I participate in several professional social networks and mostly let the questions asked pass.  One I saw recently (because Howard Weiner, who will do a follow-up post to this article commented) asked about questions to answer when coming to a project review with a steering committee.  I want to expand that and talk about the questions that should be asked and answered up front – before substantive work is done on any project. 

For me, in a world where resources are constrained, budgets are tight and projects seem to quickly run over their original scope boundaries, the up-front work may be the most critical to overall success.  Failure to ask and adequately answer them is a huge risk to the project and the overall portfolio of projects a company is managing

Should we do this?

Ideas for projects come from many fronts.  Some of them can be easily justified based on some core metrics while some of them are a bit vaguer in nature and require more scrutiny.  In either case, my experience says we need to start asking the same questions when an idea is presented.  The first one is “Should we do this project?”

If you can actually quantify the reasons for doing it (most companies find that difficult in actuality and tend to fake it), the answer becomes much easier.  ROI is a favorite metric here, along with other variants regarding ability to capitalize and depreciate the project work.  Whether or not the project is for a high-profile client, will add tangible revenue or is needed because of some contractual or legal commitments also comes into play.  However many attributes your measure, I would suggest ranking them on a 4-5 point scale which, when summed up, provide a discrete ranking score.

Say you have 5 attributes you are measuring and you use a 4-point scale.  Every project coming in the door would start with a score of “5” and the potential top-end project, hitting all the highest marks, would score a “20”.  If you do this right (I suggest using 4-6 total attributes here), you should have an easier job convincing the steering committee to green-light at least an investigative project to explore the next question.  Of course, a scoring system like this could also lead to that all important answer of “No” which is too infrequently seen and, as a result, tends to clog up the project pipeline.

Can we do this?

So the steering committee has answered “Yes! We should do this project.” and the work begins.  But is it the right work, meaning are we so sure that we “can” just because we decided we “should” at least attempt it?  This is where an initial effort (call it discovery, pre-planning or something else) can break down the details of the request and get into the true feasibility of the initiative.  Here we want to explore available options and answer a few more questions that support not only “can we” but “how will we” before we begin a significant investment.

The outcome and answer should be framed in a more formal charter, a confirmed scope, a broad level of effort and any external costs or choices we need to explore.  We may find that a contract clearly indicates we “should” but we don’t have the technology or expertise on the current staff and we “can’t” do it by ourselves.  Even if we do have the resources and knowledge, timing may not be what was anticipated or expected.  We may already have several projects in flight or in waiting that will require the same team(s) and then we start adding questions such as “what doesn’t get done?” instead of just “can we” do the project.

Here again, a weighted scale with as many quantifiable metrics as you can reliably include will help.  Keep the original 4-6 and add no more than 4-6 more (less is definitely better) to create a final score that should help with decisions and keep conversations with the originating sponsor factual.  They can also help fill out the “how can we” elements that will ultimately drive the project.

Saying no or wait

Deferring isn’t an easy conversation.  But even if we “should” do something it doesn’t mean that we “can” do it within the current organizational constraints.  Conversely, there are times where the “should” factors are so overwhelming that we need to do it now … and something else needs to be deferred.  Either way, you can’t make the decisions rationally or even pretend to be managing your portfolio of work if you aren’t asking the right question.  And you have to keep doing that, even if it means the answers aren’t as popular as you’d like them to be.

Bio:

Mark Moore has held multiple professional positions in IT and business for nearly 
three decades serving organizations both small and large, public and private.  With over half that time as a project manager, he has successfully managed major initiatives spanning multiple years with a cost of over $3 Million and teams of over 250 people.  He has been a Project Management Professional since 2002, served as President of the PMI Western Michigan Chapter, and presented at multiple NCPMI Annual Events.  Mark holds a Masters of Education degree from Colorado State University with a concentration in Adult Education and Training.  He is an experienced writer, speaker and presenter on project management and team building topics.  Mark is the Principal Consultant for Broken Arrow Associates, LTD.  He and his family live in a rural area outside of Raleigh, North Carolina.  To contact Mark for opportunities or questions, send an e-mail to info@baa-ltd.com.