Introduction to Project Initiation:
- Initiation is the first phase of the project.
- A well-planned initiation results in a strong foundation for your project, and sets it up for success.
- Initiation begins after a problem or opportunity has been identified within an organization.
- Often, stakeholders like senior leaders at a company will initiate a project to address a specific need for the business.
- For example, ByFaith Travels company like to roll out a new product, improve employee well being, or reduce costs in a certain department.
- It's your responsibility as the project manager to help identify the project goals, resources, and other details based on initial discussions with the project stakeholders.
- Even though someone else might come up with an idea for the project, it's still your job to figure out all the important pieces that need to come together in order to get the work done.
Importance of Project initiation:
- The initiation phase is a crucial time for asking stakeholders the right questions, performing research, determining resources, and clearly documenting the key components of a project.
- Doing this will help you solidify the scope, or the boundary, of the project.
- If the project isn't initiated properly, things can go wrong pretty fast.
- For example, without sufficient understanding of the project's goals, you might underestimate what resources you need or how long the project might take.
- Or, without agreeing with stakeholders on what success looks like, you might think the project was completed successfully, while the stakeholders might think it didn't accomplish their goals.
- Getting on the same page and gaining clarity during the initiation phase can save a lot of time and extra work for everyone throughout the project.
- Proper initiation also helps ensure that the benefits of the project outcomes will outweigh the costs of the project.
- To determine this we use Cost Benefit Analysis.
Cost Benefit Analysis is the process of adding up the expected value of a project (the benefits) and comparing them to the dollar costs.
To do this, you will work with stakeholders to consider a few questions.
To determine the benefits of a project, those questions might include:
- What value will this project create?
- How much money could this project save our organization?
- How much money will it bring in from existing customers?
- How much time will be saved?
- How will the user experience be improved?
To determine the costs of the project, those questions might include:
- How much time will people have to spend on this project?
- What will be the one-time costs?
- Are there any ongoing costs?
- What about long-term costs?
The benefits of a project should always outweigh the costs, so it's really important for a Project Manager to consider these questions early on.
Key components of project initiation:
key components in initiation: There are several key components of initiation that you need to consider in order for your project to be successful. They are
- Project Goals
- Scope of the Project
- Project Deliverables
- Success Criteria
- Project Stakeholders
- Project Resources
Goals: The goal is what you've been asked to do and what you're trying to achieve. All projects should have clear goals and often those will be determined by senior company leaders, with your help.
- Scope: This is the process to define the work that needs to happen to complete the project.
- Deliverables: They're the products and services that you will create for your customer, client or project sponsor.Deliverables can be anything from product features and functionalities to documentation, processes and more, anything that enables the goal of your project to be achieved.They are 2 types : tangible and intangible.
- Tangible Example: submitting a chapter of a manuscript. If the goal is to publish a textbook.
- Intangible: If the project goal is to finish implementation of a new point of sale software at a retail store, scheduling staff training sessions could be an intangible deliverable.
- success criteria: Once the goals, scope and deliverables are determined, you need to consider success criteria. Success criteria are the standards by which you measure how successful a project was in reaching its goals
- Stakeholders: Stakeholders are key to making informed decisions at every step of the project, including the initiation phase. They're the people who both have an interest in and are affected by the completion and success of a project.It's also your role to ensure that all stakeholders are in agreement on the goals and overall mission of the project before moving on to the next phase.
- Resources: resources generally refer to the budget, people, materials, and other items that you will have at your disposal. It's super important to think carefully about these pieces early on.
