Making It Happen: A Non-Technical Guide to Project Management

Chapter 7. Writing the Objective Statement

As I drove back to the office, the excitement of Martha's revelations started to fade. I still was not convinced that they were taking me anywhere that was going to make Stu or Ralph happy. Nevertheless, I was determined to change things, so I resolved to stick with Martha's ideas.

When I got in, a stack of pink message slips sat on my desk, and my in-basket was full of memos, notes, letters, and other urgent things. Fortunately, I can ignore the urgent in favor of the really, really urgent.

Twenty minutes later my project team was sitting around a big table in the Dunkin' Donuts shop across the street from the plant. The conference room had been booked and no one had an office big enough for the eight of us.

The faces around the table were not looking pleased despite the fact that I had sprung for a 24 pack of donut holes. It sat untouched in the center of the table.

Mark spoke first. "What is this about, Will? We all have a lot of work to do, and I for one haven't had a chance to put anything together on this project yet."

I wasted no time. "Like I told all of you this morning, I want to do whatever it takes to get control of this project. I wasn't all that pleased with what we achieved at our meeting, so I contacted an outside consultant for some assistance." I had decided to exaggerate a little with respect to Martha. I figured if I didn't, none of these new ideas would have credibility with my team.

No one except Al seemed interested ...