Managers PM Strategies

LINK YOUR PROJECT MANAGEMENT WHY TO YOUR MEASURES

Linking your reason, or purpose, or “why” for your project to how you will measure when that is done, is a simple but often overlooked step, but it ensures that what is delivered and what is expected line up.

Start with your “why” or a type out a couple of simple sentences about the purpose for your project. It is kind of like a quick hallway conversation, or a brief chat prior to a call, when you are describing something you are working on.

What is the reason for this side-project that you have? For example, “… well I am working on this x (your label for your project), so that we can do y (what the project delivers), so that my team or my customers can benefit from z (the real benefit that is gained from the project).”

Building on your project purpose, define some measurable objectives that tell you when your project is done and there is nothing more left to do. This is not part of your hallway conversation but is something your project needs. For example, “an outcome abc that can be described in these kinds of dimensions”, or “this report, that tells them this outcome”, or “an amount of subscribers” or whatever it is.
One way to think about the measurable objectives is, can you give the measurements to someone else, like a sixth grader, and would they come to the same conclusion about the items being done, or not, that you would?

Once you have your measurable outcomes, then draft a description of the deliverables that would satisfy those measurable objectives. The deliverables can change based on feedback from key stakeholders, and team members, and sometimes the deliverables just change as a matter of course over the lifetime of the project.

The point is, you have linked the purpose, objectives, and deliverables. This is important because it ensures that in the end all the work that goes into creating the outcomes is going to provide a result that you and others expect.