You’re handed a critical project to take and make your own. You finally get to go cradle to grave on it – you’re not just taking on someone else’s mistakes this time. What do you do to get started? Here’s a list of ten must-do’s – in no particular order – that will help ensure that you get the project off on the right foot.
Review the Statement of Work (SOW)
This is your starting point and the main document for the project to take off from. It’s loaded with assumptions, expectations, deliverables, milestones, rates, sometimes estimates, etc. It’s your starting point for putting together a decent draft project schedule, draft budget and forecast, and definitely the basis of most of the information you’ll want to cover in a kickoff session with the customer.
Identify the necessary resource skill sets for the project and request them
As early on as possible, identify what skills you’ll need for the project. Other projects and other project managers are likely in need of some of the same skilled resources and they’re usually in short supply, so put in formal requests as soon as possible. Don’t request them too early, because engaging a resource before it’s needed can blow your budget out of the water. The challenge is to onboard the necessary resources at just the right time so they’re fully and efficiently utilized.
Draft a project schedule
Sales may have provided you with a draft schedule that they worked out with the customer during the sales process. If they did, that may be a good starting point…depends on how competent and technically inclined your sales group is. If not, then start with the SOW and start plugging in timeframes, deliverables and key milestone dates noted in the document. Even if you do get a draft schedule from Sales, always cross check it with this document….ownership of the schedule is yours, not theirs.
Hold a knowledge transfer call with Sales
Conduct a call with the sales person or account manager that worked closely with the client to close the deal. They likely put together some of the SOW, drafted a schedule and rough budget and can give you insight on the customer and their key contacts. Those key contacts will likely be part of your customer team so any info you can get before going into the engagement puts you that far ahead to begin with.
Call the customer and introduce yourself
Before any formal face-to-face or project kickoff meeting, call the may contact or contacts and introduce yourself. You can maybe even think of a couple of high-level questions to ask them, but save the detailed questions and information for a later face-to-face meeting. This informal introduction call is not the time for that detail.
Do an initial forecast of resources for the length of the project
Depending on what kind of information is contained in the SOW, this may be a relatively easy task. Sales had to work out some detail in order to come up with a price for the customer. That’s your budget and it’s likely derived from estimated hours for each planned resource with prices attached to each. If that’s the case, then you’ve got a great start for a budget and forecast for the duration of the project. You’ll have to make calls based on deliverables and milestones on when to engage the resources and for how long, but you can cross check them with the estimated hours from Sales. This will be the basis for the budget and forecast that you’ll manage and share with both teams for the rest of the project.
Comprise a list of detailed questions for the customer
Following an initial call with the customer, discussions with Sales, and a review of the SOW, you’ll have some questions that need answers. These will be things you’ll need to know for input into the detailed schedule and how the customer may want certain things run on the project. Getting answers to these questions will help you put together information for your first detailed meeting with the customer which will likely be a formal project kickoff session.
Put together a first status report from what you know so far
Taking what you’ve learned so far from discussions and SOW reviews, you can put together your first status report for the customer and deliver it before the kickoff session. Include what you have so far for the draft schedule, budget and forecast. It will go a long ways in building initial confidence in you in the customer’s eyes because it will show that you’re in control and on top of things.
Put together a kickoff packet and schedule a face to face with the customer
Using something like PowerPoint, put together a formal presentation that you’ll use in the face-to-face kickoff session. Work with the customer to schedule a day-long session (or however long it needs to be based on your project’s needs) and make sure they have the right people attending (but not too many!). Explain to them that too many attendees lead to too many questions and eventually a kickoff meeting that is derailed and non-productive.
Conduct the kickoff session
Hold the formal kickoff session with the customer. Review the SOW, proposed team roles on both sides, deliverables, milestone dates, how and when meetings will be conducted, and discuss the change order process. Refrain from discussing budget items in this meeting unless the customer requests it – I’ve usually had the experience that customers only want certain people on their side privy to budget info.