As project managers, we are sometimes tasked with taking over a project in progress. In this guide, we will outline how to execute a seamless project takeover. Use the included checklist for your upcoming projects. Show
By Luciano Castro Luciano is a business-driven manager with over 15 years of experience as a CTO and CEO in multinational companies and startups. He has a strong technical background in IT and excellent management skills and is in love with Agile and Lean methodologies. Luciano's worked on more than 2,000 projects with both small and big teams (+400) and always remotely. He also possesses multiple certifications in PMP, Agile, Scrum, ITSQB, ITIL, and Microsoft. (Are you about to start a new project? Then my project kickoff checklist may be helpful for you. It covers all actions you need to take to properly set up your project. Follow these steps and you have nothing reason to worry about). Here’s what you need to do:
Step 1: Get an understanding of the subject matterYou can’t plan a project without a good understanding of the field. In this section I’ll show you how to become an expert in a few days. When I took over my first IT project, everything was new. I had to deal with servers, storage, backup and more. The problem was: I didn’t know anything about these things. So, I sat down with each of my specialists and asked: “Tell me, what’s all that stuff about?” This was helpful because I got a picture of their work, and I understood how a backup system should be planned. Similar to my approach, you should try to get a good understanding of the topic. How do you become an expert in a new field? By reading articles and by talking to a lot of people:
Focus your research on those points:
My recommendation to you: Don’t be afraid to ask questionsThe best way to really grasp a topic is by asking questions. As you’re having conversations with subject matter experts, people with similar project experience and those in your team, ask questions like these:
Most people feel uncomfortable asking questions. They worry about what others might think. That should not be your concern! Your job is to run a successful project. Not to worry about how you appear to others. I would like you to adapt the investigative style of detective Columbo. If you haven’t heard of Columbo: he was the detective in a popular crime series.What was so special about Columbo? He had an incredible eye for detail. And despite his absentmindedness, he always hit the nail with the right questions. In a typical situation, he would leave the room, turn around and confront his counterpart with an uncomfortable question: “Just one more thing …”. Columbo gave a damn of what others thought of him. He was dedicated to solve his case. That’s the mindset you should adapt if you want to be a good project manager. Step 2: Define the project goalThe project goal is a summary of the project’s purpose: What should the project achieve? A goal provides clarity and has a motivational impact on the team. The best way to come up with a project goal is by asking: “What positive result do we expect from this project?”. Invite the customer and the project sponsor to discuss their expectations. Then try to create a short statement (1-3 sentences) that summarizes the goal.
That’s just a high-level goal you would put in a presentation. You can get more specifc by defining tangible objectives. A specific objective could be to, increase average customer satisfaction ratings from 4.8 to 5.0 over the next 12 months. Read more about how to define a project goal here. If you are required to create a business case, this is the step to do so. Step 3: Make a list of tasks and deliverablesBeing in charge of a project can feel overwhelming. The best way to overcome the initial paralysis is by breaking the project down into small chunks. During this step you want to look at two things:First, make a list of all tasks and project deliverables that have to be worked on to achieve the project goal. No task should be missed. Even if it’s small. Your second goal should be to understand in what order these tasks have to be executed. Try to imagine the flow of the project from start to finish. Then list all the things that need to be done (like in a brainstorming session). Start broadly and then go into detail. For more complex projects I suggest creating a work breakdown structure (WBS). This is a graphical diagram where deliverables are broken down into smaller manageable pieces. Knowing what the necessary tasks are and who is going to be in charge is a VERY critical step. You don’t want find out six months from now that you forgot to include somebody whose involvement is required. The consequences could be terrible. It helps to break down tasks by project phase:
What I do at the start of a project: I schedule several meetings with those people that I think have some stake in the project. I give an overview of the project and I ask the folks: Tell me, what are your main tasks? In what order do they have to be performed? The quality of feedback you receive during the information gathering phase heavily depends on the quality of input you give. Simply giving a one-liner about your project and expecting helpful feedback won’t work. You need to provide detailed information about what your project is about and how it will affect the current processes so that people can visualize how it might affect their realm. The following will help :
Don’t worry if you have to make several attempts until you achieve the desired clarity. Often when I get back to my desk to go through the input I’ve just collected, new questions come into my mind. That means I have to check back with my team and solve whatever is still unclear. Below you see an example of an Outlook invite as I would send it out to each one I want to talk to: At the end of this step you should have come up with a list of activities and the responsible for each one. Step 4: Identify the stakeholdersStakeholders are the people and groups you need to keep in the loop. Either because they are actively involved in the project. Or because they have to approve or oversee the project work. Imagine you’re taking a trip by plane: First you take a cab to the airport. Then somebody at the check-in counter will validate your reservation, accept your baggage and issue a ticket. Next, you’ll have to get through security. A TSA officer is going to check your baggage (and every corner of your body). What I want to show with this analogy: The cab driver, the airline staff, the TSA officer, they all have an important role in your journey. You can’t get from A to B if you skip one of them. They are like stakeholders in a project. You can’t reach accomplish your project goal if you don’t involve each of these people. Stakeholders fall into 3 categories:
Here’s how you can find out who these people are: Ask as many people in your organization as possible: “Hey, who do you think I should involve?”. “Who else is involved in this process?”, “What are the people who are using this product?” Another advice from me: Make your project known to everyone in the organization. In my last company we had a meeting of the directors every quarter. Sure enough, I took the opportunity to inform everyone about the project I was planning. That was really helpful, because the directors would give me helpful pointers: “Please talk to us, because we are also using this process that you’re planning to change.” Step 5: Create a resource planHow many hours do John, Linda and Pete have to work on your project? That’s what you define in a resource plan. It shows the monthly effort that team members and departments have to contribute. Other departments who provide resources for your project need to know the approximate effort they have to contribute. That is, how many hours or days each colleague has to contribute per week / month. Here is a simple example of a resource plan. I usually put in percentages and later multiply the total by the number of working days each month (20 on average) to get the number of workdays. For example, 0.8 means you are using the resource 80% in a specific month. 0.8 x 20 = 16 days. Step 6: Create a project scheduleThe earlier steps were mostly about thinking and talking. Now it’s time to actually put something on paper. It’s time to create to create a project timeline. First, download my project plan template. It’s a simple Excel template that you can see in the image below. Then, take the insights from your initial research and the discussions with your team and write down the main project tasks in the appropriate order. Here what an actual project timeline looks like: Here you can download the Excel project plan template
Why? Your most precious resource as a project manager is your time. As it is the case with most software, it takes a long time to get really familiar with it. Making a simple change to your project plan isn’t that easy, and you will find yourself wasting time. Focus your attention on the things that really matter: Checking in with your team and see if tasks are progressing and handling all the communication. Step 7: Create a project budgetNow let’s create a project budget. You must have your effort and cost estimations ready. Creating a budget isn’t difficult at all. And I have a budget template for you. Use it to plan and track project cost. Your cost estimation (project budget) should give the approximate cost per cost category. Cost categories that go into a project budget:
Again, keep it simple. Put everything into an Excel worksheet and add up the numbers. If you are required to provide a breakdown by month or by specific categories, then do so. To calculate the cost of internal resources, you usually multiply the number of hours by a pre-defined hourly rate. Your HR department or the guys from internal accounting can give you the hourly rates of your organization. For external resources you anyway pay a fixed rate per hour or day which you can find on the quotation. Material cost is the value of goods and services that have to be procured as part of the project. What items go into this category really depends on the industry and type of the project. Very often projects require investments in buildings, machinery, software or other items. An investment is shown on the balance sheet and it is depreciated over a number of years. You have to discuss the numbers with your accounting department, as they have to make sure the investment is correctly accounted for on the financial statements.
Read more on how to create a project budget. Step 8: Hold a project kick-off meetingThe best way to inform everybody involved is through a project kickoff meeting. These are the meetings you schedule at the beginning of every project to present the project timeline, goal and all the organizational matters, like who is involved, where does the project take place, how often you hold update meetings, your project communication plan etc. Usually there is a wider audience that should know about your project. Prepare a set of slides which you can send out for such purposes, along with a note saying: If you have any questions, please contact me. Step 9: Don’t forget the organizational stuffThe following section may only be relevant if you’re working in a corporate environment. To be able to do your job, you are dependent on certain resources. :
You’ll need those resources sooner or later in your project. The thing to remember is: you may not get a hold of them if you wait until the last moment where you need them. Just think of managers who need to be involved to get approval from. Their calendars are usually blocked a long time in advance. So what you do is you reserve time many weeks or even months before you need them. Let’s say you plan to hold a monthly team meeting with 20+ people, you reserve an appropriately sized meeting room now for the entire duration of your project. If you already know you’ll need your director’s signature at the end of July, schedule an appointment through his assistant. As for your team members, you usually don’t block their time. But I wanted to know when they were off. So I asked everybody to enter their vacation time in an Excel. That way I could see if there were any conflicts, such as somebody being absent in a critical phase of the project. Think of all the resources and tools you might need in the course of your project, and make sure you have access to them when needed! Bonus: Prepare for failureAs a project manager, you are like a commander of a boat who has to navigate his ship through rough waters. If you know where to expect cliffs, dangerous currents or heavy storm, you are much more likely to arrive at the destination. So you sit down first, and you think thoroughly about everything that might go wrong. Any obstacles that could jeopardize your project’s success. Put everything down in an Excel table. Then, as a second step, brainstorm possible measures that would either help to eliminate a risk completely, or that could reduce the impact. To give you an example: If you have a technical expert in your team, there’s a possibility that he will be unavailable in a critical phase of your project, be it due to sickness or because he changes jobs. As a mitigating action, you could add a second programmer as backup and require that both colleagues work closely together, so the knowledge is shared. If this is not possible, you could at least check for an external person that could be taken onto the project in case of emergency. Now, if you just draw from your own experience, chances are that you miss some potential risk. This is dangerous. That’s why I always talk to other people to get a second opinion. It’s also very helpful to talk to project managers who have lead similar projects. Any problem that you have thought of before means less trouble along the way! You will be prepared if something goes wrong, and instead of falling into a frazzled mode, you can react calmly and with a clear state of mind. This is one of the most important points, and I want you to internalize the concept of preparing for risk. Here are some examples of how we dealt with risks in some of my own projects:
So, guys and girls reading this article: Immerse yourself in the topic of your project, and then get things moving! Create a good enough project plan, project calculation etc. Don’t put yourself under pressure to have everything perfect. This is not required. Instead, schedule the first meetings and start with the first activities. Then make updates to your plans if needed. I’d be curious to know: What do you struggle with when starting a new project? — Adrian Similar posts you might also likeThe Ultimate Guide to Project Management Project Scope: What scope really is (and how to define it) Where you can find help as a project manager Adrian NeumeyerHi! I’m Adrian, former Senior IT Project Manager and founder of Tactical Project Manager. I created the site to help you become an excellent project leader and manage intense projects with success! When you begin a new project what is your plan?Step 1: Get an understanding of the subject matter. Step 2: Define the project goal. Step 3: Make a list of tasks and deliverables. Step 4: Identify the project stakeholders.
What comes after a project plan?After the project plan (which was developed in the initiation phase) has been approved, the project enters the second phase: the definition phase. In this phase, the requirements that are associated with a project result are specified as clearly as possible.
What to write before starting a project?How To Write A Project Plan. Establish Project Scope And Metrics. ... . Identify Key Stakeholders. ... . Outline Deliverables. ... . Develop Tasks. ... . Assign Tasks And Deadlines. ... . Share, Gather Feedback, And Adjust The Project Plan As Necessary. ... . Use Other Project Plans For Inspiration. ... . Get Your Team Involved In The Process.. What are the steps in completing a project?6 Steps To Ensure Successful Project Completion. Step 1: Study the project thoroughly. ... . Step 2: Prepare a concrete project plan. ... . Step 3: Daily monitoring of work assigned after project begins. ... . Step 4: Keep the client informed on a predetermined basis. ... . Step 5: Perform testing at regular intervals. ... . Step 6: Final project delivery.. |