature adoption is at least X%
Maximum 2 critical bugs are reported by customers per Sprint
Maintain newsletter unsubscribe rate at X%
Strong key results meet the following criteria:
Results-oriented—not a task
Measurable and verifiable
Specific and time-bound
Aggressive yet realistic
To help shape your key results, ask yourself and your team the following:
What does success mean?
What metrics would prove that we’ve successfully achieved the objective?

OKR development best practices

Here are some best practices to keep in mind when writing OKRs:
Think of your objectives as being motivational and inspiring and your key results as being
tactical and specific. The objective describes what you want to do and the key results
describe how you’ll know you did it.
As a general rule, try to develop around 2–-3 key results for each objective.
Be sure to document your OKRs and link to them in your project plan.

Defining Project Scope

The scope provides the boundaries for your project. You define the scope to help identify
necessary resources, resource costs, and a schedule for the project.

In the situation we just described, here are some questions you might ask your manager in
order to get the information you need to define the scope of the project:
*Monitoring and maintaining a project’s scope*
In-scope
Tasks that are included in the project plan and contribute to the project’s goal

Out-of-scope
Tasks that are not included in the project and don’t contribute to the project’s goal

Scope creep
Changes, growth, and uncontrolled factors that affect a project’s scope at any point after
the project begins.

Sources of scope creep

External
Internal

External scope creep

Customer requests
Environment shifts
Changes in technology

Solutions
Make project plans visible
Get clarity on project requirements
Set ground rules and expectations for stakeholder involvement
Create a plan for dealing with out-of-scope requests
Put your agreements and plans in writing.

Internal scope creep

Product improvements
Processes changes

Best practices for scope management and controlling scope creep:

Define your project’s requirements.Communicate with your stakeholders or customers

to find out exactly what they want from the project and document those requirements
during the initiation phase.

Set a clear project schedule.Time and task management are essential for sticking to your
project’s scope. Your schedule should outline all of your project’s requirements and the
tasks that are necessary to achieve them.

Determine what is out of scope.Make sure your stakeholders, customers, and project
team understand when proposed changes are out of scope. Come to a clear agreement
about the potential impacts to the project and document your agreement.

Provide alternatives.Suggest alternative solutions to your customer or stakeholder. You

can also help them consider how their proposed changes might create additional risks.
Perform a cost-benefit analysis, if necessary.

Set up a change control process.During the course of your project, some changes are
inevitable. Determine the process for how each change will be defined, reviewed, and
approved (or rejected) before you add it to your project plan. Make sure your project team
is aware of this process.
Learn how to say no.Sometimes you will have to say no to proposed changes. Saying no
to a key stakeholder or customer can be uncomfortable, but it can be necessary to protect
your project’s scope and its overall quality. If you are asked to take on additional tasks,
explain how they will interfere with the budget, timeline, and/or resources defined in your
initial project requirements.

Collect costs for out-of-scope work.If out-of-scope work is required, be sure to

document all costs incurred. That includes costs for work indirectly impacted by the
increased scope. Be sure to indicate what the charges are for.

Managing changes to a project scope

The triple constraint model is the combination of the three most significant restrictions of
any project: scope, time, and cost.

Measuring a project success

Launch
Delivering the final result of your project to the client or user

Landing
Measuring the success of your project using the success criteria established at the outset
of the project.
*Defining success criteria*

Success Criteria

Tells you whether or not the project was successful

Specific details of project goals, deliverables, requirements, and expectations.
The standards by which the project will be judged once it’s been delivered to
stakeholders.

Determining Project Success

Identify the measurable aspects of your project
Get clarity from stakeholders on the project requirements and expectations

Adoption
Adoption refers to how the customer uses and adopts a product or service without any
issues.

Engagement
How often or meaningful customer interaction and participation is over time.

Include the methods for how success will be measured, how often it’s measured, and who
is responsible for measuring it.

Have the appropriate stakeholders sign off on the success criteria.

(If done correctly ) Defining your success criteria should create greater alignment within
the team and give everybody better visibility into how to achieve success.

Module 3: Exploring project team roles and responsibilities

Accessibility
Actively removing any barriers that might prevent persons with disabilities from being able
to access technology, information, or experiences, and levelling the playing field so
everyone has an equal part chance of enjoying life and being successful

As a project manager, you are responsible for making sure a group of people can come
together to achieve a common goal.

Choose a project team

When choosing a team, consider:

Required roles
Team size
Necessary skills
Availability
Motivation

Defining project roles

Project sponsor
The person who’s accountable for the project and who ensures the project delivers the
agreed upon business benefits.

Team members

The people doing the work and making things happen

Customers
The people who will get some value from a successfully landed project

Users
The people that use the product produced by your project

Stakeholders
Anyone involved in the project who has a vested interest in the project’s success

Project Manager
The person who plans, organises, and oversees the whole project.
 Evaluating Stakeholders

Three key steps to kicking off a stakeholder analysis.

1. Make a list of all the stakeholders the project impacts

2. Determine the level of interest and influence for each stakeholder
3. Assess stakeholders’ ability to participate and then find ways to involve them.

Influence measures how much power a stakeholder has and how much this stakeholder’s
actions affect the project outcome
Interest is how much are the needs of the stakeholders affected by the project operations
and outcomes
Stakeholder buy-in

The process of involving these people in decision making to hopefully reach a broader
consensus on the organisation’s future.

Assigning project team roles and responsibilities

RACI chart helps to define roles and responsibilities for individuals or teams to ensure
work gets done efficiently

Responsible -those doing the work to complete the task

Accountable - those making sure the work gets done
Consulted -Those giving feedback, like subject matter experts or decision makers
Informed - Those just needing to know the final decisions or that task is complete

Module 4 *Utilizing resources and tools for project success*

Project resources usually include budget, people, and materials.

Budget
An estimate of the amount of money a project will cost to complete
Resources include the people who help execute tasks of a project

Materials
Items you need to help get the project done.

Tools
Aids that make it easier for a project manager or team to manage resources and organise
work

Tools can help you

Track Tasks
Manage budgets
Collaborate with teammates

The value of project documentation

Clear and consistent documentation can ensure transparency and clear communication

Documentation helps set the stage for the project

It communicates the answers to key questions

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 do they need to complete their work?

Documenting decisions can help you uncover tasks, timelines, or costs.

Project proposals and charters 101

Project proposal

A form of documentation that persuades a stakeholder to begin a project

Project Charter

A formal document that clearly defines the project and outlines the necessary details
needed to reach its goals

Proposal vs Charter

The project proposal kicks off the initiation phase by influencing and persuading the
company to move forward with the project.

The project charter’s goal is to clearly define the key details of the project

Project charter makes clear that the benefit of the project outweighs the cost of the
project

Project charter help’s to ensure that you and your stakeholders agree on the details of
the project.

Creating a project charter is a best practise for ensuring that everyone agrees on how
to move forward before entering the planning phase.

Evaluating tools to meet project needs

Project management tools help you
Track task deadlines
Provide visibility to others
Manage a budget
Create helpful diagrams
Manage contracts

Exploring types of project management tools

Scheduling and work management software.

Asana
Jira Software

Productivity tools & collaboration tools

Online shared documents (Microsoft Word/ Google docs)

Meeting agendas
Status updates
Spreadsheets
RACI charts
Project plans
Presentations
[Collaboration tools]
Email and chat