The step-by-step guide: Step 2 Defining why and what

The step-by-step guide:
Step 2 Defining 'why' and 'what'

Step 2.1 Complete the Project Definition

So, how do you go about defining what the outcome of your project is to be? This is what project managers call scope. The way you understand the 'why' and 'what' is by asking a series of simple structured questions and then by making sure that the answers are agreed with the relevant people.

The questions

The key questions you should ask are:

Why do you want to do this project?

This needs to be a clear statement of the reason why you are doing the project what you will be able to achieve when you have done the project that you cannot achieve now.

What will you have at the end of this project that you don't have now?

This is the fundamental question. You are doing a project to deliver something. This may be some tangible object like a new house, or a new product launched; it may be something less tangible, such as creating a useful new piece of computer software. Finally it may be something completely intangible such as a change in people's attitudes. (If this sounds too nebulous, remember this is essentially what a marketing campaign does.)

One way to think about your deliverables is to ask yourself 'How will I know when the project is finished what will I have that I don't have now?'

Will you (should you) deliver anything else?

You know from the first question what you are setting out to deliver. However, is that really everything? If you think about it, there may be other things you need at the same time, or which it is sensible to do whilst you are doing the work on the main project. These need to be included in your Project Definition.

Be cautious answering this question, as the temptation can be to throw everything in and keep expanding your project. It is perfectly legitimate for the answer to this question to be 'No'. A project should not be a dumping ground for everything you might want to do. It is a structured way to achieve a specific goal. If it really makes logical sense to include other things, or if they are fundamental to achieving your original 'why', then go ahead. Otherwise say no if your customer wants more and more put in, the response should be 'I can do anything you want, but the more you put in the more it will cost, the longer it will take, and the greater risk that something will go wrong.' That usually helps to get some focus!

Is anything explicitly excluded from the project?

Sometimes there are activities and deliverables, which for one reason or another, you want to exclude from the scope of the project, which otherwise might be thought to be included in it. It is worth being very explicit and noting these down as the scope is as much to gain an understanding of what will not be delivered as what will be.

You now understand both why you are doing the project and what the outcome needs to be. In Chapter 3 you will use this information to plan your project, and to work out how you will do your project. There are some important subsidiary questions to ask:

Are there any gaps or overlaps with other projects or changes to the boundaries of your project?

Often when you start a project, you find that there is someone else doing something similar or related already. Your goal is to get something done, not to do it twice. So find out if this other project will do part of your work for you. If it will, and it will do it in the timeframe you need, you don't need to do it as well. Project managers call this a dependency on another project we will discuss this in later chapters.

Alternatively sometimes more than one project is kicked off at once, with the intention of the deliverables from all the projects coming together to some greater goal at the end. This set of related projects is what project managers call a programme. For example, while you are developing and launching a new product, a colleague may be re-fitting your shops to be ready to sell the new product. The aim is that your two projects come together so your new product goes into the shops fitted out by your colleague. Unfortunately, often when two or more projects like this are finished and you try to make the deliverables from all the projects work together, they don't work or there is some gap. If there are several related projects, then someone called the programme manager essentially a super project manager has to look at the Project Definitions for all of them and make sure the bits add up to the overall objective you have. If not, other deliverables must be added to one or more of the projects.

What assumptions (if any) are you making?

We all make assumptions, if we didn't, we would never get anything done because we would be frantically proving everything before we could move on. However, when you make assumptions in a project, you should do so consciously and note them down. The point about assumptions is that they can be wrong. Take an everyday life situation: when you tell your father you will visit him next Saturday you are making a series of assumptions. For example, that nothing more important comes up that will stop you going; and that your car will be working on Saturday. Normally you would not think too much about this. If however, you were not visiting your father, but a key customer, and if you do not make it you may lose a 10 million contract, you will start to think through, verify these assumptions, and may even put some plan in place in case they turn out not to be true.

The same should happen in projects. I am not asking you to list literally every assumption you are making, but the important ones that may be wrong and that, if they are wrong, may alter your project. Partially you are doing this to see if they are reasonable, but also because later on you will actively manage these assumptions as part of your project. We look at using these assumptions in Chapter 4.

Note the assumptions and ask yourself is it really a reasonable thing to assume? Even if it is, you need to keep it visible as the state may change which can undermine your project (we will deal with this more in Chapter 4). Typical examples of assumptions that people make are:

The operations department will provide the necessary resource to implement the deliverables at the appropriate time.
Our existing supplier will provide the additional components necessary at or below existing prices.
Customer behaviour in London will follow the pattern observed when we offered this service in Birmingham.

Each of these is probably reasonable, but could in some situations be wrong, and if they are wrong, they would alter the cost, timing or approach of the project.

Are there any significant problems you are aware of that you must overcome?

Almost every project has some problems and challenge to overcome if it didn't you might not need a project in the first place! When you start out you should note down anything significant. This is not an attempt to get a complete list of all possible problems but you should capture the ones you are aware of, as they may impact the way you do your project.

What does 'significant' mean in this situation? A significant problem is one that will materially affect the cost or time of the project, or change the way you approach it.

Has the customer, or the situation, set any specific conditions on the way you do this project?

If you are starting a project, it is nice to have complete freedom as to how you do it. This is rarely true. Often your customer will have a fixed time in which it must be completed, or a maximum cost. Conditions come in many forms, for example there are rules, guidelines, regulations and legislation about the way you must do some things (such as health and safety rules).

It is important to note you are not yet saying you can complete the project with these constraints merely that you understand them. It is only when you plan your work out in Chapter 3 that you will actually know if it is possible.

A good way to collect the answers to the questions so far is in a simple template. Once completed, this constitutes the Project Definition. An example is shown in Table 2.1 overleaf.

Table 2.1. The Project Definition
PROJECT DEFINITION	Project Name
WHY do you want to do this project?

WHAT will you have at the end that you don't have now?

Will you (should you) deliver anything else?

Is anything explicitly excluded from the project?

Are there any gaps or overlaps with other projects or changes to the boundaries of your project?

What assumptions (if any) are you making?

Are there any significant problems you are aware of that you must overcome?

Has your customer, or the situation, set any conditions on the way you do this project?

Completed On	Completed By	Agreed By

The aim for the information is to be specific, precise, complete, unambiguous and concise. It should contain all the information you reasonably need to know to make a judgement about how big and complex your project is and to start planning the work. Is that every single detail? No, the real detailed requirements come later. So, taking the earlier simple decorating example, you don't need to know what colour you will paint the room this is a detail as it does not impact making an initial judgement of how to go about painting the room, how long it will take, or how much it will cost.

Having defined what your project is about, check again. If you achieve what you have defined, will that really fulfil the reason why you are doing the project? So for example, if your 'why' is to 'increase revenues by 10 per cent', will the things you have specified in your Project Definition really increase revenues by 10 per cent? If not, you need to go back and enhance the definition until it does.

Here are three examples of completed Project Definitions: first for the simple decorating project, second for the more complex launch of a new product, and finally for an office re-fit prior to a move of staff to a new location.

Table 2.2. Example of a Project Definition for a simple personal project
PROJECT NAME/REFERENCE	Maximise house price
WHY do you want to do this project?
Because we want to sell our house at a maximum price and the current state of the decoration in the front room will reduce the price we get.
WHAT will you have at the end that you don't have now?
We will have a newly decorated front room.
Will you (should you) deliver anything else?
Yes I will also replace the broken light fitting by the side window.
Is anything explicitly excluded from the project?
I will not decorate the skirting boards or the door.
Are there any gaps or overlaps with other projects or changes to the boundaries of your project?
I will paint the left-hand wall of the hall outside the front room as this was missed out in the previous decorating project.
What assumptions (if any) are you making?
The wallpaper is OK to paint over.
Are there any significant problems you are aware of that you must overcome?
The crack in the wall by the door needs to be plastered before it can be painted. As the plaster must be dry before decorating, this must happen at least a week before decorating starts.
Has your customer, or the situation, set any conditions on the way you do this project?
I cannot work over the next weekend when we have guests.
The whole thing must be finished by September.
Completed On	Completed By	Agreed By
26/05/06	Eric	Angela

Table 2.3. Example of a Project Definition for a business project
PROJECT NAME/REFERENCE	Launch new product
WHY do you want to do this project?
To achieve a 25 per cent increase in revenues from the consumer market, and to expand our presence in that market.
WHAT will you have at the end that you don't have now?
We will have a new product available, consistent with our existing range, to sell into this market, with sufficient volume in store to meet the Christmas rush.
Our shops and sales-force will be ready and trained to sell it.
We will have the capability to handle follow-on customer support and customer service issues.
Will you (should you) deliver anything else?
Yes as this is the first new product we have delivered, we will document the steps I go through to speed up delivery of future products.
Is anything explicitly excluded from the project?
We will not produce any advertising material for the product as we want it to sell by word of mouth.
Are there any gaps or overlaps with other projects or changes to the boundaries of your project?
We are revamping the shops in London and they will have a marketing campaign following this which there is some synergy with. We need to ensure that the new shelving they are fitting is suitable for this product.
Additionally, when we revamp the shops, all sales staff will have refresher training. This should be used also to educate them about the new product.
What assumptions (if any) are you making?
The market research we performed 6 months ago still provides a reliable view of the opportunities in the market.
The product will expand our total share of consumer spend and will not cannibalise sales of our existing products.
We will get a better price per unit for manufacturing costs than for existing products because of increased volumes.
Are there any significant problems you are aware of that you must overcome?
The technology we are going to use to make the product has never been used for a consumer product. Currently it is expensive. We are certain it will work, but we need to be able to reduce the price per unit by at least 15 per cent to achieve a profitable price that we can sell the product at.
Has your customer, or the situation, set any conditions on the way you do this project?
Ideally the product must be launched by 6 November to enable us to ship it to shops to take advantage of the ramp up in sales up to Christmas.
Completed On	Completed By	Agreed By
26/05/06	Richard Newton Project Manager	Dominic Thompson Marketing Director

Table 2.4. Example of a Project Definition for a business project
PROJECT NAME/REFERENCE	Office Re-fit Project
WHY do you want to do this project?
To provide suitable office space for the 100 staff in our current Logan Road offices, so we can vacate the Logan Road offices by 1 December and cease the lease on that building.
WHAT will you have at the end that you don't have now?
We will have the office space fitted with new carpets, desks and chairs for the 100 staff, new PCs and telephones plus any other miscellaneous furniture required (e.g. coat racks etc).
Will you (should you) deliver anything else?
No.
Is anything explicitly excluded from the project?
Arranging the lease on the new building and generally dealing with the landlord.
Painting and decorating of the office. (It has recently been painted and this is adequate.)
We will not be responsible for moving staff to this office.
Are there any gaps or overlaps with other projects or changes to the boundaries of your project?
The office move project will follow on and will be responsible for configuring the telephone system with numbers. We will simply install phones and connect to the PABX.
What assumptions (if any) are you making?
That we can complete the project in the available time window.
The existing telephony PABX within the building has sufficient capacity and functionality for our needs.
The new phone handsets we have bought are suitable for the new building.
The existing cupboard space within the office is sufficient for our needs. We do not intend to install any new cupboards.
We have the landlord's permission for the work we intend to carry out.
Are there any significant problems you are aware of that you must overcome?
There are insufficient power sockets for the staff, so there will have to be some rewiring on the office floor.
Has your customer, or the situation, set any conditions on the way you do this project?
The project must be completed in time to allow move out of the existing premises by 1 December and must cost not more than 400k as if it does, the business case justifying the move will be invalid.
Completed On	Completed By	Agreed By
16/05/06	Eric Brown	Harold Smith
16/05/06	Project Manager	Facilities Manager

Step 2.2 Check your role are you responsible for achieving the 'why' or making sure the 'what' happens?

To be successful in completing your project, you need to know what you are responsible for. Consider the simple example I started this chapter with you are decorating the front room. Remember the reason for this was to get the asking price for the house you are selling. You must start by understanding whether you:

Are only responsible for decorating the front room? (what) OR
Are also responsible for ensuring the house achieves its asking price? (why)

Normally, as a project manager, you will be only formally responsible for achieving what you have specified, not why you are doing it. You should understand the 'why' but it is not your job to achieve it. Do check this though. Sometimes your customer may expect you to be responsible for the 'why', which in business is usually called being responsible for the business benefits, or the benefits realisation. If you are responsible for the benefits, you should pretty quickly start asking yourself some subsidiary questions, such as:

Is decorating the front room really the best way to achieve the asking price?
If decorating the front room does not achieve the asking price, what do I do then?

If you are only responsible for decorating the front room without worrying about whether it achieves the asking price or not your life is a lot simpler!

Step 2.3 Agree the Project Definition with your project customer

Completing the Project Definition is straightforward if you are working for yourself. It takes some good quality thinking time and should not be done in a rush. Do not under-estimate how much thought needs to go into your Project Definition. If you are unclear about any of the parts think about it some more. Whenever you start a project with the definition being incomplete, you are at the very least adding to the risk it will go wrong. It is like starting to build a house without any drawings of what the end result will look like. Any mistakes you make now will be magnified by the time the project is complete so get it right now!

Key drivers for success 1: Start with a customer viewpoint

As a project manager you are providing a service for the project customer. It is easy in the drive to get the project started, and the pressure to get it completed to do what is best from your perspective. The question you should always ask yourself is are the decisions you are making and the actions you are driving really best from the project customer's viewpoint? If you don't know ask!

When you are managing a project for someone else, completing the Project Definition can be harder. People are often surprisingly vague about what they want, other than they know they want something. Give them some time and when you have completed a first version of the Project Definition, sit down with them and talk it through, trying to get them to understand the implications of their choices. For example, by asking questions like:

Do you really want purple paint? Of course I can do it, but are you sure it will help sell your house?
Do you definitely want to sell the product only in the London area won't that inhibit overall sales?
You want me to get new offices for the existing staff but that might not be enough for the future. Don't you want me to consider our expansion plans whilst I am doing this?

However, remember that it is your job to get the project done, and if the customer knows what he or she wants, and has been given the chance to think through the implications of their choices, then as long as they are happy you should be too.

Unfortunately, people often change their minds and later say they want something different this is dealt with in Chapter 4 under the topic of change management. More annoyingly, the customer may say you are not doing what they originally asked for. To avoid this, ask them to sign off the Project Definition once it is completed. This is not just about protecting yourself, but also about getting the right level of input from your customer. Experience shows that people put more effort into and take more seriously things they sign.

When you have multiple customers for one project, it can be problematic to get agreement to the definition of the project. For example, a marketing person may say 'the new product you launch must be of the highest quality to be consistent with our brand', whereas a sales manager may say, 'to shift the volumes we want, we need something cheap and cheerful'. Differing views about projects can be quite fundamental. You thought you were just going to deliver a project and suddenly you find yourself as the arbitrator in a dispute! Project managers often have to facilitate such negotiations. The best way is to get all the customers into one room at the same time. Go through the Project Definition line by line, discuss and work on it until you have full agreement and get them all to sign it. This can take some time but it is time very well spent.

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