Identifying project scope, goals and deliverables.
Measure the success of a project. Using S.M.A.R.T. goals, in the previous step, we get these.
Identifying project stakeholders and each of their roles and responsibilities.
Scoping project tools and resources.
Costs Benefit Analysis
Project Kick-Off
GOALS
The goal is what you’ve been asked to do and what you’re trying to achieve.
The desired outcome of the project.
The 2 most used frameworks for goal setting are “S.M.A.R.T. goals” and “OKR’s”.
We can use the 2 simultaneously in different parts of a project, but the way I use them is:
– SMART goals are often used in more task-oriented roles or teams.
– OKR’s are more for aspirational goals but can also be used for committed goals, so I use them to monitor ambitious goals. It’s good to align the purpose of a company throughout the organisation.
This means I mostly use SMART goals as I am always part of a task-oriented team.
“OKRs shine when setting ambitious goals that inspire businesses to innovate and adapt continuously. This makes them an excellent fit for dynamic industries, startups, or companies seeking substantial growth or transformative change.
In contrast, SMART goals excel in situations where precision and clarity are favored. They’re well-suited for businesses and industries where specific, measurable, and achievable targets are critical, like those in healthcare, where well-defined tasks leave little room for ambiguity.” in https://quantive.com/resources/articles/okrs-vs-smart-goals
About the S.M.A.R.T. framework.
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
– How much?
– How many?
– How will I know when it’s accomplished?
– Metrics: What you use to measure something
– Benchmarks: Points of reference
Achievable / Attainable
– Can it reasonably be reached?
– How can it be accomplished?
Realistic / Relevant
– Does the goal make sense?
– Is the goal worthwhile?
– Is it the right time?
Time-Bound
– Has a deadline or clear time frame
| GOAL #1 | “To drive more visitors to our website, I want to increase website traffic by 10% within the next three months. I will use a mix of SEO, PPC, content marketing, and other tactics to get more organic and paid visitors to our site.” |
| Specific | The SMART goal clearly states the target that needs to be achieved. |
| Measurable | Measure success using analytics tools like Google Analytics. |
| Achievable | This can be accomplished by leveraging various digital marketing tactics. |
| Realistic | Increasing website traffic is directly related to growing an ecommerce business. |
| Timebound | The statement should be reached within three months. |
| GOAL #2 | “I want to increase our ecommerce website’s conversion rate by 10% within 6 months through optimizing user experience and website navigation. This will be done through A/B testing, user surveys, and customer service feedback.” |
| Specific | You know what you need to do (optimize the user experience and website navigation) and how you’ll do it (through A/B testing, surveys, and feedback). |
| Measurable | You can track the conversion rate and calculate the exact percentage. |
| Achievable | Increasing the conversion rate by 10% is a reasonable goal. |
| Realistic | Enhancing the website’s conversion rate will boost sales and profits. |
| Timebound | A timeline of 6 months is set for goal completion. |
| GOAL #3 | “I want to reduce customer frustration by optimizing the checkout process on our website. I will improve the interface and make it easier for customers to complete the purchase within two months.” |
| Specific | This describes the desired outcome (optimize checkout process) and how it will be done (improve interface). |
| Measurable | You could measure the customer feedback and sales data before and after the changes. |
| Achievable | Making improvements to the checkout process is absolutely feasible. |
| Realistic | The goal centers around improving customer experience through checkout optimization. |
| Timebound | You’ll set an end date of two months for success. |
About the OKR’s framework.
OKR’s: Objectives + Key Results
– Combine a Goal and a Metric to determine a measurable outcome.
Objective:
– Similar to goals
– Defines what needs to be achieved
– Describes a desired outcome
– Examples
– Increase in customer retention
– Improve the employee onboarding process
Key Results:
– The measurable outcomes that define when the objective has been met
– Can be from 2 to 4 key results
– Examples:
– Objective: improve customer retention
– Key Result: achieve a 90% customer satisfaction rating by the end of the first quarter
OKR Levels
– These can be separated in several levels, but the OKR bellow has to align with the OKR levels above
– Company/Organization
– Department/Team
– Project
Examples:
| OBJECTIVE #1 | “Boost organic website traffic“ |
| Key Result #1 | Collaborate with influencers to expand reach and drive traffic |
| Key Result #2 | Increase social media engagement and referral traffic |
| Key Result #3 | Publish quality content regularly to attract and retain visitors |
| Key Result #4 | Improve website SEO to increase organic search ranking |
SCOPE
The process to define the work that needs to happen to complete the project.
This is what defines the boundaries of a project.
What’s considered in-scope, out-of-scope, and scope creep.
Sources of Scope Creep
– External
– Customer requests
– Environment shifts
– Changes in Technology
– Internal
– Product improvements
– Processes changes
Solutions for scope creep
– Make project plans visible. How much it will cost, how long it will take.
– Get clarity on project requirements. Ask for constructive criticism.
– Set ground rules and expectations for stakeholder involvement. Before contracts are signed.
– Create a plan for dealing with out-of-scope requests. Agree on who can make formal change requests and how they will be evaluated, accepted and performed.
– Put your agreements and plans in writing to point to in case of disagreements.
Managing changes to projects scope:
The triple constraint model/framework
– Scope
– Cost
– Time
Can’t change one, without have an impact on the others.
But, just because you can make a change, doesn’t mean you should make a change. Unless there is a good reason to do so.
Trade-off…. if one changes, the others must change too.
Best practices are to make sure to document everything in the beginning and share it with all the stakeholders and team members and make sure everybody’s in agreement on that scope.
DELIVERABLES
Products and services that you will create for your customer, client, or project sponsor.
What gets produced or presented at the end of a task, event, or process.
Help quantify and realize the impact of the project.
Project features and functionalities, documentation, processes, training sessions, and more. They can be tangible or intangible.
Examples
– Report / presentation at the end of a sprint
Template
Project Launch
Delivering the final result of the project to the client or user.
A launch isn’t a meaningful measure of success, It’s what comes after the launch that really counts.
Project Landing
Measuring the success of the project using the success criteria established at the outset of the project
Accessibility
Actively removing any barriers that might prevent persons with disabilities from being able to access technology, information, or experiences, and leveling the playing field so everyone has an equal chance of enjoying life and being successful.
SUCCESS CRITERIA
Tells you whether of not the project was successful.
Specific details of project goals,deliverables, requirements and expectations.
The standards by which the project will be judge once it’s been delivered to stakeholders. How you measure how successful a project was in reaching its goals.
Explain how to define and measure a project’s success criteria.
Determining Project Success
– Identify the measurable aspects of your project
– Get clarity from stakeholders on the project requirements and expectations. How defines what is success.
Best practices are to make sure to document everything in the beginning and share it with all the stakeholders and team members and make sure everybody’s in agreement on the success criteria.
Example of Success metrics:
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 long success will be measured, how often it’s measured, and who’s responsible for measuring it.
Share the documentation with the stakeholders and ask if they agree how the success sill be determined.
Have the appropriate stakeholders sign off on the success criteria.
Defining your success criteria should create greater alignment within the team and give everybody better visibility into how to achieve success.
TEAM / STAKEHOLDERS
They’re people who both have an interest in, and are affected by, the completion and success of a project.
When choosing a team, consider:
– Required roles
– Team size
– Necessary skills
– Availability
– Motivation
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 products produced by your project
Stakeholders
Anyone involved in the project who has a vested interest in the projects success.
Primary stakeholders: are people who will benefit directly from the project’s success
Secondary stakeholders: are people indirectly impacted by the project’s success
Project Manager
The person who plans, organizes, and oversees the whole project.
The most important part about project management is understanding the personalities of the people you work with so that you can tailor your approach to make sure that you’re working effectively with them.
Stakeholders Analysis:
– Make a list of all the stakeholders the project impacts
– Determine the level of interest and influence for each stakeholder
– 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.
How much are the needs of the stakeholder affected by the project operations and outcomes.
Stakeholder buy-in:
The process of involving these people indecision making to hopefully reach a broader consensus on the organization’s future.
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 a task is complete
RACI Matrix Example:
| Project Initiation | Project Sponsor | Project Manager | Analyst | Technical Architect | Developers |
| Phase 1: Research | |||||
| Task 1 | Responsible | Accountable | Informed | Informed | Informed |
| Task 2 | Responsible | Accountable | Informed | Informed | Informed |
| Phase 2: Structure | |||||
| Task 3 | Consulted | Responsible | Accountable | Informed | Informed |
| Task 4 | Informed | Responsible | Informed | Informed | Informed |
| etc…… |
Active listening, questioning, socializing, with stakeholders, colleagues, clients, getting to know everything about the goals, to have everything into consideration into the plan.
RESOURCES
Budget
An estimate of the amount of money a project will cost to complete
People
Help execute the tasks of a project
Materials
Items you need to help the the project done.
DOCUMENTATION
Clear and consistent documentation can ensure transparency and clear communication.
– 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 Proposal and Project Charter
PROJECT PROPOSAL
A form of documentation that persuades a stakeholder to begin a project.
This may be a formal document, a presentation, or a simple email, with the desired goals and impact to get everyone on board with the idea.
A project manager may not have done the proposal, but has to keep track of this documents progress.
The project proposal kicks off the initiation phase by influencing and persuading the company to move forward with the project.
PROJECT CHARTER
A formal document that clearly defines the project and its goals, and outlines what is needed to accomplish them.
The project charter’s goal is to clearly define the key details of the project.
This document comes at the end of the initiation phase.
Review this document with stakeholders to get their approval to move forward to the planning stage.
The project charter helps ensure that you and your stakeholders agree on the details of the project.
This is the point of reference through the project.
The project charter makes clear that the benefits of the project outweigh the costs of the project.
Cost Benefit Analysis
– Business value created
– Money saved
– Time invested
Creating a project charter is a best practice for ensuring that everyone agrees on hoe to move forward before entering the planning phase.
Project Charter structure:
– First page
– Name
– Executive summary
– Project goals
– Deliverables
– Business Case / Background
– Benefits & Costs
– Benefits
– Costs
– Budget needed
Scope and Exclusion
– In Scope
– Out of Scope
Project Team
– Project Sponsor
– Project Lead (Project Manager)
– Project Team
– Additional Stakeholders
Measuring Success
TOOLS
Aids that make it easier for a project manager or team to manage resources and organize work
Can help to:
– Track tasks with detailed information like deadlines
– Manage budgets
– Collaborate with teammates
– Create helpful diagrams
– Keep Stakeholders informed
– Manage contracts
Productivity & Collaboration tools
– Online shared documents
– Meeting agendas
– Status updates
– Spreadsheets
– RACI Charts
– Project Plans
– Presentations
– Project Overviews
– Email and Chat
My Tools stack in the past were:
– Google Suite (email+calendar+chat), OpenOffice, shared FTP, ActiveCollab
– Google Workspace (email+calendar+chat), LibreOffice / Google Docs / Evernote, Dropbox, Git, ClickUp
– MS 365 (email+calendar), Slack, MS Office, 1Password, BitBucket, Asana
– MS 365 email+calendar, Teams, MS Office, MS Project, Confluence, Jira