A good start is critical to a successful project outcome. Effort and due diligence in the early stages will pay back many times throughout the project lifecycle.
So as well as good financials, estimation, planning etcetera, the initial project documentation is equally, if not more important. These documents act as the "contract" between the project and the business that sets expectations of all parties.
These documents include the Business Case, the Project Initiation Document and the Project Charters. The creation of these documents should not be seen as a "governance task". All parties involved need to understand and "own" the documents and ensure they fully describe the expectations of the "producer" and "consumer" of the outcomes. All parties need to be comfortable that what is documents is reasonable, achievable and worth the investment of time, monies and effort that will be required to deliver the stated outcomes.
The documents should clearly call out:
Roles and Responsibilities
Deliverables
Key Milestones
Risks and mitigants
Assumptions and impact if invalid
Project Outcomes and Deliverables
Business Outcomes
Budget and contingencies
Timelines
Resource Requirements (in projects and business supports)
For clarity it is important to also call out what not in scope.
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