Pre-Project

Posted on October 11th, 2021

Part of Notes on Project Management

Project initiation is the easiest time to ruin the project.It's the foundation for everything to come and issues need to be ironed out here; e.g., contractual issues.

Businesses can push back against this stage, as it isn't valued because the work doesn't contribute to the end product.

Two roles need to be decided: the Customer Project Manager (or Project Director), responsible for user involvement and overall acceptance of the product; and the Supplier Project Manager, responsible for delivery of the system. These roles must have a very clear boundary, as overlap in responsibilities will be very difficult to negotiate when disagreements occur.

Any and all assumptions need to be documented at this stage. Without clarifying assumptions about the project's deliverables, extra work may be completed which isn't required by the client. Similarly, any vagueness in the specification allows the client to make their own assumptions about the deliverable.

Overall, this stage involves:

• Initial client contact
• Client specification
  • Business requirements for the product
• The tender process (who's going to the build it?)
  • Open market, so no backdoor decisions
  • Clients can be constrained; e.g., minimal annual revenue
• Vendor evaluation (which client fits best?)
  • Can they deliver all business requirements?
  • Is the organisation suitable/compatible? I.e., internal structure
  • Do they fit pricing/quality requirements?
• Contractual framework (the legal stuff)
• Fixed price vs time & material
• Suppliers appoint sub-contractors