"A project is complete when it starts working for you, rather than you working for it." - Scott Allen

If you've followed along here for any real duration, you'll know that I sit at the intersection of innovation management and project management....literally.  I earn my living as both a Project Manager and as an Innovation Manager.  You'll also know that my preferred (and recommended) method for converting ideas into reality that also meets a need (my definition of innovation) is the discipline and process found in the generally accepted practices of project management.

So imagine that you and your organization have solicited ideas, from both inside and outside of your organization, and in direct response to a well-researched business or customer problem.  You've used your carefully crafted idea filtering and selection criteria to select the best few ideas for consideration.  You've taken those selected ideas and developed a prototype or two and maybe run them by a couple of customer-based research groups.  Now...you're ready to launch a project to realize one of the ideas.

What questions do you, a stakeholder in the success of the project, ask?  How do you define what needs to be done?  How do you decide on how much money and time you need to get it done?  Where do you start?  Hopefully this will help:

Stakeholder Questions At Project Planning Launch:

1. What do we want to accomplish?
2. What…specifically…are we delivering at the end of this effort?
3. Who will take responsibility for what we are delivering once this effort is over?
4. What are the key deliverables that we need to accomplish to reach our end goal?
5. Who do we need to help us define and sequence the tasks needed to meet those key deliverables?
6. Who do we need to complete the tasks needed to meet those key deliverables?
7. How much time do we need to meet those key deliverables?
8. How much money do we need to meet those key deliverables?
9. What are the risks we can anticipate that might keep us from meeting those key deliverables?
10. How will we react to the aforementioned risks if they occur

 

Stakeholder Questions At Project Execution Launch:

1. What are we tracking to know we are on schedule?
2. What are we tracking to know we are on budget?
3. What are we tracking to know we are making progress on completing our key deliverables?
4. How will we identify risks and/or issues?
5. What will be our responses to the previously identified risks and/or issues?
6. Who else needs to know the answers to these questions and what is their preferred communication channel?
7. Do we have the appropriate amount of resources (human, budget, space, etc) necessary to execute the estimated work effort?
8. Do we have the appropriate amount of leadership commitment and oversight to ensure a quality project delivery?
9. Does our effort have any dependencies or conflicts with any other efforts currently being conducted within the organization?
10. Have we identified any other “part-time” or transient resources required for project delivery?

 

Stakeholder Questions At Regularly Scheduled Project Status Meetings:

1. Are we on schedule?
2. Are we on budget?
3. Are we making progress on completing our key deliverables?
4. Are we confident the key deliverables meet our quality standards?
5. Are there any risks and/or issues that have come up since the last time we met?
6. What is our response to the risks and/or issues
7. Do we still have enough time, money and resources to complete our key deliverables?
8. Are there any changes required to ensure we have enough time, money and resources to complete our key deliverables?
9. Is there any opportunity to speed up the schedule, reduce cost, free-up resources or deliver additional tasks without negative impact?
10. Are the right people being informed of our progress and status?

 

Stakeholder Questions at Project Closure:

1. Did we accomplish what we promised at the beginning of the project, plus or minus any changes handled via the approved change management process?
2. Did we successfully complete the key deliverables promised at the beginning of the project?
3. Did the person tasked with the responsibility for receiving of work product agree to accept the deliverables without the need for additional effort, time, money or other resources?
4. Did we deliver our effort on time (within acceptable variance)?
5. Did we deliver our effort on budget (within acceptable variance)?
6. Were the deliverables of acceptable quality?
7. Were there any significant risks and/or issues that caused us stray outside the acceptable variance limits set for the effort?
8. Were the right people communicated with regarding the completion of the effort and the results?
9. Have the resources (human, remaining budget, space, etc.) been released for other use?
10. What are the lessons learned from this effort that may benefit future project teams?

Project management, like innovation management, isn't rocket science.  It does, however, take a liberal amount of common sense.  It also takes discipline, organization, courage, financial acumen, people management, soft skills, an eye for risk and a pinch of luck.