One of the project manager’s primary goals is to accurately document the deliverables and requirements of the project, and then manage the project so that they are produced according to the agreed-upon criteria. Deliverables describe the components of the goals and objectives in a quantifiable way.
Know the critical success factors
Objectives and deliverables are sometimes referred to as critical success factors. Critical success factors are those elements that must be completed in order for the project to be considered complete. For example, if you’re building an accounting system, one of the deliverables might be to produce a specific financial report that the accounting department will need for tax purposes. Without the report, the accounting department will not be compliant with their reporting regulations. The report, in this case, is a critical success factor. Not all deliverables are necessarily critical success factors, but many of them will fall into this category and should be documented as such.
During the planning phase, the project manager needs to discover and document all of the requirements of the project – with extensive input from the customer. Requirements describe the characteristics of the deliverable. Some of the requirements of the deliverable from our accounting system example might be that the report contain specific fields, be produced at certain intervals, and be formatted in a particular manner.
Don’t forget the stakeholders and process owners
Again the project manager needs to pull those communications skills out of his tool bag and use them to interview stakeholders and business process owners about the project requirements. Business process owners are those people who are experts in their particular area of the business. They are invaluable resources to the project manager. They are usually the midlevel managers and line managers who still have their fingers in the day-to-day portion of the business.
For example, it takes many experts in various areas to produce and market a popular clothing line. There are machinists whose specialty is regulating and keeping the production line in top working order. There are designers who identify and seek out new trends to remain fresh and current. Graphic artists must develop colorful and interesting labels and ad campaigns. And accounting must keep everything going financially behind the scenes. These are the kinds of people you’ll want to interview.
Sometimes getting the business process owners and stakeholders (who could be one and the same depending on the project) together in a meeting room and brainstorming the requirements will produce terrific results. Depending on the size of the project, this isn’t always possible, but the idea holds true. Interview your stakeholders and business experts to get at the requirements and then document them in the scope statement.