The Pilgrims, who set sail from Plymouth, England on a ship called the Mayflower on September 6, 1620, were bound for the resourceful ‘New World’. Aboard were passengers comprising of the ‘separatists’, who called themselves the “Saints”, and the others, whom the separatists called “Strangers”.
After land was sighted in November following 66 days of lethal voyage, a meeting was held and an agreement of truce was worked out between the Saints and the Strangers. It was called the Mayflower Compact. The agreement guaranteed equality among the members of the two groups. They merged together to be recognized as the “Pilgrims”. Are you and your stakeholders Pilgrim-like?
Here are some additional questions to consider while shepherding your project from start to finish.
Planning: How Will We Do It?
Have personnel resources been identified to support planning activities?
Are you missing key expertise?
Have all resources been confirmed?
Do you have a project schedule in place?
Do you have enough details in your schedule? Any wide gaps in your schedule?
How comfortable are you with your time estimates?
Is the schedule kept up to date on a regular basis?
Is operational handoff part of the schedule? How will lingering issues be handled?
Do you have a change management process in place?
Does the Project Sponsor review, approve, and sign-off on scope change requests?
Implementation: Are We Doing It?
Have personnel resources been determined by skill set, timeframe, extent of effort?
Are you missing any key expertise?
Have all resources been confirmed?
How often will your project team meet?
Does your team need meeting/work space?
How are you managing risks, issues?
How are risks being tracked? Are you assessing likelihood and probability?
How are stakeholders being notified of risks?
Who are the stakeholders? What do you owe them from a communications standpoint?
How frequently will project status reports be submitted?
Do you have the need of a “daily call” approach to communication?
How are cross-functional teams integrated for their communications needs?
Who are you counting on? For what, by when, by who?
Are you subject to regulatory requirements? What is the likelihood of those changing? Or being delayed?
Has funding been approved?
Do you have external vendors working on the project?
How do you manage those portions of your project that have been ‘subcontracted’ to someone else?
Tomorrow, questions to close.
Lisa DiTullio, Founder, Your Project Office, www.yourprojectoffice.com
