How to Incorporate Sustainability into our Projects

For mission-driven organizations, we should consider project sustainability as early as possible so that we can ensure that our project's outcomes are something that our organization can or should maintain (learn more at What is project sustainability?).

We should consider and incorporate sustainability during:

• Project feasibility or initiation, when we are deciding whether to pursue the project in the first place. We can consider and ask:

  • Are we creating something that we will want to sustain, like a new program or system?

  • Who will be impacted by the deliverables in the short-term and the long-term? How will they be impacted?

  • What resources will be needed after the project ends?

• Scope Development. Is our purpose to design or build something that can be implemented, that's financially sound or environmentally friendly? We can add sustainability language to our scope to keep sustainability front and center throughout the project.

• Stakeholder Identification. Are we including those who will actually be impacted by the project's deliverables or outcomes in the long -term? Are we including experts who understand environmental impacts or financial or organizational impacts? Have we gotten input from people who understand what sustainability means for our organization?

• Quality Planning. Are we testing or assessing our project outcomes for sustainability? When we are determining how we will measure the quality of our project’s deliverables, we can establish criteria that meet our organization's sustainability goals, use standards or regulations that meet sustainability guidelines and best practices, and get input and feedback from users on sustainability.

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