Many organizations bundle their projects with a set of management expectations, a business case, a budget and then hand it to a project manager for execution. As a result, the opportunity to build a strong foundation is often an uphill struggle. If significant change is required to the original assumptions, the project manager is in conflict with management who are now invested in not changing the expectations already set. How many times have you (as PM) wanted to start the project “RED”? Did you?

Project setup is critical. At Projects in Focus, we define project setup as the work that needs to be conducted prior to execution. Such tasks include concept development/initiation, requirements and initial design, and in some projects, solution selection and contracting. Project setup is the most critical determinant of whether the project can deliver successfully or not. After all, correcting a project in execution is more difficult, time consuming and costly than investing sufficient time and effort in building a strong foundation for success.

2 ways in which organizations can achieve more with their projects by investing more in project setup include:

• Create more focus on project setup: In response to this need and the critical importance of excellence in this area, Projects in Focus has created a new role, Project Management Architect (PM architect) to focus on these foundation stages of a project. These are a different set of skills and experience than what is required for project execution. The PM architect can be used for critical project or to manage a portfolio of projects where project success is strategic &/or critical.

• Leverage the portfolio management approach, where a portfolio of projects competes for funding through a project gating process. This allows staged investment and establishes budget baseline for project only when the project setup is complete. At each stage, requests for funding is given only for the next stage. Funding by the capital committee/executive team is only made for project execution. Project setup funds are owned by portfolio owners and are used solely for the initial stages of projects.

Execution phase can be smooth only when the groundwork has been successful. Getting this done requires specialization. Leaving out the project management disciplines in the early stages of project is not a strategy for success.

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