CHECKLIST for a Scoping a New Project: Key Questions You Should Ask Before Drafting Your Project Charter
You’ve just been assigned a brand new project!
How exciting, and perhaps a little nerve-racking at the same time.
Your mind starts racing: What is this new project about? What will be expected of me as the project manager? What will the work look like that’s ahead of me?
If you’re brain tends to kick into overdrive on those first few days of a new project, you’re not alone. We all feel a level of healthy anticipation and anxiety when a new initiative comes our way (secret reveal: this is true even for senior-level PM’s who have been doing this for years…shhh).
But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. In this article, we’re going to provide you with a comprehensive checklist of key questions you should be thinking about and asking when you hold your first few meetings with your key stakeholders to learn more. We’re calling these needs assessment meetings since you’re first goal is to understand and assess the needs of your new-found project.
During the initial days, your goal is to get up to speed and learn as much as you can about your new project. After this step, you’re going to use all that collected knowledge and wisdom to draft up your project charter in the next step of the initiation phase. We’ll briefly touch on what a project charter is below.
Let’s get you ready for your first, key stakeholder meetings with a detailed checklist of the key questions you should be asking. Not only will you collect the critical information you need during this early stage, but you’re also going to impress everyone with your level of preparation for the discussion.
What is a project charter?
A project charter is an essential project document that clearly outlines the critical details about a project, and includes what’s in and out of scope, expected deliverables, key milestones, potential project risks, known dependencies, and more. This tool is used to define what your project is about and what need or issue it’s planning to address. Consider your project charter as a “contract” between you (the project manager) and your sponsor, client, and/or key stakeholders that allows you to gain clear alignment on what the project intends to deliver.
In many cases, the project manager drafts the initial charter or is at least heavily engaged in the process. However, it’s important to note that sometimes this might not be the case. You may find that your project sponsor or client (or sometimes even a third-party vendor) comes with a document already drafted or prepared. If you find yourself in this situation, it’s still important that you do your due diligence to make sure the document is comprehensive, and clearly articulates the project deliverables, scope, and expectations. You will always want to validate the information especially since you will be accountable as the project manager to see it through.
To collect enough valuable information to add into your project charter or to validate its contents, hold needs assessment meetings with each of your key project leaders, stakeholders, and sponsor. This will allow you to gather the critical information you need to get a solid draft in place for feedback and further input.
What is a needs assessment meeting?
A needs assessment meeting is an essential exploratory or discovery meeting used at the beginning of the project to identify and assess the needs to be addressed. These meetings offer you a great opportunity to understand what issues, challenges, gaps, and requirements exist to support the development of an appropriate solution or response.
In this type of meeting, you’re speaking with your project owners, champions, sponsors, clients, and any other key stakeholders to further define the project, what problem it’s trying to solve, and set clear expectations for what will be delivered. These meetings allow for information gathering with all the right people around the table.
You can schedule these meetings with your key stakeholders all together or through one-on-one meetings separately. Your goal should be to gather as much information upfront about what the project is about, what you’re being asked to deliver, and how you will know if the project is considered “successful”.
Schedule at least 30 minutes and up to an hour based on availability with each stakeholder (or several stakeholders together), and ask as many questions as needed to collect a full understanding of the project’s scope, expectations, risks, etc.
What questions should you ask during a needs assessment meeting?
Here is a starting list of questions for you to work with. Determine if there are any questions that you have answers for that can be removed, and identify anything else based on your unique project situation that should be added to the question list. Remember, the more information you collect upfront, the easier it will be to define the project and develop (or validate) your project charter document.
Consider selecting several key questions and sharing them in advance of your meeting to support the conversation and to give your stakeholders an opportunity to think about these in advance.
One additional note before we dive in. Don’t be overwhelmed by the number of questions. Remember, these are to get you thinking about the project and to get you started. Hand select the questions you need to ask based on your current knowledge about the project. You can download the checklist at the end of this article to make it easy to reference anytime.
CHECKLIST of Key Questions to Consider When Scoping Your Next Project
Project Purpose and Objectives
- What is the need, problem or opportunity we’re trying to address with this project?
- What are we trying to achieve with this project? How would we know we’ve accomplished this?
- What are the key objectives?
Organizational Alignment
- How does this project align with our organization’s priorities?
- Does it align with our strategic or operational priorities?
Project Scope and Requirements
- Does this project’s scope apply to the entire organization? An internal department? A specific, internal team? An external client? Etc.
- What should be included in this project (what is in scope)?
- What should not be included in this project (what is out of scope)?
- What are the requirements for this project? (Note: Depending on your project, this may include business, functional, technical, regulatory and compliance, and/or user requirements.)
Project Outcomes and Deliverables
- What key deliverables do we expect to see as a result of this project?
- What are the expected outcomes we want to achieve?
Dependencies, Constraints, and Assumptions
- Are there any dependencies with other projects or work that might impact this initiative? Or does other work need to be completed first before this project can start?
- Do we have any constraints (such as avoiding a specific timeframe for go-live due to another project or budget constraints)?
- Is there anything we should assume (such as assuming specific resources will be made available)?
Key Stakeholders
- Who are the people, teams, or departments that will be directly or indirectly impacted by the project’s results.
- Who has direct knowledge, experience, or expertise that should be engaged to participate on the project team?
- Who has decision-making authority over any areas involved in the project?
- Who might be influential in supporting or derailing the changes needed in the project?
- Who else is a key stakeholder that may be impacted by the project and should be involved or kept informed?
- What existing committees might need to be kept informed about the project’s progress?
- Who can provide oversight to the project and should sit on the steering committee?
Key Metrics
- What metrics should we be measuring and what baseline metrics can we access to validate the project results?
- What key performance indicators (KPIs) should we use to measure the impact of this project?
- Are there any specific quantitative or qualitative targets we are aiming to achieve?
Project Milestones and Timelines
- What is the expected timeline for this project? Is there a target completion date?
- What are some high-level milestones for this project that we need to build into our project schedule?
- Are there any hard dates we need to stick to for any of our project milestones?
Project Risks and Challenges
- Are there any known risks to this project that we should document and develop mitigating strategies?
- Were there any past, similar projects with lessons learned and previous risks that we should consider?
Project Budget and Resources
- What budget is there for this project?
- Are there any known capital or operating expense requests expected?
- What financial constraints or approvals need to be considered?
- What resources are needed and available to support this project (people, supplies, tools, vendors, etc.)?
Project Success
- What would success look like at the end of this project? How would we know we were successful?
- What will the impact be on the organization by completing this work?
Next, start drafting your project charter
Now that you’ve had the opportunity to review these key questions with your stakeholders and you’ve collected a wealth of great information, start drafting your project charter document. This step includes taking all the critical information from your needs assessment meeting(s) and placing this down on paper. Outline what the project is about and what is expected to be delivered.
Once a solid draft is in place, this should be circulated to all your project stakeholders to validate the content, identify any missing information, and collect any additional feedback.
Now, you’re well on your way to a successful project because you did this due diligence upfront and set a great foundation for your new project! Congratulations!
Download Your FREE Question CHECKLIST For Scoping Your Next Project
As an added bonus, you’ll join an awesome, growing online community of project managers called the PML Tribe.
How do I learn more about managing a project and project meetings?
We invite you to learn more about managing your projects by joining the PML Tribe here at Project Management Life (PML), and checking out our PML Blog post called How to Manage a Project: A Step-by-Step Guide to Leading a Project from Start to Finish.
Want to learn more about leading effective project meetings? Check out this great PMP-written guide called Unleash Your Meeting Potential: A Comprehensive Guide to Leading Effective Meetings.
Also consider familiarizing yourself with the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide from Project Management Institute (PMI), or checking out one of the many available great courses on project management.
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We know that project managers are often the unsung heroes that drive innovation and progress, and bring calm to what might otherwise be chaos. We are the leaders behind the scenes that work tirelessly, and deserve to be celebrated for our incredible efforts in making the world a better place.
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