In hindsight, what are the key questions, you would ask at each stage of the project to avoid potential regrets subsequently?

Context

At the outset, seeking and establishing clarity on the project objectives and goals and communicating the same to all stakeholders to ensure alignment is crucial. However, subsequent stages of the project also require the same intensity of curious information seeking behaviour in a timely manner to ensure the project receives the required attention, decisions, and actions from the required stakeholders. As a project management team, seeking information and communicating needs to form an integral part in every stage of the project to prepare the complete picture of the project and aids in providing a holistic narrative to the stakeholders.

Problem statement

While building the business case for each project or programme, first level of information is sought (thousand feet view) with assumptions to determine the viability of achieving the desired outcomes within the stipulated constraints of time and cost. However, as the project progresses to the subsequent stages in the lifecycle, the focus shifts from information seeking and analysis to performing the planned activities.

Thinking back on past projects and programmes, one was often prompted (either from the voice within or from external voices at other side of the table) with a similar sounding question or query:

“Could we have asked the right questions at the right time to the right stakeholders to avoid this situation?”

Suggestions and key considerations:

Referring to the ever-growing list of lessons learnt from past projects and programmes, sharing a few (non-exhaustive) open ended questions segregated per the project stages, responses to which could have certainly optimised the time and budget invested and thereby improved the stakeholder confidence.

Initiation (Stage of innocence)

Information sought in this stage of the project is key to ensuring clarity of purpose and stakeholder alignment throughout the project lifecycle. Queries posed in this stage therefore need to evoke responses that can help articulate the WHY, WHAT and WHO aspects of the project.

Some of the key questions include:

1.?????? Why is the project undertaken and what are the expected outcomes and associated benefits?

2.?????? What is the existing problem statement, that the project is expected to solve?

3.?????? Who are the internal and external stakeholders for this project?

4.?????? What is the expected impact on customers, front line staff, partner channels, back-office processes, existing risk management policies, compliance reporting etc?

5.?????? What is the expected impact of this project on existing solution architecture, data model, information security, analytics, and reporting aspects?

Planning (Stage of curiosity and analysis)

Past experiences (both good and otherwise) have reinforced the importance of this phase in the project lifecycle. Information sought at this stage in providing clarity on the proposed delivery approach backed with relevant assumptions on estimated timelines, efforts, and budget. If at all there is the most appropriate phase for asking the right questions at the right time, then this is the phase.

Quality and coverage of information sought in this stage is crucial to the success of the project:

1.?????? What is the defined scope of the project and what are the exclusions?

2.?????? What are the planned milestones and timelines for the project?

3.?????? What will be team composition and roles and responsibilities of the team to deliver this project?

4.?????? What is the planned budget to deliver the defined outcomes?

5.?????? What is the agreed approach for the project Go Live?

6.?????? What are the risks foreseen in the project and what are the mitigation measures?

7.?????? How will stakeholders be informed about the project?

Execution (Stage of doing)

Project delivery represents the moment of truth for all the crystal ball gazing associated with the assumptions made around hypothesis definition, planning, scope definition, anticipated risks etc. Often the most involved phase in terms of time and effort, bringing together the pieces delivered by various work streams / teams determines the quality of the output.

1.?????? Is the approved scope of the project getting delivered within? the planned timeline and budget?

2.?????? Are there any potential gaps or dependencies identified in the delivery approach?

3.?????? Is the project output in line with the quality measures defined?

4.?????? Did the assumptions around cost, time and effort hold good or required significant change?

5.?????? Are the stakeholders sufficiently engaged to ensure the necessary actions and decisions?

Monitoring and controlling (constant measuring)

Continuous tracking and reporting of the project progress is key to ensuring that the stakeholders are aware of the decisions needed, actions to be taken or changes necessitated to meet the project’s stated objectives. The ability to identify, assess and report the impact of changes to the operating environment is key to this stage of the project.

While reviewing the project status report, some of the key considerations are as follows:

1.?????? Are the necessary data points relating to scope, timeline and budget of the project measured adequately and reported?

2.?????? Are there any events (external to the project) that might have an impact on the project?

3.?????? Given the project situation, is there a possibility of a change in the approved scope, timeline, or budget?

4.?????? Have any of the anticipated risks materialised into an issue that demanding immediate attention?

5.?????? Does the current delivery approach need any tweaks to ensure meeting the project outcomes?

Closing (Stage of wisdom)

The closure stage often provides insightful data about the ability of the function or organisation to execute projects successfully. Insights from the project stakeholders usually offers empirical data that can be a valuable input for planning future initiatives.

1.?????? What is the extent to which the project has met its defined objectives?

2.?????? Have all stakeholders reviewed and signed off the project?

3.?????? Are the lessons learnt documented for future reference?

4.?????? Does the data point out changes necessitated to the existing processes related to change, release, procurement, risk management processes etc?

Conclusion

As Adam Grant aptly puts it in his book ‘Think again’ , having the confidence in achieving the outcome, yet having the humility to question whether you are equipped with the right tools becomes important. While it is assuring to ask the right questions, constant recalibration of the delivery approach based on the new information on the ground is certainly one the key success factors. Presenting the full picture with the moving parts and having an honest conversation, in terms of course correction with the stakeholders is key to the success of the project. Over time there is comfort and confidence (from both the voice within and from external voices at other side of the table) on the project health.

Disclaimer

Views and opinions expressed are based on empirical data from past Transformation programmes pertaining to banking and financial services and may not necessarily be in exact alignment with leading practices or established frameworks.