1. 8 GOLDEN RULES TO STARTING A PROJECT
"Starting a new project can be a daunting task, especially when
you are new to project management. Many project management
methodologies concentrate very much on theory, without providing
actual practical examples of how to implement the learnt
methodology. In order to ensure project success when starting a
new project, there are 8 golden rules to adhere to in order to
ensure total project success. These are:
SPONSORSHIP; TARGETS; SCOPE; RESOURCES;
PLANNING; PROCESSES; TRACKING; and REPORTING.
1. Project SPONSORSHIP is one of the most important key
successes for a project and you must ensure that you have
a sponsor that understands the business and knows the
importance of the project for the business. The sponsor
must also have the right level of influence in the business
and be able to provide the necessary resources to ensure
project success.
2. Confirming TARGETS with the project sponsor and other
key stakeholders is of utmost importance. A feasibility study
will help to confirm that any targets that are discussed are
achievable.
3. Add a bit of "fat" into your project, both from a time and
budget perspective to cover any possible future SCOPE
creep. Ensure that you confirm the actual scope of the
project upfront. This way you will ensure that any future
scope changes can be managed successfully. Also, try and
keep the scope to a minimum. The benefit of breaking up a
large project into more manageable pieces, will allow you to
deliver tangible benefits at a more regular interval, rather
than a final project after a couple of years.
4. For project success, you must identify and find the best
people for your project. Confirm your key project team as
early as possible and communicate this to all stakeholders,
to ensure their availability at the right times. You must also
identify any additional RESOURCES that can assist you in
any contingency situation. As a project progresses you will
most probably need more people than you originally
identified and having a "backup" team to fall back to is a
great key to project success.
2. 5. PLANNING is one of the most critical success factors in any
project, as the project deliverables will be measured against
this plan. The best method, I found, is to only do detail
planning for the next three months, there after only at a high
level. Also, never over-plan and list all tasks for the entire
project right at the start. Your stakeholders will hold you to
these plans.
6. PROCESSES are another critical success factor in your
project, as this will ensure that everyone working on the
project adheres to the same standards and know exactly
what to do. Ensure you have documented processes for
items such as time management, cost management,
change management and even risk and issue management.
Ensure that such processes are communicated to all
stakeholders and people on the project team.
7. Once you have your project planning in place, another
important task is to ensure that you do proper project
TRACKING. This will allow any stakeholder at any time to
see what the status of your project is. Creating a dashboard
for the different levels of stakeholders in the project is one of
the best communication tools you can have, being it a high
level summary for the Project Steering Committee or a more
detailed dashboard for the team members on the ground.
8. The final golden rule for project success is project
REPORTING. Make sure that you upfront agree on the
detail of project reporting to the various stakeholders, as
well as the time lines in which such reporting will be done,
i.e. monthly to the Steering Committee and weekly to the
active theatre.
