2️⃣

Course 2 — Project Initiation:

Starting a Successful Project
Link
Why is project initiation essential?
Key components of project initiation
Performing a cost-benefit analysis
Determining project goals and deliverables
How to set SMART goals
SMART goals: Making goals meaningful
SMART project goals
Introduction to OKRs
Creating OKRs for your project
OKR development best practices
Determining a project's scope
Monitoring and maintaining a project's scope
Strategies for controlling scope creep
Key takeaway
Managing changes to a project's scope
Launching and landing a project
Don't forget to land: Measuring project success
Defining success criteria
Tracking and communicating success criteria
Using OKRs to evaluate progress
Working effectively with stakeholders
Accessibility for project managers
Choosing a project team
Defining project roles
Completing a stakeholder analysis
Prioritizing stakeholders and generating their buy-in
Elements of a RACI chart
Building out a RACI chart

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 1

 Responsible
Accountable
Consulted
Informed
Getting the most out of a RACI chart
Definition and structure
Workload balance
Put your RACI into practice
Essential project resources
Budget
People
Materials
The value of project documentation
Project proposals and charters 101
Project charters: Elements and formats
Developing a project charter
Utilizing tools for effective project management
Exploring types of project management tools
Common project management tools

Link
Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project

Why is project initiation essential?

Initiation is the first phase of a project and begins after a problem or opportunity
has been identified. A well-planned initiation results in a strong foundation for your
project, and sets it up for success.
During the initiation phase, the project manager questions stakeholders and
performs research to identify the project goals, determines resources, and
documents the key components. 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.
Well-planned initiation is essential for success. Everyone should have the same
understanding of the project; thus, saving time and avoiding extra work. A proper

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 2

 initiation should conduct a cost analysis to ensure that the benefits outweigh the
costs.
A cost analysis determines the benefits by identifying values, cost-effectiveness,
earning, time efficiency, and the way to improve the user experience of the
project.
A cost analysis also determines the costs by indicating the time spent by people
as well as one-time, ongoing, and long-term costs.

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?

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?

You might also consider questions about intangible benefits. These are gains that
are not quantifiable, such as:

Customer satisfaction. Will the project increase customer retention, causing

them to spend more on the company’s products or services?

Employee satisfaction. Is the project likely to improve employee morale,

reducing turnover?

Employee productivity. Will the project reduce employee’s overtime hours,

saving the company money?

Brand perception. Is the project likely to improve the company’s brand

perception and recognition, attracting more customers or providing a
competitive advantage?

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 You can also flip these questions to consider intangible costs. These are costs
that are not quantifiable. For example, might the project put customer retention,
employee satisfaction, or brand perception at risk?

Key components of project initiation

There are six key components for initiation of a successful project:

Goals: With the senior company leaders, determine what to do and try to
achieve it;

Scope: The process of defining the work to complete the project;

Deliverables: Tangible and/or intangible products and services to deliver;

Success criteria: The criteria for measuring how successful a project was
in reaching the goals;

Stakeholders: Decision makers, who determine the above four

components. It is important to understand their needs and ensure that all of
them agree with the goals;

They're the people who both have an interest in and are affected by the
completion and success of a project.

Resources. Carefully consider budget, people, materials, and other items.

After establishing all key components, create a project charter to organize, plan,
and communicate what needs to be done in detail with others.
A project charter is a document that contains all the details of the project. Project
charters clearly define the project and its goals and outline what is needed to
accomplish them.
Before moving into the planning stage, stakeholders must approve the charter.

Performing a cost-benefit analysis

A cost-benefit analysis is the process of adding up the expected value of a
project—the benefits—and comparing them to the dollar costs. A cost-benefit
analysis can minimize risks and maximize gains for projects and organizations.

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 The process of calculating costs and benefits is also called calculating return on
investment, or ROI. There are many ways to determine a project’s ROI, but the
easiest way is to compare the upfront and ongoing costs to its benefits over time.

In this formula, G represents the financial gains you expect from the project, and C
represents the upfront and ongoing costs of your investment in the project.

Determining project goals and deliverables

💡 You must define the goals and deliverables before starting the project to
succeed.

To set up a project for success, and to make your job easier, you want to figure
out what needs to be done before you actually get started.

You need to define exactly what your goals and deliverables are, so that you'll be
able to tell your team members what to do.

You need a clear picture of what you're trying to accomplish, how you're going to
accomplish it, and how you know when it has been accomplished.
Goals are the desired outcomes and a roadmap to your destination.

A well-defined goal should be clear and specific, so that you know what you
are trying to accomplish.

Before starting a project, confirm the goals by asking the stakeholders about
their project's vision and how this aligns with the company's aims and mission.

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 Before starting the project, your goals should be in line with the stakeholders'
goals.

You, stakeholders, and team members should be clear on the goals, so that
everyone will act correctly.

Deliverables can be tangible or intangible products for customers, clients, or

sponsors.

When a goal is attained, the results in charts, graphs, or presentations are

visible.

Project deliverables are the products or services that are created for the customer,
client, or project sponsor. In other words, a deliverable is what gets produced or
presented at the end of a task, event, or process.

Deliverables help measure and recognize the project's impact, so that you could
know whether you have accomplished the project.

Before starting the project, deliverables are decided together with the
stakeholders or clients involved in the project.

Ensure everyone shares their vision and expectations of the deliverables to

know what the deliverable should be, so that everyone has the same purpose.

When a goal is reached, you can visibly see the results documented in the chart,
graph, or presentation. Deliverables help us quantify and realize the impact of the
project.

How to set SMART goals

SMART goal — Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound
(SMART) methods are used to evaluate the project goals.

Specific goals: should answer at least two questions about the following
points

The desired accomplishments — What do I want to accomplish?

The reasons behind the goal — Why is this a goal?

Specific purpose or benefit — Does it have a specific reason, purpose, or

benefit?

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 People who are involved — Who is involved? Employees, customers, the
community at large?

Recipients — Who is the recipient?

Where to deliver — Where should the goal be delivered?

The requirements and constraints — What degree? What are the

requirements and constraints?

Measurable goals

You can tell the goal is measurable by asking how much, how many, and
how will I know when it's accomplished?

Measuring is a method for people to track progress and stay motivated.

Metrics, which can be numbers or figures, are used to measure goals.

To make sure the metrics are accurate, consider benchmarks of reference.

Attainable goals

Can it reasonably be reached based on the metrics?

Figure out if the goals are attainable by asking “how can it be

accomplished?”

Goals should be a little challenging to encourage growth but not too

extreme so that it can be attained.

Relevant goals

Now let's see if it's relevant. In other words, does it make sense to try and
reach this goal?

The effort involved balances out the benefits; thus, it makes sense to try
and attain the goal.

The goal should match the organization’s goals, priorities, and values, and
it should be worthwhile for everyone.

Timing, both the amount of time to complete the project and to sustain the
project over time under changing budget and audience who use the
products, has big impacts.

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 7

 Time-bound

The goal has a deadline.

The method for breaking down how much should be accomplished over
time and for tracking the progress.

SMART goals: Making goals meaningful

Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) goals are
very helpful for ensuring project success. SMART goals help you see the full
scope of a goal, determine its feasibility, and clearly define project success in
concrete terms.

Specific: The objective has no ambiguity for the project team to misinterpret.

Measurable: Metrics help the project team determine when the objective is
met.

Having measurable goals allows you to assess the success of your project
based on quantifiable or tangible metrics, such as dollar amounts, number
of outputs, quantities, etc.

Measurable goals are important because they leave little room for
confusion around expectations from stakeholders.

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 8

 Attainable: The project team agrees the objective is realistic.

Relevant: The goal fits the organization’s strategic plan and supports the
project charter.

Time-bound: The project team documents a date to achieve the goal.

SMART project goals

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Introduction to OKRs
OKRs (Objective and Key Results) help establish and clarify goals or objectives for
an organization, department, project, or person. Rather than uniting everything,
OKRs breakdown and clarify the components of the SMARTS goals.

OKR stands for objectives and key results. They combine a goal and a metric to
determine a measurable outcome.

The Objective (O) is the desired outcome that should be achieved.

Defines what needs to be achieved.

Describes the desired result or outcome

Key Results (KR) are the ways for knowing whether the objective (O) has been
achieved.

These are the measurable outcomes that define when the objective has
been met.

Organizations often set OKRs at three levels: the company, department or team,
and project level.

Company-level OKRs

They are shared with everyone in the organization to ensure that everyone is
clear about the goals.

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 9

 They are annually updated to keep the direction on the track.

They support the mission of the organization.

Project-level OKRs

They are set during the initiation phase to measure the project goal.

They are decided during the initiation phase to define measurable goals and
tracked throughout the project life cycle to evaluate the project success.

They align with and support company and department-level OKRs.

Creating OKRs for your project

Set your objectives
Project objectives should be aspirational, aligned with organizational goals,
action-oriented, concrete, and significant. Consider the vision you and your
stakeholders have for your project and determine what you want the project team
to accomplish in 3–6 months.

To help shape each objective, ask yourself and your team:

Does the objective help in achieving the project’s overall goals?

Does the objective align with company and departmental OKRs?

Is the objective inspiring and motivational?

Will achieving the objective make a significant impact?

Develop key results

Next, add 2–3 key results for each objective. Key results should be time-bound.
They can be used to indicate the amount of progress to achieve within a shorter
period or to define whether you’ve met your objective at the end of the project.
They should also challenge you and your team to stretch yourselves to achieve
more.
Strong key results meet the following criteria:

Results-oriented—not a task

Measurable and verifiable

Specific and time-bound

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 10

 Aggressive yet realistic

To help shape your key results, ask yourself and your team the following:

What does success mean?

What metrics would prove that we’ve successfully achieved the objective?

OKR development best practices

Here are some best practices to keep in mind when writing OKRs:

Think of your objectives as being motivational and inspiring and your key
results as being tactical and specific. The objective describes what you want
to do and the key results describe how you’ll know you did it.

As a general rule, try to develop around 2–-3 key results for each objective.

Be sure to document your OKRs and link to them in your project plan.

Determining a project's scope

The project scope defines all details of the project; everything should be either
included or excluded.

The project scope is to ensure that the project is defined and mapped out well
to know who will receive the deliverables and who will use them.

You should understand the complexity of the project well; either it is easy to
manage or it takes years to complete.

The project scope should include the project timeline, budget, and resources
to ensure that all the work falls within the scope and supports the outcome.

There are some ways to figure out the project scope

Talk to the sponsors and stakeholders

Understand their goals

Discover the essential things not yet included in the project

Some information should be acquired to help determine the project scope

The source of the project

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 11

 The reasons why it is needed

The expectations to be achieved by the project

The thoughts of the project sponsors

The persons who approve the final results

The project scope should be defined during the initial planning stage so that
everyone has the same expectations to minimize big changes during the work.

After understanding the project scope, document all the details so that
everyone can review it anytime later.

Monitoring and maintaining a project's scope

Tasks included in and excluded from the project are called in-scope and out-
of-scope, respectively. The project manager sets and maintains firm
boundaries to avoid tasks that are out of scope.

As the project progresses, changes, growth, and uncontrolled factors may

present and impact the scope. This is called a scope creep. The major sources
of scope creep are external and internal.

External sources are easier to control. There are some tips to manage them

Stakeholders should know the deliverables, required resources, cost, and

time to complete the project.

Before signing contracts, have clear requirements and accommodate

constructive criticism of the initial proposal.

The project manager sets ground rules and expectations for stakeholder
involvement.

The roles and responsibilities of the project manager are approved during
execution and status reviews.

The project manager should be prepared to deal with out-of-scope

requests.

Decide who can make formal change requests and how the requests will
be evaluated, accepted, and performed

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 12

 All agreements should be documented in writing to point to if
disagreements arise.

Internal sources come from team members who request or insist on changes
or improvements; thus, it is more difficult to control but can be minimized.

The project manager clearly states that big impacts can happen owing to
out-of-scope changes.

The project manager maintains the limits of the project to avoid unplanned
tasks.

Knowing the project’s details is preferred to respond to a new request.

Strategies for controlling scope creep

Scope creep is when a project’s work starts to grow beyond what was originally
agreed upon during the initiation phase. Scope creep can put stress on you, your
team, and your organization, and it can put your project at risk. The effects of
scope creep can hinder every aspect of the project, from the schedule to the
budget to the resources, and ultimately, its overall success.
Here are some best practices for scope management and controlling scope creep:

Define your project’s requirements. Communicate with your stakeholders or

customers to find out exactly what they want from the project and document
those requirements during the initiation phase.

Set a clear project schedule. Time and task management are essential for
sticking to your project’s scope. Your schedule should outline all of your
project’s requirements and the tasks that are necessary to achieve them.

Determine what is out of scope. Make sure your stakeholders, customers, and
project team understand when proposed changes are out of scope. Come to a
clear agreement about the potential impacts to the project and document your
agreement.

Provide alternatives. Suggest alternative solutions to your customer or

stakeholder. You can also help them consider how their proposed changes
might create additional risks. Perform a cost-benefit analysis, if necessary.

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 13

 Set up a change control process. During the course of your project, some
changes are inevitable. Determine the process for how each change will be
defined, reviewed, and approved (or rejected) before you add it to your project
plan. Make sure your project team is aware of this process.

Learn how to say no. Sometimes you will have to say no to proposed changes.
Saying no to a key stakeholder or customer can be uncomfortable, but it can
be necessary to protect your project’s scope and its overall quality. If you are
asked to take on additional tasks, explain how they will interfere with the
budget, timeline, and/or resources defined in your initial project requirements.

Collect costs for out-of-scope work. If out-of-scope work is required, be sure

to document all costs incurred. That includes costs for work indirectly
impacted by the increased scope. Be sure to indicate what the charges are for.

Key takeaway
You can only avoid scope creep if everyone involved in the project understands
and agrees on responsibilities, boundaries, and timelines. Avoiding scope creep
also requires clear communication, expectation management, and a well-defined
path to your desired outcome. Following the strategies discussed here can help
you proactively manage scope creep before it creeps into your project!

Managing changes to a project's scope

The triple constraint model is a tool to decide if the change in scope is
acceptable. This model also helps in understanding the impacts. There are
three most significant project elements in the model.

Project scope

Time (schedule and deadline)

Cost (budget, required resources, and people who will work)

These scope, time, and cost link and impact each other. Thus, there are some
things to consider for making a successful change.

Changing one constraint will affect the other two; thus, it is essential to
prioritize among scope, time, and cost.

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 14

 Project manager should consult with the sponsors and stakeholders to get
their approvals if a change needs to be made.

Prioritizing the element of the triangle helps direct the project to different
conditions so that the project will succeed.

Understanding the triple constraint model is a method for evaluating the

changes and a key to scope management.

Launching and landing a project

A project launch is delivering the final result to the client or user, and it does
not indicate the project success.

The real deciding factor of project success is when you put the final
outcome to the test.

Landing is to measure the success using success criteria established at the

outset of the project.

A launch means that the project has ended and is not a measure of success.
We should look beyond the launch to see whether the launch has achieved the
project goals.

Success criteria are a method for measuring success

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 15

 They include all the details of goals and deliverables.

They are a guide to know whether the project has attained the intended
outcomes.

They set standards for how a project will be judged.

Don't forget to land: Measuring project success

Launching vs. landing a project
Your work on a project won’t be complete until you “land” it by thoroughly
measuring the results.

This is when the success criteria and the metrics you defined initially when
setting SMART goals will come in handy.
Launch and forget
A common mistake of many project teams is to “launch and forget” the results.
This happens when a project manager delivers the project to the client and the
client accepts the project delivery, but the project manager doesn’t assess if the
project deliverables satisfy the customer or user.

Defining success criteria

Success criteria are the standards to measure whether the project has met the
goals and deliverables, which will be judged after delivering it to the
stakeholders and customers.

Success criteria should be defined well so that all teams understand what they
must accomplish.

Go through the project goals and deliverables, review the scope, and
identify the measurable aspects of the project to know when the project is
successfully accomplished.

Clarify the project requirements and expectations with the stakeholders.

Document and share all information so that everyone can refer to it later.

Choose metrics that closely align with the project goal to measure success
throughout the life cycle of the project.

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 16

 Pick the most suitable tool to collect the required data and track the
metrics.

Pick the best methods that work for the success criteria to measure
success, frequency of measurement, and the persons who measure it.

Share the success criteria document with the stakeholders and ask whether
they agree with it so that everyone understands each person's responsibility.

The document should be accessible throughout the duration of the project.

Tracking and communicating success criteria

Product quality
The product attributes that are necessary for the product’s success include
completeness in features, quality of features, unit cost, usability, etc.
To measure the success of a product, consider including these metrics on your
checklist:

Track if you implemented the product’s priority requirements

Track and assess the product’s number of technical issues or defects

Measure the percentage of features you delivered or released at the end of

the project

What is important to the customers or stakeholders

Metrics to consider include:

Evaluating user engagement with the product

Measuring stakeholder and customer satisfaction via surveys

Tracking user adoption of the product by using sales data

Key takeaway
Remember, all projects encounter change. All parties must have continuous
access and alignment to the success criteria agreed upon to avoid scope creep
(uncontrolled change of the project’s scope) or failed expectations at the end of
the project. It’s important to document success criteria upfront and continue to

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 17

 report on it throughout the project. You can make a copy of this document to help
you get alignment.

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Using OKRs to evaluate progress

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)

Measuring progress

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 18

 Measuring your OKRs is an important part of tracking and sharing your progress.
One shortcut to determining the status of a project is to score or grade your OKRs.
While scores or grades don’t provide a complete assessment of a project’s
success, they’re helpful tools for determining how close you came to achieving
your objectives. You can then share your OKR scores with project stakeholders
and team members as part of your overall project updates.
Key takeaway

OKRs can help you define and measure your project’s success criteria. In order for
OKRs to be used to effectively meet your project’s success criteria, it’s important
to share them with your team, assign owners to each key result to ensure
accountability, measure your OKRs’ progress by scoring them, and track your
OKRs’ progress by scheduling regular check-ins with your team.

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Working effectively with stakeholders

They are people who are interested in and affected by the project's completion
and success. You'll see that each person involved has a set role and set
responsibilities to help bring the project to a landing. Those roles include project
sponsors, customers, team members, and of course, you, the project manager.

Accessibility for project managers

Accessibility — actively removing any barriers that might prevent persons with
disabilities from being able to access technology, information, or experiences, and
leveling in the playing field so everyone has an equal chance of enjoying life and
being successful.

Accessibility is making technology, information, experiences, or places

accessible to persons with disabilities.

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 19

 Disability is a physical or mental condition, either permanent or temporary, that
can happen anytime, at birth or later in life that limits one’s major life activities.

Solutions for accessibility must support persons with disabilities, regardless of

their condition being permanent or temporary.

The keys to working with accessibility in mind are interacting with others and
considering learning and working differently. Sharing each other’s needs is
important in a team.

The project manager is responsible for enabling everyone to attain the goal
using shared tools and systems. In good project management, the
infrastructure and the culture work for everyone.

Accessibility will improve one’s quality of life.

Choosing a project team

When identifying human resources, a project manager should consider that
the project should guide the decision-making process.

Making a list of roles in the team to complete each task.

The person in each role is accountable for specific tasks within the project
life cycle.

Team size as needed by a project.

Who does what: A project manager chooses the right person to work on
specific tasks based on their skills. If a team member does not have the
skills, they can be trained. However, the training should finish in time to
avoid project delays.

A project manager should consider each person’s availability and

motivation to do the assigned tasks. If they assign any person, it is the
responsibility of the manager to deliver the best results.

Because the circumstances may change, various skills, experiences, and

perspectives are required to explore each task deeper.

Always ask yourself these key questions:

How many people do I need on my team each step of the way?

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 20

 Which team members do I need and when?

Are those experts already busy on other projects?

Who makes the final decisions on project resources?

Defining project roles

Before starting the project, everyone should know their roles so that they
know their responsibilities.

A company always has project sponsors, team members, customers or users,

stakeholders, and the project manager.

Project sponsors

Accountable for the project

Ensure that the project delivers the agreed-upon value

A vital leadership

Sometimes funds the project

May directly communicate with the managers and the key stakeholders

Team members

The heart of operation

Perform the day-to-day work

Make the project happen

Customers

Get the value from a landed project

Their needs define the requirements.

Can be considered as the buyers

Users

Use the product

Stakeholders

The primary ones benefit directly from the project.

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 21

 The secondary ones are indirectly impacted.

Primary and secondary stakeholders help define the goals and outcomes.

Project manager

Plan the entire project

Organize the entire project

Oversee the entire project

Completing a stakeholder analysis

A stakeholder analysis is a visual representation of all stakeholders. There are
three key steps to kicking off a stakeholder analysis

List stakeholders — First, make a list of all the stakeholders that the project
impacts.

Determine the level of interest and influence — Then determine the level
of interest and influence for each stakeholder.

Assess their availability to the project — And finally, assess their ability to
participate, and find ways to involve them.

Influence measures the power and actions of a stakeholder, while interest

measures the effect of the project on their needs.

A power grid is a two-by-two grid used for analysis to determine the

stakeholders' roles based on the position on the grid. Thus, the project
manager knows how to manage stakeholders.

Communicate closely with key stakeholders (top right corner) to reach

desired results.

Consult with stakeholders of higher influence-lower interest (top left

corner) and meet their needs.

Keep stakeholders of lower influence-higher interest (right bottom corner)

up to date.

Keep stakeholders of low influence-low interest (bottom left corner)

informed.

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 22

 A steering committee is the key stakeholder and has the authority to change
the budget and approve new timelines or scopes.

Stakeholder buy-in is the process of involving stakeholders to have an

agreement about the organization's future.

The project manager focuses on the key stakeholders.

The project manager explains the project plans to achieve their goals.

The project manager receives their support for the project's success.

Important things for communicating with stakeholders.

One main stakeholder needs constant communication.

Numerous stakeholders would not be quite involved.

If a stakeholder needs time to decide, the manager should communicate

with them early on.

Prioritizing stakeholders and generating their buy-in

Let’s review the key steps in the stakeholder analysis:

1. Make a list of all the stakeholders the project impacts. When generating this
list, ask yourself:

a. Who is invested in the project? Who is impacted by this project? Who

contributes to this project?

2. Determine the level of interest and influence for each stakeholder—this step
helps you determine who your key stakeholders are. The higher the level of
interest and influence, the more important it will be to prioritize their needs
throughout the project.

3. Assess stakeholders’ ability to participate and then find ways to involve them.
Various types of projects will yield various types of stakeholders—some will
be active stakeholders with more opinions and touchpoints and others will be
passive stakeholders, preferring only high-level updates and not involved in
the day-to-day. That said, just because a stakeholder does not participate as
often as others does not mean they are not important. There are lots of factors

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 23

 that will play a role in determining a stakeholder’s ability to participate in a
project, like physical distance from the project and their existing workload.

Tips for gaining key stakeholder buy-in include:

Clearly mapping the work of the project to the goals of the stakeholder.

Describing how the project aligns with the goals of the stakeholder's
department or team.

Listening to feedback from the stakeholder and finding ways to incorporate

their feedback into the project's charter where appropriate.

Elements of a RACI chart

A RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) chart describes the
roles and responsibilities for team members.

There are four types of participation in a RACI chart

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 24

 Responsible; doing the work to complete the task

Accountable; ensuring that the work gets done

Consulted; giving feedback

Informed; just needing to know the final decisions.

There are some steps for creating a RACI chart

The roles or people's names are written in the top row.

The tasks or deliverables are written in the left column.

Match the role or name with each task or deliverable and assign R, A, C, or
I in the intersection box.

Because accountable indicates ownership, then, accountable has only one

designated person.

The same person can be accountable and responsible.

Doing a RACI early on will prevent issues due to role confusion. This will
ensure the success of the project.

Building out a RACI chart

Responsible

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 25

 Individuals who are assigned the “responsible” role for a task are the ones who
are actually doing the work to complete the task. Every task needs at least one
responsible party. It’s a best practice to try to limit the number of team members
assigned to a task’s responsible role, but in some cases, you may have more than
one.
A couple of questions to ask yourself when determining which person or people
should be placed in the responsible role for a given task are:

What department does the work fall under?

Who will perform the work?

It is helpful to evaluate the people on your team to determine the role that suits
them. Remember that you may need to list roles rather than names, if some people
take on more than one role.

Accountable
The “accountable” person is responsible for making sure the task gets done. It is
important to have only one individual accountable for each task. This helps clarify
ownership of the task. The accountable person ultimately has the authority to
approve the deliverable of the responsible party.
In order to determine who should be tagged as the accountable team member,
consider:

Who will delegate the task to be completed?

Who will review the work to determine if the task is complete?

Consulted
Team members or stakeholders who are placed in the “consulted” role have useful
information to help complete the task. There is no maximum or minimum number
of people who can be assigned a “consulted” role, but it’s important that each
person has a reason for being there.
Here are a few ways you can help identify who is appropriate for the role:

Who will the task impact?

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 26

 Who will have input or feedback for the responsible person to help the work
be completed?

Who are the subject matter experts (SMEs) for the task?

Informed
Individuals who are identified as needing to be “informed” need to know the final
decisions that were made and when a task is completed. It is common to have
many people assigned to this category and for some team members to be
informed on most tasks. Team members or stakeholders here will not be asked for
feedback, so it is key to make sure people who are in this group only require
status updates and do not need to provide any direct feedback for the completion
of the effort.
Key questions to ask yourself in order to ensure that you have appropriately
captured individuals in the “informed” role are:

Who cares about this task’s completion?

Who will be affected by the outcome?

Getting the most out of a RACI chart

Definition and structure
Determining who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed on your
projects allows you to keep control of the stakeholders roles on your project.

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 27

 Workload balance
Are there too many tasks assigned to one stakeholder? When you complete your
chart, it is a good idea to go back through and tally the number of Rs assigned to
each stakeholder. This can help you identify potentially overloading one team
member with work.

Put your RACI into practice

Once you have created your RACI chart, it is time to put it into practice. You will
first need to share your RACI chart with your sponsors and stakeholders to get
buy-in and sign-off. When you get stakeholder buy-in, you will be able to set clear
expectations for your team and ensure that everyone is aligned on their
responsibilities.

Essential project resources

Resources are crucial to achieve the project goals. Thus, consider all things
required for completing the project. Project resources include budget, people,
and materials.

Before starting the project, figuring out different resources is important so that
everyone understands the work to get done to meet the goals. Figuring out
resources early on is useful to avoid understaffing, which can decelerate the
progress and delay the deliverables. Careful resource planning is essential so

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 28

 that the budget can be estimated correctly. Early resource planning is the path
to success.

A budget is the cost needed to complete the project. During the initiation
phase, get the information about all hidden costs to create the budget so
that it can be the reference to compare proposals from vendors, estimate
upcoming costs, and track the money flow in the project.

The team members are the people who help execute the project's tasks
and could be the people outside the company if they have the particular
skills to do some tasks that the company's employees cannot do.

Materials are all the items that help to get the project done.

The project manager and team use tools to help manage resources and
organize work. The tools are essential to help track tasks, manage budgets,
and collaborate with team members.

Budget
Common aspects of your project budget will include:

Team: the cost of the people performing the work

Services: any outside vendors helping your project

Materials: any tangible items purchased to complete the project

People
As a project manager, make sure that you have commitment and buy-in on the
number of hours it will take for your resources to complete their tasks.

Materials
If you were working on an IT project, materials could include hard drives and
computers to handle the coding efforts. You can also have materials that are
intangible. For example, on the same IT project, online storage, software
programs, or employee training may also be considered materials.

The value of project documentation

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 29

 Documentation is needed because much important information in the project
is to be kept track of.

There are numerous benefits of having clear and consistent documentation.

Ensure transparency and clear communication

Help in setting the project stages

Communicate the answers to key questions. For example, what problem

are you trying to solve? What are the project goals? What are the scope
and deliverables, and who are the project’s stakeholders? What resources
does the team need to complete their work?

Help preserve decisions made early on

A reference for new team members

Helps in uncovering tasks, timelines, or costs which have not been

considered previously.

Record all timely information to be reviewed after completing the project

Project proposals and charters 101

Two types of documentation track details and keep your stakeholders
informed: project proposal and project charter. There are some differences
between these two.

A proposal helps in understanding the goals and impacts; a charter helps

in getting organized and set-up plans.

A proposal comes at the beginning; a charter comes at the end of the

initiation phase.

A proposal is used only at the earlier stages; a charter is the reference

throughout the project's life.

A proposal persuades the stakeholders to perform the project; a charter

defines the project details to reach its goal.

A proposal can be formal or informal; a charter is a formal document.

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 30

 A charter contains all information about the benefits (values, money, and
time).

The project charter approval means that the project management supports it,
and the project can be performed.

The project manager reviews and develops the charter, adapting to its
audiences and the stakeholders' needs throughout the process.

Project charters: Elements and formats

A project charter clearly defines the project and outlines the necessary details for
the project to reach its goals. A well-documented project charter can be a project
manager’s secret weapon to success.
The charter is the formal way that the project’s goals, values, benefits, and details
are captured.
As with any of your project documents, it is a good idea to collaborate with your
team and stakeholders early and often.
Project charters will vary but usually include some combination of the following
key information:

introduction/project summary

goals/objectives

business case/benefits and costs

project team

scope

success criteria

major requirements or key deliverables

budget

schedule/timeline or milestones

constraints and assumptions

risks

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 31

 OKRs

approvals

Developing a project charter

Project charters are key to get approval from the stakeholders and move
forward.

Many formats of project charters can be used. We have considered the

template often used by program managers at Google:

Project name

A summary of the project

Smart project goals

Project deliverables that can be tangible or intangible

The reasons for initiating the project

The benefits and costs (cost-benefit analysis), where the benefits should
always outweigh the cost

Project scope and out-of-the scope so that everyone understands the

ones where they should focus their efforts

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 32

 Project team that includes the sponsors, the leader, and important team
members

Additional stakeholders, if any

Success criteria metrics

Once finished, it should be reviewed by the stakeholders

Documentation helps in understanding the project to achieve success in the

project.

Utilizing tools for effective project management

Project management tools are essential to effectively manage the project.

There are some benefits of using project management tools.

Two-way communication, including sharing information

Time and energy saving

Visibility and transparency of the tasks so that any changes that impact
the project can be noticed quickly.

Accomplishing many tasks: tracking progress (tasks, deliverables, and

milestones); managerial activities (budget, contracts, and licenses);
building charts and diagrams; and updating information for stakeholders.

Tools can be simple or advanced; the simple tool could be more effective for
small projects and the advanced one is meant for bigger projects because the
more complicated the tool, the more time is needed to learn and work.

Exploring types of project management tools

Project management tools are used to make the work more effective.

Scheduling and work management software

Assign tasks to the team members.

Track team progress so that the issues will be known and resolved
immediately; thus, the project stays on track.

Productivity tools

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 33

 Word processing tools are used to create shared documents and build
documents.

Spreadsheets are versatile and are used to make graphs, charts, and
plans.

Presentation tools are used to show the project visually.

Collaboration tools are used to quickly communicate with the team members.

Because productivity and collaboration tools are simple, they are suitable for
small projects where tasks and people are fewer. Scheduling and work
management software is more appropriate for projects that have many tasks
and people.

Common project management tools

Many work management software make project planning and tracking
automatic. Two of them are Asana and spreadsheet.

Asana is a platform that helps in planning and coordinating work.

For building plans, assigning tasks, automating workflows, tracking

progress, and communicating with stakeholders

Tasks are visible and organized.

Designed for transparency and connection with all tasks

Can share status updates and other communication with people outside
the company

Spreadsheet

Versatile

For various tasks: timelines, billing charts, managing budgets, and tracking
tasks

Can add and view project information

Can filter tasks to see the things you are responsible for

Can highlight tasks

Can transform, visualize, and manipulate information

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 34

 There are many tools to choose, but picking the best one at the beginning of a
project will benefit everyone.

⬆️ Up
Link
Why is project initiation essential?
Key components of project initiation
Performing a cost-benefit analysis
Determining project goals and deliverables
How to set SMART goals
SMART goals: Making goals meaningful
SMART project goals
Introduction to OKRs
Creating OKRs for your project
OKR development best practices
Determining a project's scope
Monitoring and maintaining a project's scope
Strategies for controlling scope creep
Key takeaway
Managing changes to a project's scope
Launching and landing a project
Don't forget to land: Measuring project success
Defining success criteria
Tracking and communicating success criteria
Using OKRs to evaluate progress
Working effectively with stakeholders
Accessibility for project managers
Choosing a project team
Defining project roles
Completing a stakeholder analysis
Prioritizing stakeholders and generating their buy-in
Elements of a RACI chart
Building out a RACI chart
Responsible
Accountable
Consulted
Informed

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 35

 Getting the most out of a RACI chart
Definition and structure
Workload balance
Put your RACI into practice
Essential project resources
Budget
People
Materials
The value of project documentation
Project proposals and charters 101
Project charters: Elements and formats
Developing a project charter
Utilizing tools for effective project management
Exploring types of project management tools
Common project management tools

Course 2 — Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project 36