LESSON 6

Starting a Project

Understanding the
Activities Associated
With Starting a Project

Version 2.0 | June 2024 Release

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In This
Session:
6A Understanding the Business Case

6B Creating a Project Charter

6C Establishing Communications

6D Selecting and Tailoring the Project Approach

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6A Understanding the Business
Case

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What Is a Business Case?

A value proposition for a proposed

project that may include financial and
nonfinancial benefits.

Can you describe this in your own words?

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Components of a
Business Case

• Description of the problem or

Situation Analysis
opportunity—situation statement Problem/ • Root cause
opportunity • Needs Recommendation
• Situation analysis—e.g., root-cause,
Situation statement assessment
needs assessment
• Recommendation
• Cost-benefit information—e.g., cost-
benefit analysis
• Evaluation
Cost-benefit Evaluation
analysis

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Needs Assessments
Aspire
A needs assessment involves
analyzing current business problems Needs
Business Case assessment
or opportunities to understand what is
necessary to achieve the desired
future state
Create Charter
A needs assessment often precedes
the business case, and the results of Develop Plan
the needs assessment may be
summarized in the business case
document. Execute Plan

Finish Project
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Needs Assessment

Why is the change needed?

Is the proposed solution a good use of

organizational resources?

Business Needs Requirements Traceability & Solution

Analysis Assessment Elicitation & Monitoring Evaluation
Planning What value
Analysis will the business receive?

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Why Perform
a Needs
Assessment?

Requested by a Mandated by Recommended

business stakeholder internal by a business
methodology analyst

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Who Is
Interviewed or
Consulted in a
Needs
Assessment?
Project sponsor Product owner Subject matter
experts

End users Solution or

development team
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Cost-Benefit
Analysis
Definition and
Benefits

A financial analysis
tool used to
compare the
benefits provided
by a portfolio The results of the cost-benefit analysis are included in the
component, business case to demonstrate why the solution option
program, or project selected and proposed is considered the most viable
against its costs. choice.
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Cost-Benefit
Valuation techniques are used to quantify the return or
Analysis
Techniques value that an option will provide. Some of the most
common include calculating the following:

• Payback period—the time needed to recover an investment

• Return on investment (ROI)—the percentage return on an
initial investment.
• Net present value (NPV)—provides insight into whether an
investment will provide value
• Internal rate of return (IRR)—an estimation of an
investment’s projected annual yield that incorporates initial
and ongoing costs.

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Assembling
the Business
Case

Synthesize well-researched
and analyzed information to
support the selection of
components to address the
business goals and
objectives.

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6B Creating a Project Charter

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What Is a Project Charter?
1-3-page high-level summary created during the
Identify Stakeholders and Develop Project
A document issued by the project Charter processes
initiator or sponsor that formally
authorizes the existence of a project 1. Consider business case and any existing
and provides the project manager with agreements—e.g. contracts with vendors
the authority to apply organizational 2. Apply business analyst and project
resources to project activities. management skills—expert judgment, data
gathering, interpersonal skills
3. Create a draft of the project charter
4. Seek approval from key stakeholders and the
project sponsor

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 Project Title
Project Introduction
Charter Problem Statement
Template Scope Outline
Definition of Success
Risk Summary
Constraints and Assumptions
Business Case
Schedule
Deliverables Schedule
Budget
Team Structure
Organizational Structure
Project Approach
Steering Committee Decision

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6C Establishing Communications

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Communication
Objectives

• Communicate effectively with

team and stakeholders
• Engage stakeholders to elicit
requirements and support the
project
• Establish collaborative working
to optimize requirements gathering
and project work

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Communicate the Project
Charter

• Seek agreement—and buy-in—from

stakeholders
• Can be formal or informal
• Facilitated by the business analyst

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Communicate About the
Start of the Project

Hold a kickoff meeting! - Gather

project team members and other key
stakeholders at the outset of a project
to formally set expectations, gain a
common understanding, and
commence work.

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Communication Methods Method Use cases and examples
Overview Formal written • Project charter
• Project plans
• How do you use the listed • Project reports
communication methods at work? • Contracts
Describe the conditions of use or how Formal verbal • Presentations
you decide.
• Updates
• Do you have experience using the
• Briefings
wrong communication method for a
Informal written • Memos
situation? What happened?
• Emails
• Notes
Informal verbal • Casual conversations
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Guidelines for
Effective Analyze communication needs
Communication of all stakeholders

Determine communication methods,

channels, frequency, and level of detail
for all stakeholders

Communicate project information

and updates effectively

Confirm that communication is understood

and feedback is received

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Processes Associated
with Project Communication Management

Plan Communications Manage Communications Monitor Communications

Management
• Develop • Ensure project • Ensure stakeholders
communications information is collected, receive the information
management plan created, distributed, they need
stored, received,
• Consider storage, managed, monitored,
retrieval, distribution and disposed of
needs
• Update project
management plan,
documents, and artifacts

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Putting
Together a Communications
Management Plan

• What is being communicated?

• Why is it being communicated?
• To whom is it being communicated?
• How is it being communicated?
• When is it being communicated?

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Meetings and Any
Events in Life Cycle
Projects
• Planning • Kickoff • Release planning
meeting • Backlog
• Risk review
• Change control refinement
• Bidder
board • Daily standup/
conference
scrum/
• Lessons learned
• Steering coordination
meeting
committee • Iteration planning
• Project closeout
• Iteration review
• Project review (demo)
• Status meeting • Retrospective

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Critical Coach team
Communication Listen actively members and
Skills stakeholders

Ask questions, Negotiation

Highlighted words are in probe situations between team
members and
the course glossary stakeholders
Set and manage
Resolve
expectations
conflicts

Motivate to perform
an action or provide Summarize,
encouragement or recap, identify
reassurance next steps

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Communication
Model
Message

Medium
Verbal and nonverbal

Sender Receiver

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 Communication Blockers: Filters and Barriers

Sender Message Receiver

Medium—verbal
and nonverbal

Filters Barriers

• Language, culture, and • Different educational • Poor internet connection

terminology differences backgrounds • A resistant mindset
• Psychological and sociological • Traditions (the way it has • Accepting misinformation as fact
differences always been done) • Interpersonal conflict
• Dysfunctional emotional • Talking past each other
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behaviors
6D Selecting and Tailoring the
Project Approach

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Select and Tailor

• Understand product, project, and

organizational contexts—e.g., needs
and constraints to select which
approach(es) to use
• Every project approach is tailored

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Key Questions

• Are the requirements complex,

uncertain, or unlikely to change?
• Do you need early and/or frequent
feedback from customers?
• Is the organization receptive to the
flexibility and risk tolerance
necessary?

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Approach Selection: Product/Service/Result-based Criteria
Attribute Adaptive Approach Predictive Approach
How much innovation is Deliverables and/or methods Innovation can be incremental
required? require innovation because scope is known
Are requirements certain? No Yes
Is scope stable? Not likely Yes; major changes are unlikely
What is our attitude Deliverables can be adapted Incorporating change in later
toward change? easily stages will be difficult
What are delivery
Multiple are possible Single delivery at the end
options?
What are the impacts of Modular design and development Known high risks require
risk? can mitigate high risks significant initial planning
If so, we need to know them up
Any safety requirements? We can plan for them in detail
front
Situations demanding regulatory
What about regulations? We can plan for them in detail
compliance will be difficult

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Approach Selection: Project-based Criteria

Attribute Adaptive Approach Predictive Approach

Stakeholders Stakeholders—e.g. product owner— Some key stakeholders are not directly
are active in project execution involved in the project execution

Schedule Short-term, partial iterative The schedule is based on fixed

constraints deliveries are requested milestones that do not allow for flexibility

Funding Flexible funding is possible Funding is based on fixed budgeting, as

availability with government contracts

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 Approach Selection: Organizational-based Criteria
Attribute Adaptive Approach Predictive Approach

Organizational Organizational structures—like flat A rigid organizational structure with established

structure hierarchies—can be adapted to the specific bureaucratic processes to organize projects is in
situation when organizing adaptive projects. place.

Culture The organizational culture context for The organizational culture context for organizing
organizing projects is an “adhocracy” culture. projects is a hierarchical culture.

Organizational Senior management supports an adaptive The organizational context of the project—
capacity mindset, and the organizational context can be including policies, regulations, ways of working,
changed to support adaptive methodologies. and so on—is defined and can’t be adapted to a
specific project.

Project team • Teams are committed to the project full time • Many team members, such as specific task
size and and are small—can be limited to seven, experts, are shared between projects.
location plus or minus two. • Some teams or individual members are not in
• Team members are colocated or equipped the same location.
with modern real-time collaboration tools. • Virtual team support is needed.

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Dealing with
What happens when we view the selection as a
Uncertainty
function of uncertainty?

“Technical uncertainty”
refers to how we are
going use a given
Low
technology, including our

Predictive
uncertainty

Adaptive
High uncertainty
capability, any limitations about requirements about
requirements
of technology, and
High technical
resulting complexity. uncertainty Low technical
uncertainty

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The Role of
Constraints
Fixed Project Time
and Variables
in Selecting a Fixed Scope and Resources
Project
Approach Adaptive
Approach

Predictive
Approach

Variable Project Time Variable Scope

and Resources

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Why Choose a Predictive,
Plan-Based Approach?

• Tried and tested framework

• Controls on timeline, budget, risk,
change, quality

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Why Choose
an Adaptive
Approach?

• Experimentation
and innovation
• Frequent customer
feedback required
to develop scope

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 Selection
Exercise
Adaptive or
Predictive?

A 10-year-old construction
company is building 25 new
single-family homes in a new
subdivision.

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Selection Exercise
Adaptive or Predictive?

A medical equipment
manufacturing company wants
to use artificial intelligence for
the first time to perform quality
testing.

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Knowledge Checks

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 A Project Charter Contains These Elements
Two of These
Things Don’t
Belong You’re right!
Sorry! Sorry!
This one Definition of
Risk Log This one
Scope does
Outline ThisSuccess
one does
doesn’t
belong belong.
belong

You’re right!
Sorry! Sorry!
Identify This one
This
Teamone does
Structure This one does Project Activities
Stakeholders doesn’t
belong. belong.
belong.

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Question 1 Which technique tells the time needed to
recover an investment; the longer this period is,
the greater the risk will be?

1. 2. 3. 4.
Payback Net Present Return on Internal Rate
Period Value Investment of Return

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Question 2 Which of the following is a communication
barrier?

1. 2. 3. 4.
Different Talking past
educational Poor internet Difference
connection each other in language
backgrounds
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Question 3 Which one of the following is a key requirement
for effective communications?

1. 2. 3. 4.
Passive Staring in the Feedback Asking questions
listening eyes before the sender
has finished
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Wrapping Up

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Summary

6A Understanding the Business

Case
6B Creating a Project Charter
6C Establishing Communications
6D Selecting and Tailoring the
Project Approach

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Up Next:
Predictive
Methodologies

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