How to Get Started

Launching something on a green field is often a dreaded task. Projects are a case in point. They typically start with a more or less (often less) problem statement or even some kind of vision. It’s the job of the Project Manager to break-down such top-down guidance into concrete work areas – and launch the first activities to nominate a project team.

Any project needs a bespoken team to be successful. Often, it’s neither the number of superstars nor the size of the team that determines success. Instead, it’s the degree to which the team fits the project characteristics. Nominating a project team has to be a top priority for any project manager in the early phase of a project. Adjustments are common while the project is in it’s execution phase.

A project would not be a project if it’s clear how to solve the stated problem or realize the vision. ‘Uncertainty’ is thus a feature of any project. As it corresponds with risk – and thus potential problems – the degree of uncertainly should be reduced as much as possible. When getting started to set up a new project, the common experience and expertise of project teams shall be leveraged to challenge assumptions.  Only afterwards it’s possible to plan the single tasks and derive milestones. Each milestone will require a target date and an owner.

We recommend as a last step in to nominate additional team members. It might be slightly counterintuitive that the team will be completed after the project has been planned on a high-level. Getting started on a green field requires such an iterative process. Because it needs to be sufficiently clear what the goal is and how to achieve it before understanding which team members are in detail required.

Established project management methods, tools and template will make this process of starting on a green field much easier. Once Project Managers and team don’t need to think about which formats to use, they can focus their full energy on the project’s content and planning. Once a project has been sufficiently planned, a formal Project Kickoff Meeting is recommended to be conducted. Such a meeting helps to synchronize the various stakeholders and builds a team spirit.