What's the First Thing to Do When Assigned a Project?

The more you know and understand the project's background the better prepared you'll be to establish a solid foundation.

• Understanding the project's background helps to learn from history, establishes a solid foundation, and minimizes surprises.

• At a minimum, it would be important to know who initiated the project, how the project was initiated, and why it was initiated.

• Knowing if a similar project was done before and how it went can provide insight into what went well and what didn't.​

• Previous successes can be cloned or leveraged.

• Previous problems may be avoided

• Being aware of who was involved in identifying the need for the project can provide insight into the degree and depth of problem solving or vetting that occurred.

• Knowing if a specific metric or goal will need to be met typically signifies the business impact and importance of the project.

• When the business problem hasn't been defined prior to launching a project the project manager and team will need to facilitate gaining clarity otherwise conflict will typically develop.

• Knowing if this project is part of a broader initiative or strategy is an indication of its potential importance to the organization.

• Gather background information that's available and determine if you're comfortable moving forward.

• Sometimes you may need to move forward regardless of the information available and continue doing research while starting the project.

• Project background can be the result of senior management planning, customer requirements, employee suggestions, responses to daily problems, suggestions for leveraging new technology, etc.

• The following business factors can have either a positive, neutral, or negative affect on your project. Consider reviewing each factor's impact on your project with the project sponsor.

​ Business Factors to Consider:

• Company's # of Years in Business

• Company Stage: start-up, growing, stable, or downsizing

• Culture: Random, Collaborative, Closed, or Synchronous

• Operating Maturity: Informal, Experimental, Systemic, or Sustainable

• Revenue Performance: 0$, Declining, Stable, or Growing

• Expenses Performance: Below Budget, On Budget, or Above Budget

• Market Share: Declining, Stable, or Growing

• Customer Satisfaction: Declining, Stable, or Growing

• Employee Satisfaction: Declining, Stable, or Growing

• Project background - Linkage with strategic or business plan, how project was initiated, sponsor, previous similar projects, any critical must meet requirements, i.e. schedule, budget, or deliverable quality, other?