"The beginning is the most important part of the work." --Plato Project Initiation "The beginning is the most important part of the work." --Plato

The importance of knowing your destination Alice: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” Cat: “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.” Alice: “I don’t much care where.” Cat: “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.” The lesson to be learned from this brief encounter is clear: before you can decide what to do, you must have a clear understand of what it is you want to accomplish. In terms of project management: without a clear understanding of project objectives any planning will be ineffectual. In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Alice comes across a Cheshire cat sitting in a tree near a fork in the road. Alice asks the cat, “Would you… If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there. Before you can decide what to do, you have to have a good understanding of what you want to accomplish. It doesn’t make much sense to begin working until you have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish. Every endeavor should start with a clear understanding of what is to be accomplished. Only then does it make sense to begin planning the optimal route to your desired destination. When starting a project or project phase it’s essential to have a clear idea of what you intend to accomplish. Image derived from: The Annotated Alice. Illustration by John Tenniel. Copyright © 1960 by Martin Gardner.

Project Initiation and Planning Determine destination. Define and get agreement on project goals and objectives Project Planning Devise a course of action for accomplishing the goals and objectives decided on during project initiation Destination != requirements. Project initiation will include some consideration of software product requirements and eventual project plan but project initiation is a separate and distinct phase. Requirements gathering and project planning are major undertakings that require considerable resources. Before it’s prudent and in many cases even possible to commit the needed resources, it must be shown that the project is worth pursuing. Project initiation is concerned with defining the destination; project planning is concerned with devising the optimal path to the destination.

The Primary Functions of Project Initiation Preliminary Planning Goals and objectives Scope Managing Expectations Agreement on goals Project success criteria Project Initiation clarifies project objectives. Having clear objectives helps to ensure project success. It is a basis for project planning. It defines specific project objectives and performance parameters. It is a tool for getting stakeholder agreement on project goals. It manages client expectations which helps to avoid disagreements and misunderstandings towards the end of a project. It announces and legitimizes the project by formally assigning authority to the project manager. There is certainly overlap and interaction between these three functions. Depending on your project, some or all of these may be important for your project. Authorizing the Project Project justification Assigning authority

The Project Initiation Process Q: What is the difference between a problem and an opportunity? Example? A project starts with an idea for solving a problem or taking advantage of an opportunity. Stakeholder wants, needs and expectations drive the project concept so the first step in project initiation is to identify stakeholders and their concerns. The project definition or concept is shaped by stakeholder interests. The results of the project initiation process are brought together (documented) in a project charter or mix of other documents (vision statement, statement or work, project rules, etc.). It may take several iterations over the project definition until one is found that is needed, feasible and optimum. The final result of project initiation is formal authority to proceed. Resources are allocated to the project and the project manager is authorized to proceed with the project. Sometimes the decision to do a project is made before the project is defined. For example, some projects are mandatory because of legal, regulatory, or other requirements. In these cases the focus of project initiation is on showing the project definition is optimum among the alternative ways of solving the problem. In some cases the project concept must also be justified with a business case showing a sufficient return on investment. Project initiation ends with formal authority to pursue the project. Formal authority to pursue a project is typically granted from a person or entity external to the project who is high enough in the organization to authorize the expenditure of resources towards the project. The initiation process followed by a go/no-go decision may be repeated for each major phase of the project. More commonly it will be done twice—once at the start of the project and again after requirements gathering and project planning. The additional information gained from requirements gathering and project planning reduce the variance in cost and schedule estimates making the question of feasibility more certain.

The Project Charter Output of the project initiation process is typically a project charter or mix of other initiating documents such as a vision statement, statement or work, project rules, etc.

Elements of a project charter Purpose – What problem or opportunity does the project address? Stakeholders – Who are the people with an interest in the outcome of the project? What are their needs and expectations. (Key stakeholders include: project sponsor, project manager, customer, and users.) Goals and Objectives – Goals and objectives define expected project outcomes. Objectives should be specific and measurable. Goals can be more grand and inspirational. Preliminary schedule and budget estimates. Features – Features are the main client-valued functions of a product. Purpose – include an image if it helps convey the project concept. Example project goal: “Put a man on the moon and return him safely by the end of the decade.” A very specific goal. Had the president just left it at “Put a man on the moon” technically they could have sent a person with no means of returning. If you’re the astronaut, that’s something you don’t want to find out at the end of the project.

Goals Example From Art of PM. It is important to distinguish between goals (objectives) and features. Goals and objectives are more stable than features. Features you might trade off when trying to accomplish goals and objectives. Keeping them separate makes it easier to maintain them. You don’t want dynamic features mixed in with mostly static goals and objectives.

Elements of a project charter [cont] Major milestones and deliverables – A milestone is a significant accomplishment during the life of a project. A deliverable is a tangible result. Financial Information – preliminary budget estimates for personnel and equipment. Constraints – limitations placed on the product or project. Milestones can be project– (business case approved, communication plan complete, project plan approved, etc.) or product–related (requirements approved, design complete, code complete). Most milestones will have a target date but a target date isn’t absolutely necessary. For example, a milestone might be: “Go 1 week without finding a major defect during system testing.” A deliverable is a tangible result produced by the project. The completion of most major deliverables will also be project milestones. The project charter should list all major internal and external milestones and deliverables along with their expected achievement dates. Milestones plus their expected achievement dates form a preliminary schedule. Constraints – limitations on possible solutions. Constraints may be product constraints such as restrictions on design and implementation as well as project constraints such as budget or schedule limitations.

Elements of a project charter [cont] Scope – what is and is not included in the project? Assumptions – does project success depend on certain conditions outside of the control of the immediate project team? (Something you “wish” to be true, can’t be an assumption.) Success Criteria – what constitutes project success? Risks and obstacles to success – what are the potential problems (technical and non-technical) that may occur? Start Here: moving content from notes to slides. 9/3/08. Priorities among and degrees of freedom with project performance parameters: cost, schedule, quality, and features. Assumptions – Assumptions are factors that are assumed to be true for the purposes of planning and making decisions. Assumptions can be broader to include any assumption upon which decisions rest. For example, you might make the assumption that programmers will become proficient in a new programming language in 6 weeks. If assumptions no longer hold, the decisions that followed from the assumptions will need to be reevaluated. Assumptions are placeholders, “if <assumption x> changes, we need to replan” Assumptions: Things you assume to be true for the purpose of planning. “So what happens if the Assumption is wrong? Usually it means that everything that has been built on that Assumption has to be reviewed, and possibly reworked. It may mean new work has to take place.”

Obtaining Formal Authority to Proceed A project is worth pursuing if it is: Needed - addresses a legitimate business problem or opportunity. Feasible - there a high probability that the performing organization can complete the project successfully. Optimum - the project is the best use of available resources. Formal authority to pursue a project is granted from a person or entity external to the project who is high enough in the organization to authorize the expenditure of resources towards the project.

Example

Communication Plan (This is probably the best place to discuss comm planning.)