SO YOU’RE GOING TO BE MANAGING A

PROJECT?
Congratulations!

What is a project, anyway, and how do you know if you’re working on one?

A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.

All projects must have a beginning and an end. Examples of projects include the polio vaccine,
the pyramids of Giza, and the creation of solar wind analyzing software.

If what you’re working on doesn’t fit this description, then it’s not a project—it’s operations.

This playbook outlines a quick and easy process to help you deliver projects successfully. It is
intended to bring an entrepreneurial mindset to project delivery and eliminate costly rework.

If you’re not a project manager but are expected to deliver project-based work, this is for you.

Projects should be chosen and prioritized based on their impact to business outcome.

It’s difficult to prioritize projects if your team’s strategy to achieve desired business outcomes
is unclear.
Projects are all about change. You’ll need to plan for the impact of theses changes on people
(employees, clients, or customers), and communicate more than just the project outputs.
Consider the project management domains when crafting your plan.

Sure, your mentor (if you’re lucky enough have one) knows what all the project management
domains are and how they are interconnected. Each step in this playbook gives you a window
into these domains. We’ll look at just the essentials you’ll need to consider, and how you’ll
know you have each area covered.

 Your project is all about the benefits and the value delivered, whether that’s customer
value, business value, or financial value.

Pay attention to what’s being measured and reported by and to senior leadership. It will
help you better understand where you can have the greatest impact.

It’s ok to ask your group’s leadership which business outcomes matter most, and where
investments should be made.
  Don’t plan in isolation. Include those involved in the process.

 Don’t jump right into design and development. Start by fully understanding the problem
you’re trying to solve.

 The amount of process should be appropriate to the scope and criticality of the project.
Don’t let the process take over.

 The process should enable communication, collaboration, and engagement. If a specific

process does none of these, try again.

 Stay focused on the outcomes and consistently question your level of progress to
ensure the process doesn’t slow you down.

 Adapt these guidelines to meet the needs of your project.

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF:

1. Does my idea or the thing I’m being asked to do align with the company’s business
goals?
2. Who is my sponsor ?

HOW YOU KNOW YOU HAVE THIS COVERED:

You understand the problem you’re trying to solve and the stakeholder need you’re satisfying.
You know the impact of the desired change to be delivered via the project.
You can articulate what success looks like and what your desired outcomes will be.
You included all the appropriate people in the planning process.
If your department has templates, definitely leverage them instead of reinventing the wheel.
If you can do these things, you should be feeling pretty confident in this area.

Align people and objectives

The Goal
The goal is to be on the same page as your stakeholders and most importantly, your
project sponsor . This could be your manager, your customer, or any other stakeholder who
can greatly influence your project.
Make sure you and your sponsor feel the same way about the following things:

 Outcomes to be achieved

 Project scope

 Schedule

 Who’s involved

 Known risks

 Resources needed

 Anything else you can think of that could impact the project

Where To Begin
Start by documenting key stakeholders, including your sponsor. Talk with your sponsor about
project size and complexity.

Get A Formal Charter Review

Hold a formal Charter Review with your sponsor. This is the key to ensuring that planning
goes smoothly.

It’s Time To Talk About Risk

Identify risks before and during project execution. Risk analysis starts at the beginning of a
project.
GOOD QUESTIONS TO ASK

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR SPONSOR:

1. Are you my one-and-only sponsor?

2. Are there any potential risks that you can already see?

You Know You Have This Covered When…

You and your sponsor are aligned around the notion that the high-level success factors are
feasible to achieve in light of risks and other factors.
You have started to map out the biggest risks and opportunities that may impact the project
and desired change.
Keep working it,
you’re doing great!

Create a Project Charter

The idea is to create a concise, collaborative, and easy-to-digest document. It should be short
and sweet, so that anyone who gets their hands on it can understand what this project is all
about.

You Need Input

There are a number of elements that should be captured here. Make sure you involve your
sponsor to help articulate each point in your charter.
DOWNLOAD TEMPLATE

CREATE A PROJECT CHARTER

Your charter will contain high-level information, including the intended project objectives ,
project scope , schedule , risks , etc.

But first, you need a project. Check out “WHAT’S MY PROJECT” to find out what you and your
team are building. You can skip this if you already know about your project.

WHAT’S MY PROJECT?

CREATE A PROJECT CHARTER

Your Project
You recently joined a product development team that has been tasked with creating an
automated garden box that uses live weather data to keep the plants inside it happy. Your
team nicknamed the product the "GrowBot."

GrowBot will monitor and correct the temperature, water, and sun levels in the garden box,
and the user can control it with their phone.

And by the way, you will be managing this project!

DONE

CREATE A PROJECT CHARTER

Let’s start with the project objectives . Project objectives are goals, plain and simple. Drag
and drop the best option the empty field below.

Create an automated garden box you can control from your phone that uses live weather data
to create ideal conditions for plants.

Create a product that you can monitor and control from your phone called the Growbot.

Business Need/Project Objectives

Business Need/Project Objectives
Create an automated garden box you can control from your phone that uses live weather data
to create ideal conditions for plants.

CREATE A PROJECT CHARTER

OK, let’s talk requirements .Select the most appropriate project requirements for this
project. What are some of the major items that will enable us to meet our goal?

A smaller indoor option

A training/support program
Project Requirements
Auto-water mechanism
Auto-shade protection
Auto-temperature control

CREATE A PROJECT CHARTER

Great work. Here is your completed, simple project charter.

Business Need/Project Objectives

Create an automated garden box you can control from your phone that uses live weather data
to create ideal conditions for plants.
Project Requirements

 Auto-water mechanism
 Auto-shade mechanism
 Auto-humidity control

Project Deliverables

 The garden box

 A web app/software
  Computer to run automation
 Growbot hardware

Project Does Not Include

 Live video feed

 Mechanism for harvest
 Size/finish options
 Proprietary hoses

Acceptance Criteria
The product is fully functioning, tested and verified. It is ready to go to market.

Know your stakeholders

The Goal
During the course of any project, you’re going to interface with lots of people. These people
have their own priorities, opinions, and levels of power that you must consider.
Understanding your stakeholders will be key to gathering project requirements.
Different Motivations
Customers are stakeholders , too. Remember that they have their own distinct motivations
and needs.
Try to get a handle on their desired outcomes, expectations, and communication preferences.

Get Help

If you can’t get the resources you need when you need them, ask for help.

GOOD QUESTIONS TO ASK

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF:

1. Can you list all your stakeholders?

2. Do you know their motivations and needs?

You Know You Have This Covered When…

You can identify your customers and other stakeholders as two groups with distinct
motivations and needs.
You can articulate their desired outcomes, expectations, and communication preferences.
Keep it moving!
You’re doing awesome.

Create An Empathy Map

Use an empathy map to document and detail the attributes of customers and stakeholders. You can do this whenever
you find a need to immerse yourself in a user’s environment. It can be a great team exercise.
An empathy map is split into four quadrants with the user or persona in the middle. Any pains or gains the customer
may experience can be captured as well.
 Empathy Map

The mapping process reveals any holes in existing user data. This will help you throughout the project and will
influence your communications planning.
DOWNLOAD TEMPLATE

CREATE AN EMPATHY MAP

It’s time to ask questions to reach deeper insights.

But first, you need a project. Check out “WHAT’S MY PROJECT” to find out what you and your
team are building. You can skip this if you already know about your project.

WHAT’S MY PROJECT?

CREATE AN EMPATHY MAP

Ready to play?

You’ve already done some requirements gathering and held some interviews with your end
users. Let’s go a little deeper and complete an empathy map.

Here’s how it’s done: Let the team produce sticky notes based on watching users interact with
a crude prototype. Continue to get started.

CREATE AN EMPATHY MAP

Click on a section of the empathy map to assign each sticky.

My subject said, "This would allow me to travel again!"

CREATE AN EMPATHY MAP

Great work! After several rounds of this you’ll have a nice visual tool that will help you and the
team build empathy for your customer. It will help you remove bias and understand what
drives your customers’ behavior.

Get a grip on project requirements

The Goal
Project requirements are the conditions or tasks that must be completed to ensure project
success.
You defined project success in your charter. That’s going to come in handy right about now.
The charter contains the project goal, measurable outcomes, a list of stakeholders, high-level
risks, etc. Use this to help guide you in gathering requirements.

Ensure that requirements are aligned to the high-level scope and project outcomes defined in
the project charter.
You can prioritize those requirements based on value to the project outcomes, to your
customers, and to your stakeholders.

You might not know all of your requirements at the onset and that’s OK. Identify what you can
up front and implement a process for prioritizing effectively later on.

Don’t Skimp On Time

Take the time to properly gather and analyze requirements .

Understanding your customers and stakeholders and their influence will allow you prioritize
the requirements accordingly.

Be Aggressive

No customer or stakeholder will hand you a complete set of requirements. You have to dig, be
persistent, and iterate.

Break It Down

Break down requirements to the level where you can assign ownership and/or effectively test.

Align To Scope

Ensure the requirements are aligned to the overall scope of the project and desired
change/outcome.
Iterate Regularly

You might not know all of your requirements at the onset and that’s ok. Identify what you can
upfront and implement a process for prioritizing effectively later on.

Plan For The Future

Plan for how you will manage verifying fulfillment of requirements. Also plan for how you will
manage requirement changes over time.

GOOD QUESTIONS TO ASK

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF:

1. Do you have a process for continually tracking and documenting requirements? Is it

working for you?

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR SPONSOR:

1. Does your sponsor agree with the list of requirements you have gathered so far?

You Know You Have This Covered When…

You have a list of prioritized project requirements that illustrate what needs to be delivered
and how it will be sustained in the future.
Rock that list!
It will help guide you.