<aside> 🚧 We're still working out our high-level approach to project & programme management, so this guide is very much a work in progress.
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Project management is defined as...
The process of leading a project from its beginning through its lifecycle while delivering quality output with available resources.
Good project and programme management is crucial for an organisation spread around the globe, since we can't always rely on other folks being awake to fill gaps in our knowledge about the status of tasks, projects and the like.
But doing this well in a company of our size is complicated, and the details will differ across different departments and teams. So this document just outlines some basic principles that are fairly universal.
We define a project as any non-trivial initiative which, when delivered, will help us meet our goals (usually driven by our company OKRs).
Projects are different to Business As Usual (BAU) work because they have a specific goal and are time bound - they have defined start dates and target end dates.
Big or small, every project will go through some version of these five stages...
1️⃣ Initiation - We turn abstract ideas into meaningful goals. This will usually involve defining "anti-goals" too – things we don't care about and are definitely out of scope. the output of this phase is a project charter of brief describing the motivation, goals, scope, high-level deliverables, risks and dependencies.
2️⃣ Planning - This is where we brainstorm approaches and lay out a roadmap. The primary task is to identify the scope, technical requirements, create a project schedule, introduce a communication plan and set up deliverables. For some projects we might plan in detail, for others we might take a more agile approach.
3️⃣ Execution - This is where the actual work takes place. An established workflow is followed to get stuff done.