Create a charter for each project. This is a simple 1-page document that simply describes why you’re doing this project (the business goals). It also lists the project’s Sponsor, the person you go to for money or resources and whose neck is on the line to get this project done. The charter lets everyone on the team know what the project is all about, and is the guiding force in making decisions. All the work done on the project should support the reasoning in this document. It also includes success criteria, so the team knows what the desired outcome is — whether to lower the amount of time spent waiting for customer support, or increasing revenues by providing a new paid service for your users. This should be quantifiable and measurable, so you know whether the project has achieved success. There is a template with Johanna’s book, but its more of an outline. I’ve created a project charter template based on hers, that uses a fictitious project to illustrate the concept. Feel free to use it.

Projects are about people. Get to know your team. Also get to know your stakeholders, your sponsor, and identify any champions (those cheering for your project’s success) and anti-champions (those who want you to fail!). Spend time understanding what makes these people tick, and what they want. IT projects are different because they involve organizational change, so you need to understand who is affected and how, to smooth the way for your project to be accepted. You may have built a great product of feature, but what if your internal customers don’t want to adopt it?