Learn how to best prepare for project planning.

Hello, and welcome to our Impactful Projects

and Planning Series.

I'm Jami Yazdani.

And in today's session, we're going to talk

about how to initiate projects and best prepare

for project planning.

I actually talked about project and initiation

at a session at the start of the year.

In that session, the content was really aimed

at the organizational and teen levels.

We talked about activities that should happen

during the initiation phase of a project to

set your team and stakeholders up for success.

In that session, we discussed project approval,

setting parameters, and holding a project

kickoff meeting.

These are all still things that I recommend,

and ideally would be part of your organization's

project processes and workflows.

So what I want to talk about today, day is

project initiation from the project managers

perspective, as this is a question I get a

lot from project managers.

So folks are asking me, What are the first

steps I need to take as a project manager

on a new project?

And regardless of our organization's processes

during initiation, how can we prepare for

project planning.

So I've got four steps to share that should

help you as a project manager get off to the

right start.

I'll also share some of the challenges I see

new project managers facing as they start

a project.

All right.

So I recommend that your first step is to

confirm your understanding of the project

scope, or overall purpose with the project's

initiators.

What this means practically, is that we have

a conversation with leadership or whoever

has initiated the project to make sure we

completely understand the project's purpose.

And mission-driven organizations projects

may start with a funding or grant proposal,

and there may be significant time between

when that proposal was written.

And when the project actually starts.

You may be handed that proposal during initiation.

But it's also useful to affirm that nothing

has changed since the project was proposed,

even when a project is internally funded.

And even if you think you understand the project

scope well, I still recommend confirming or

reconfirming scope with your leadership.

So one of the easiest ways to do this is to

write out your project scope, and ask your

leadership and initiators if this scope reflects

what they would like to see from the project,

I find that this question can really spark

a conversation that can help you gain clarity

and understand project expectations.

The next step is to confirm any project parameters

or constraints.

So common project parameters include budget

timeline, and resource availability.

So for budget, we want to understand how much

money if any, the project can spend, are there

any constraints on how or when that money

can be spent?

If you're working with grant funding, it's

going to be really important that you understand

any requirements set by your funder.

For timeline, when should the project start?

When should it be completed?

Are there any critical dates or deadlines

within the project's timeline that you need

to know about?

Also, are there other things happening in

the organization that might impact your projects

timeline?

You also want to ask and confirm what resources

are available to you.

Who can you tap into to support the project?

Are there tools or technology or access to

spaces that you can count on during the project?

Maybe there are resources you can't count

on.

So even if it's only for a certain period

of time during your project.

So for example, perhaps you won't have access

to volunteers in the month ahead of your organization's

annual event.

Like scope, we want to make sure we understand

and clarify our projects context before we

do any planning.

Often you can confirm and discuss these parameters

and constraints with leadership or initiators

in that scope conversation that I just recommended

in step one.

The next step is to identify the project's

key stakeholders as you consider and confirm

your project scope and resources, you may

feel like you are well on your way to knowing

your projects key stakeholders, I still think

it's useful to spend some time thinking about

and actually listing those stakeholders or

stakeholder groups.

Stakeholders are going to be anybody who is

impacted by the project or involved in the

project, we may want to consider who we need

to engage with throughout the project.

So when mission-driven organizations, the

success of our projects is often defined by

our stakeholders as our projects or building

programs or deliverables for them to use.

And our projects cannot be successful without

the work and support of folks across and sometimes

even beyond our organization.

So these are our stakeholders, so take some

time to draft a list of them, so that you

can start to engage and communicate with them

as soon as you begin planning.

Lastly, I recommend reviewing any project

templates or plans for similar projects to

help you get some ideas for structuring and

drafting your own project plan.

So perhaps there are documents from similar

past projects or programs, or even current

projects that your organization is running,

that you can look at to inform how you approach

your project planning.

Maybe there are templates or examples of reports

or agendas or schedules that have been used

in other projects within your organization

that you can repurpose.

You can also look for templates or examples

being used by similar organizations to yours

that you can borrow from.

I've said this before, and I'll probably say

it again.

But don't reinvent the wheel, you may not

find a template or example within your organization

or online that exactly fits your needs.

But you're pretty likely to find some elements

that may work for your project.

This puts you in a better position to start

your project, and will save you time creating

things from scratch.

So those are a few steps that you can take

as a project manager to set yourself up for

leading project success.

So confirm your project scope with project

initiators to confirm any project parameters

or constraints, list your projects, key stakeholders

and review templates and plans for similar

projects, these steps can take you into your

project planning.

So wonderful.

Sounds simple, right?

We even covered it in just a few minutes.

But what I find is that it's actually kind

of easy to get tripped up with these steps,

despite how simple they may sound.

So one of the challenges I often see with

folks trying to get their projects off the

ground is that they can't get past the project

scope step, they essentially get stuck at

scope.

I see this most often when the project manager

has been part of the project's inception.

So perhaps the project was their idea, or

they were very involved in that early concept

or the funding proposal.

I also see stuck at scope, when a project

manager is building something that they will

also lead.

So perhaps they're designing a program or

deliverable that they will later run and manage.

These folks often have so many great ideas

for the project, and they've dreamt about

all the impacts the project is going to have

and that eventual program will have right.

So while this has some great benefits in managing

the project, it can also make it hard for

them to concisely and clearly articulate the

project scope.

So, I recently had a really wonderful project

coaching client who had this issue.

She was managing the development of a program

that was her idea, something she was very,

very passionate about.

And so when you asked her about project scope,

she launched into this long kind of beautiful,

wonderful speech about why the program was

so important, about all of her ideas for how

users would interact with the program once

it was launched.

Because of this, she was struggling to get

her colleagues and team on board with a project

in any concrete way.

They didn't know what they could offer or

how they could help because they didn't actually

know what needed to be done during the program

development project, they could not see the

ladder for the clouds.

With this client, we worked on drafting a

one-sentence scope statement that clearly

stated what the project was about, not what

the eventual program would do, or how it would

impact those that it would serve or why the

project needed people support.

But what the project's purpose was, which

was to design and develop this particular

program.

Well, we absolutely can use big ideas and

those clouds to initiate buy-in, we need a

concrete purpose to keep folks engaged with

us throughout a project.

When we combined this scope with some concrete

project deliverables, it became much easier

for my client's colleagues to get engaged;

she was giving them that ladder.

So if you're stuck at scope, try writing a

clear, concise scope statement.

Like my client, it may take you a few drafts

to get it down to one sentence, but it is

definitely worth your time.

The next challenge I see project managers

face is that they try to go it alone.

So they think they have to magically have

all of the answers and should be able to generate

a perfect project plan and approach from scratch

or from the funding proposal they were given.

Project planning should be collaborative,

which is why I suggest starting initiation

with some conversations, get clarity through

these conversations, start drafting a plan,

and bring your stakeholders in to offer input

and suggestions.

While I sometimes joke that I project manage

myself, and many project management strategies

and tools are useful when you're working alone,

project management is really about collaboration.

Your role as a project manager is to facilitate

collaboration to get to those successful deliverables

or outcomes.

So, collaborate from the get go.

It's going to save you a lot of time, and

keep you from underutilizing your colleagues.

Which brings me back to that conversation

with leadership.

A great question to ask during that scope

and parameters conversation is what have you

seen other project managers do that you think

contributed most to their project success?

The answer to this question may give you some

great ideas for approaching project planning,

as well as some insight into challenges you

might face.

I'd also encourage you to talk to other project

managers or folks leading similar projects

or programs within your organization.

What has been most useful to them?

What pitfalls can they share that you might

be able to avoid?

Alright, so for more help getting your projects

off to a great start, check out our Project

Planning Checklist.

This simple checklist is a great place to

help you plan for project planning.

This free download is available at yazdaniconsulting.com/resources.

If you need hands-on support leading projects

and teams or initiating your projects, visit

our Project Solutions page at yazdaniconsulting.com/projects

to learn about how we can help.

Great, so we only have a few minutes left,

I'm happy to take any questions you have about

project initiation, you can go ahead and add

them into the comments.

There's always a slight streaming delay, so

I'll give folks a few moments to add their

questions.

If I'm not able to answer your question live,

I'm happy to respond later in the comments.

You can also find all of the ways to contact

me at yazdaniconsulting.com/contact.

Please reach out if you'd like to talk about

project initiation or if you're stuck at scope.

So a question is if the project is already

underway when I'm brought in as the project

manager, what steps should I take then?

So really, I would just encourage you to do

kind of a version of these four steps.

So you absolutely want to do one and two,

you want to make sure you confirm and talk

with leadership about scope and parameters.

I also would recommend not only talking with

leadership or initiators, but also having

conversations with your project team and key

stakeholders.

I would also recommend, you know, reviewing

existing project documents and plans so you

want to get really familiar with what's been

happening in the project.

Then, I think you are going to be in a position

to go to your project team and ask them what

has been working and what hasn't.

Essentially, you'll conduct a retrospective.

If you have any concern that these kinds of

questions will seem like a judgment on the

previous project manager's work, you can always

kind of frame it as, how can I be most helpful

to you going forward, rather than a retrospective?

All right, great.

So feel free to comment or reach out to me

message me with any additional questions.

So thank you for participating in our Impactful

Projects and Planning series.

Thanks!