Educative questions

1. Eight questions you should be asking right now about your project
The moment somebody throws a question at you, something along the lines of ‘We need to get
this done’, your project management ‘hat’ should already be firmly on your head before the
sentence is even finished. The questions that should be now flying through your head, include
‘what do I need to do, who do I need on board, what issues are there and how can they be
resolved?’. Eight questions follow, that can can help you hone your response times.
What is the ultimate goal?
This one of the most important questions, not least because it is going to define the size of the
project. As project manager you need to have a handle on the size of the project, so that it can
be planned and prepared accordingly. To do this, you have to first understand what it is that
needs to be accomplished ­ what the ultimate aim of the project is. This early into the
proceedings, nobody expects you to have all of the details yet, but you should have enough to
hand in order to ‘size up’ the project.
Who needs to be involved?
Now that you have an idea of what needs to be accomplished, you need to begin building your
team and deciding who are going to be the planners and who will be the ‘doers’. Make up a list
of people that you think you are going to need for your project, and put a mental check mark
next the ones you think would be better suited for the planning process. When you reach the
end of the list, you will have two project tiers ­ planners, and doers. Right now you may have a
feel for how large, or small, that your team needs to be but you need to be aware that you can
only provide estimates at this stage, and you may need to rethink size and structure as new
information becomes available.
What are the parameters of the project?
The parameters, or the constraints, of a project are those things must or must not be there. For
example, one constraint may be a set deadline that must not be broken. As project manager,
you must make sure that you know what needs to happen in order for the project to be
completed by that set date.
How will you know whether or not the project was a success?
This question is usually overlooked, but it is actually a really good one to ask. It is something
that encourages a view of the end game. Once you and your team have put all your skills and
resources into creating and deploying your project, how will you know if it was a success or not?
Define, right at the start, what project is going to be measured by in terms of success or failure.
Have any assumptions been made about your project?

2.
We have all done it, made assumptions, and they nearly always turn out bad. If people
associated with your project, investors and marketers especially, make assumptions then they
run the risk of derailing your project. A marketer, for example, may have made the assumption
that a rough deadline was in fact the ‘set in stone’ deadline and began making moves to
announce it. This could have disastrous results, and it is your responsibility to uncover these
assumptions and nip them in the bud as soon as possible.
What has to be done?
Looking at the project from above, seeing the larger milestones as building blocks, what do you
see as being a logical way forward? How do get from one milestone to the next? You may find
it easier to break the large milestones down into smaller ones, to make the process easier to
visualise. Some kind of infographic may help to get everybody ‘on the same page’ and working
in the same direction.
Do you have a rough project schedule?
Has the date of completion already been decided? Very often ‘end dates’ are just estimates,
but you need to have a date of some kind so you can better prepare and plan your project
timetable.
What could get between this project and success?
The final consideration in our list, recognising the fact that not everything is always plain sailing.
Is a resource supplier going to go out of business any time soon, are there any local rules or
regulations that could interfere with the project or prevent it from being completed all together?
As project manager you need to have the answers to these and more in order to nullify any risks
as they present themselves.
Answering these questions should be as instinctual as saying ‘ouch’ when somebody kicks you
in the shin. If you can do that, then you have a great chance of managing a successful project.