From the course: Project Management Foundations: Small Projects
What is the purpose of the project?
From the course: Project Management Foundations: Small Projects
What is the purpose of the project?
- [Instructor] The first step for every project is understanding why you're doing it. In other words, what's the project goal? Focusing on the goal keeps the project headed in the right direction from start to finish. The goal is like the destination you want to reach at the end of your project journey. It helps everyone focus on achieving the right results. How do you determine the project goal? By talking to the project customer. On small projects, the project customer is usually the person who wants the results the project can deliver. That means the customer is motivated to support the project to help it finish successfully. The customer usually provides the funding for the project. In the sample project, Beth, the business owner, is the person who wants the result, is going to pay for them, and will approve them. Once you identify the customer, it's time to ask questions to clarify the project goal and objectives. First, ask, "Why are we doing this project?" In our example, the owner tells you that she needs a new office and technology so she can grow her business. When you get to the end of the project, you have to show that it was successful. That's why you have to describe objectives and results in ways that are quantifiable and measurable. The second question to ask is, "What results should the project deliver?" The business owner might have several objectives for the project. For instance, in addition to office space, she wants an office network, internet service, a phone system, and business software. You can ask a third question to confirm the goal and results, "Why are these results important?" This question helps people clarify what they want. In our example, Beth says that the company is limited by the current space and technology. In some projects, different people might have different perspectives of the goal and results. If you run into this situation, the quickest resolution is to hold a meeting with the project customer and other interested parties to hash out the answer. Ask everyone what they think the goal is. Facilitate the discussion. Help people see where they agree. And don't forget to wrap up by stating the goal and results if they've been revised. Describe the goal objectives and results in ways that are quantifiable and measurable. Beth's business plan calls for three million in annual revenue and 15 employees within five years, so the office and technology must be able to support that amount of business and number of employees. With more qualitative results, like a more convenient location, you might use satisfaction surveys to measure results. Distill the goal and objectives into a few sentences. Create a document for your project definition. You can use the project definition template in the exercise files to get started. Put these techniques into practice by identifying and confirming the goal, objectives, and results for an upcoming project and use that information to start filling out your project definition.
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