Project Management ToolBox, 3rd Edition

3PROJECT ORIGINATION

One of the main reasons projects fail is unclear and/or poorly communicated project objectives. After all, if people don’t understand the purpose of the project, the intended outcomes, and what success looks like, there is very little chance they will deliver what is expected. Conversely, a project that is well understood, with clear outcomes and objectives, has a much higher likelihood of achieving success.

Project origination is concerned with ensuring that there is a consistent high-level understanding of what a project is intended to achieve and how the outcome will be accomplished. This includes ensuring that the financial, capital, and human resources are committed to the project, that the objectives are adequately defined, and the level of complexity is understood.

Because one size does not fit all when it comes to project origination we will look at several different documents you can use at the start of the project to ensure a common understanding. A complexity assessment can be used at the portfolio level to ensure an appropriate balance of projects in a portfolio. It can also be used at a project level to manage expectations. Complex projects contain more uncertainty and risk, and therefore require higher-skilled resources and a more robust contingency fund.

A Project Charter and a Project Canvas are two means of capturing high-level information about a project. A Charter is often used on large projects, but may be too much for a smaller or simple ...