First step for project success

Many have tried to put a definition to what a project is and depending on your perspective, several definitions too numerous to list are in the public domain. However, I can simplify what a project means in such a way that it will be easy to understand by anyone.

A project is a change and before we can even talk about its success, we need to understand how it is managed. A project does not exist in a vacuum and an understanding of how it is managed plays a significant part in its success. This takes me to the phrase “project management”, which many may have heard before and which means many things to different people depending on the sector in which you operate. Again, l will simplify what project management means in such a way that you really do not need to open a dictionary to understand it. I earlier defined a project as a change and project management is the most efficient way of managing that change. You will observe that l used the word efficient and not effective, in defining project management, the reason will come to light at some stage in future series but something to note at this stage, to whet your appetite, is that project management amongst several other factors rests on a fundamental tripod – time, cost and quality. We will delve more into this in subsequent series.

What then is the first step for project success? That is the pertinent question which l want to immediately address. There is a popular saying that “if the foundation be destroyed, what can the righteous do” and this phrase is very apt in setting the tone going forward. The starting point of any project being done rightly is what we call “Business Case” in project management.

Again, what is the definition of a business case? Defining this in simple terms is the justification for undertaking a project. It is these parameters that make up this justification that will form the nucleus of the first step for project success. What are the core elements that make up the justification for a project, otherwise called the Business case? The next couple of paragraphs will explain the parameters in turn. These parameters are what we call the contents of a business case that justifies a project being undertaken.

Project scope must be defined and the reason for the project must be established. It must be clear and devoid of any ambiguity. There must be a clear understanding of what is in scope and what is out of scope. This is a first and crucial step to mitigate what we call a “scope creep” in project
management. In simple terms, if you don’t establish the boundaries of your undertaking, you are bound to embark on a journey without a clear definition of your destination. Getting this right will set the tone for other contents in the business case.

Optioneering will be the next content of the business case. Having defined the scope in clear terms, there definitely must be more than one option in approaching a project.

Several options must be highlighted at this stage and a rationale for the selected option must be established to convince decisions makers that you are navigating the best path in your proposal to get the nod for the project to proceed. Also, there is what we call the “do nothing option” in project management. You must also emphasise the implication of not doing anything, otherwise keeping status quo thereby not creating any change (otherwise called a project).

High-level cost implication of the project is another content of the business case. We call it high-level cost at this stage because you don’t have all the micro details of this project yet to give you a robust and detailed costing proposal, but some level of estimating can be developed from experience based on the amount of information available to you at this point in the process. This high-level cost should come with some caveats of variance to set the expectation with decision makers. However, under normal circumstances, if this estimate has been done with due diligence with stakeholders that can assist with giving as much input as required in the cost building process, the estimate arrived at should not be too far off what the eventual cost will be as you navigate the project life cycle. The importance of this parameter is that there is a reasonable figure being worked with to assess to a great extent the affordability of the project to the funding organisation, department, parastatal etc.

High-level risks of the project at this stage must be established and clearly enumerated. This is very important content of the business case. Risk appetites differ across organisations, departments, parastatals etc. The risk exposure this project brings must be within the acceptable risk tolerance of the funding body and this is well known to those saddled with the responsibility to decide if this project will get a positive nod to proceed.

This does not take away the fact that risk management is a continuous process from the conception to completion of a project as it navigates its life cycle but at this stage, it must be assessed to a considerable extent if it is even worth embarking on this journey.

Duration of the project is another content of the business case. A project is a transient endeavour and must not continue in perpetuity. A defined timeframe must be established as part of the
business case. A project may sometimes encounter challenges that vary its duration but this change to a project baseline must go through the appropriate change control process which will be discussed in subsequent series. However, at this stage, a defined duration forms part of the parameters to be considered as part of the project justification process of business case approval. The quack concept of “we finish when we finish” has no place in professional project management process and no project should get a nod to proceed on this basis.

The benefit of a project is another crucial piece of content of a business case. No benefit, no project, it cannot be any simpler than that. The goal of undertaking a project is benefit realisation and for any project business case to get the nod to proceed, this crucial criterion must be satisfied amongst others. We have earlier discussed cost, but it is important to emphasise that despite the benefit that accrues from a project, it should not be done at whatever cost. This is where the concept of cost- benefit analysis must be addressed as part of the justification for undertaking a project. This should be accompanied with a robust investment appraisal to justify the proposed spend in line with other parameters within the business case.

Several other parameters like assumptions made, identified constraints, dependencies, impact on business as usual (BAU) and project success criteria are all crucial parts of business case justification. All these must be clearly elaborated and forms part of a robust proposal to enable decision making for a project to proceed.

All l have summarised thus far is what we call the first phase of a project life cycle (some might refer to it as the concept phase). The outcome of this phase, if successful, is an approved business case. If for any reason this phase is unsuccessful, the project dies a natural death at this stage and will not proceed any further to the next phase. Please note however that a business case can be approved, declined or deferred. If deferred, there will be an opportunity to present it in future with some tweaks to address the concerns, either because it was not initially successful or because there might have been a massive change in the circumstances of the funding body that may alter the viability position of the organisation, department, parastatal etc.

This is the first step for project success and the first in a series of steps to be published.

Anthony-Ajileye is a United Kingdom-based  project management consultant. He can be contacted via [email protected].