Norveld Nugget — Initiation Plan

A road trip is a failure if passengers and luggage don’t all arrive at the expected destination together. In the same way, a project that doesn’t accomplish the expected results within the time and money allocated is a failure.

Have you ever been in this situation?

• Key Stakeholder: “I don’t know where this project is or where it’s going!”
• You: “Here is the project plan and the latest status report. I can also point you to the charter and the team minutes.”
• Key Stakeholder: “That’s too much information! I can’t digest all that. Where are we?!”

This isn’t uncommon, and it isn’t because they weren’t paying attention. If this has happened to you, you probably don’t have an Initiation Plan. As the saying goes, sometimes people can’t see the forest for the trees. An Initiation Plan reduces complexity and allows your stakeholders and project team to get the big picture while you focus on the details.

What is an Initiation Plan? It is a high-level view of the project, not a detailed project plan. It helps everyone understand what the project intends to accomplish, why we want to accomplish it, and how we know that we are on track to accomplish it. Best of all, it does so at a level that anyone can understand.

An Initiation Plan need not take a lot of time to develop. And the time and aggravation it saves may be substantial. By providing an Initiation Plan, you’ll help keep all your stakeholders on board, and your project on track.