Starting Your Project with Purpose and Clarity
Strategy Corner
Beyond the Checklist
You are starting a project – for yourselves or for a client. Could be anything. An event, a building, a re-design of a program or downtown. You name it.
You bring your team together and what’s the first thing you do? For most of us, we start working on actions, roles and responsibilities. Look at the end date and work backwards.
For many, especially in the bigger, more complex projects, things hum along until they don’t. How might you mitigate this going forward?
RHL Strategies suggests a different approach. It is more time upfront, but may pay dividends in the long run:
Start by listing all the goals of the project, and then grouping them. Then, what is the overarching goal?
Then, start listing your assumptions. Often these are unsaid, and thought to be universal. And often they are not. From what the team’s role is, to who is the client, meanings of terms, how things get done – there could be a LOT of assumptions. (And these might reveal blind spots). Start just by listing them – at first, the obvious ones will show up. But keep going. And just list them – don’t stop to analyze until later. You should be able to develop quite the list.
Finally, list the FACTS. These are items that can be measured, substantiated. You may find that what you thought of as a fact may instead be an assumption.
Practice it. Work on it. You could do it on your own, but won’t get as far. Including everyone on your team will bring richer and deeper understanding of the project, its purpose and its execution.
