How to give a project a good start

Type: Process

Gist

describes what to do as a manager to make sure that the project after it's finished will be seen as a success AND something of real value has been produced.

Entry Conditions

You know that a goal is both a means of giving direction AND a means of improving morale among team members.

Steps and Notes

S1: Meet with a few of your management colleagues and talk about the project's goals until you reach a consensus.

S2: Gather a kickoff meeting with these colleagues and make everybody bring one or more workers who are supposed to do the project work.

S3: Be as precise and specific as possible if some of the workers ask questions.

S4: Be specific about the project goals or concrete deliverables you might want to see. Let the project work out project organisation and courses of action.

S5: Ask the workers to explain their understanding of your vision.

Note: Surprisingly, you might have a hard time finding a project leader to happily go along with this behavior, for he can't sell almost anything as a success for you.