How to Start a Project from Scratch: A Step-by-Step Guide for New Managers

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You really want to make sure
that you're crystal clear on the

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why so that you can communicate
that and the impact that this

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project or program is going to
have to your team.

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And you can always keep that
kind of in the back of your head

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driving, you know, you and the
organization forwards.

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Hello everyone and welcome to
another episode of She is Bossy,

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the podcast dedicated to helping
you be a better boss.

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My name is Clara Perk and it's
so good to be back with you all

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today for another episode.
I hope everyone had a great 4th

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of July weekend and really
enjoyed, you know, the extra day

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off on Friday.
It's always nice to have a

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little bit of a long weekend,
you know?

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We had a really good time.
We went to a brewery and a dog

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bar in the Nations, which is a
neighborhood here in Nashville,

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with my fiance, his sister and
our friends Nikki and Greg and

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their daughter Cameron, who was
so adorable.

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She was just wearing this cute
red bow and overalls over a

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white shirt.
So very festive.

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We had a great time with the dog
bar.

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Zeus was running around jumping
into all of the kiddie pools

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that they had out for the dogs
to cool off.

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So even though it was like over
90° in Nashville, he had a great

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time.
And yeah, it was just very

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relaxing weekend and just, you
know, felt good to have the the

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extra time off.
But anyway, I hope everyone had

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a great time, whether you saw
fireworks or barbecued or hung

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out with family and friends, you
know, just just a good, another

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good summertime vibe hopefully
going on there.

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I'm back today with another solo
episode.

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We've had a couple of really
great interviews.

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I had a ton of fun talking to
both Kyra and Lauren just about

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their career journeys and you
know, any advice they have for

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people that are either pursuing
something new or pursuing a

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creative passion.
So if you guys haven't listened

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to those episodes, definitely go
check them out.

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And I'm going to try something a
little new today.

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So normally I do the quote UN
quote announcements at the end

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of the episode, but this time
I'm going to do them at the

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beginning because, you know,
honestly, I feel like even when

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I'm listening to podcasts, I
don't always necessarily make it

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all the way through the end.
So I just want to give you guys

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a couple of updates of what's
been going on at the at the She

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Is Bossy HQ, in case you haven't
made it all the way through to

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the end of an episode, which is
totally fine.

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So bear with me for a little bit
and then we'll dive right into

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today's topic, which I think
will be super helpful, hopefully

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to anyone and everyone
listening.

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But just a couple of fun things
have been going on lately.

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So if you haven't followed us on
Instagram, please head over to

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she dot is dot bossy on
Instagram.

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It's where I've been posting,
you know, some fun video reels

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of some of the highlights and
some of my favorite quotes of

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all of our guests.
I've also posted, you know, a

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couple quotes or a couple of key
takeaways.

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So it's a really good way to
consume some either motivating

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or educational content in bite
sized fashion from the podcast.

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So go over and check that out.
That's announcement #1 #2 is we

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also have launched a website,
sosheisbossy.com now hosts all

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of our podcasts that have been
uploaded.

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And there's also a fun new
feature where you can go and you

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can leave a story or a question
of something going on at your

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own work or in your own career
in your life that you maybe want

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to get some advice on.
I'd love to kind of read through

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those and share some of my
thoughts in another version of

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our Me Anything episode.
So he didn't ask me anything a

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little bit ago where I took some
questions that I had gotten from

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Instagram and just answered
those on the pod.

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Just giving my insight and
advice.

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And it was really fun and I
think pretty helpful for those

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of you that listened.
But what I found when I was

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doing that on Instagram was
that, you know, the Instagram

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whole question box or whatever
don't have a lot of characters

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that you can put in there.
So it tends to be a bit more

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challenging to get the full
context and information of what

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people are curious about and
what they, you know, want some

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insight on.
So if you have any situations

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going on at work or in your
career, like I said, head over

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there and you know, you can
write your story in and ask for

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any advice that you need.
And I'd love to answer that and

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accumulate a couple of those and
answer that for one of our

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upcoming episodes.
So that is announcement #2.

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And then last but not least, of
course, always be asked to

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follow or subscribe to the
podcast wherever you are

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listening.
It's always great to kind of

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help make sure that you're not
missing any upcoming content and

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that you're, you know, getting
all of the new episodes that

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come out in your queue.
So if you aren't doing that,

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definitely recommend it.
And I would also love if you

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enjoy this episode or any of the
other episodes that we've put

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out.
If you can please leave a review

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or a rating or a comment.
Just let me know what you're

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thinking.
Any advice or you know, ideas

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that you have, any feedback that
you have?

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Definitely would love to hear
it.

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Anyway, that's it for
announcements and I'd love to

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get right into the content for
today's episode.

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I'm excited to be back with
another solo episode.

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I really do love doing the
interviews and just hearing, you

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know, what people have to say,
picking their brains and things

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like that.
But there's something that I was

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kind of thinking about recently
that I wanted to share with you

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all.
And it's all about how do you

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start a project or a program
from scratch?

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If you've just been given an
assignment or you have this big

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project to tackle, what do you
do to make sure that you are

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setting you and your team up for
success?

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And this is something that I
have applied across projects big

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and small, whether it's a, you
know, $4 billion acquisition or

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if it's just a, you know, brand
new product road map that's

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being rolled out.
You can apply the same steps,

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just adjust for scale.
But I found this to be the most

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effective way to set a program
up for success and really make

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sure that you and your team are
all on the same page.

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You can all start rowing in the
same direction and make sure

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that you're succeeding at
whatever goals you're setting

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out for what you need to
accomplish.

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So I'm going to walk through a
couple of steps and share a

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couple of stories of my own
experience where I have found

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these to be super helpful.
So the very first thing that you

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need to do when you're starting
a project or a program, and this

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is kind of something that I
always say on most of my

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episodes anyway, but you need to
define the why.

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Why are you being asked to do
this thing?

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Why are you going to be asking
your team to do this thing?

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What is the value that it's
going to deliver?

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What are the objectives?
What are the outcomes that

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you're expecting?
But you really want to make sure

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that you're crystal clear on the
why so that you can communicate

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that and the impact that this
project or program is going to

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have to your team.
And you can always keep that

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kind of in the back of your head
driving you and the organization

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forward.
So sometimes this will come from

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whether it's like a bigger
organizational strategy or some

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sort of thing like that that
needs to be implemented, or

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maybe it's just an aspect of
that strategy.

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Maybe there's a particular
customer issue or customer

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demand that is causing you to
want to do this.

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Maybe you are wanting to
increase revenue or you're

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needing to reduce costs.
These are, you know, obviously

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super generic terms, but you
always want to make sure that

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you're starting with what's the
why.

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And if you can't answer that
question, then you need to go to

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your boss and make sure that you
guys are figuring out what the

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answer to that question is.
A lot of times people will say

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that this is like part of the
project charter.

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So if you want to do a formal
project charter and put together

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you know the why behind the
program, you can definitely go

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ahead and do that.
There's a tons of templates

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online about how to create a
program charter.

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But if you're, you know, on a
more simple path or it's a

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smaller project, then make sure
that you're just really

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understanding the why.
And this helps make sure that

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your team's not getting off
track, that you're not doing

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something that or delivering
something that's completely

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different from you know, what
you all had set out to do

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initially.
And you're making sure that

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you're always pulling it back to
what is the overall goal

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objective.
And it kind of helps guide some

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of the decisions that you're
going to make along the way.

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So number one, start with the
why.

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Number 2 is the what?
So you want to define the

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parameters of the program or
project that you're going to be

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doing.
So that means having a clear

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understanding of the objectives
and the limits.

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So the third thing, and I think
this is something that's often

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overlooked when we're standing
at programs is defining the

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delivery structure structure.
And so this is sort of the

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foundation of who is going to be
doing what in the program and or

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whatever project or activity
that you're doing.

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And I think you could say that
it's The Who, but I think it

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goes a little bit more beyond
The Who.

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It's The Who and the how they're
all gonna work together.

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So what I mean when I say
establishing your program

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delivery structure isn't just
saying, Oh yeah, XY and Z, you

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know, Jane, Joe and John are on
my team and they're going to be

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helping do this.
We need to have very clearly

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defined streams of work and
roles and responsibilities.

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So often what I do is take the
scope that we just defined in

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Step 2 and you're going to break
that down into smaller

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categories.
So what are the key buckets of

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work and what is some of the
high level sequencing that's

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going to occur to get things
done?

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And then how are you going to
organize those streams of work

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and kind of group them together
and put a particular owner

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that's going to be responsible
for that stream of work?

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We often call these work
streams.

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And then what are the other, you
know, things that they may

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intersect where there may be key
decision makers?

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So often in a program delivery
structure, I see a matrix

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structure where you have, you
know, a couple work streams

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across horizontally that are
intersecting with various work

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streams vertically.
So it might be the work streams

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might be, you know, the
different steps that are going

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to get done.
So whether that's, you know,

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designing something, then
building something, then testing

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something, then implementing it,
those might be your for design,

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build, test, implement, might be
your for work streams, And then

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across the top, your vertical
work streams.

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You might be like 3 different
products or three different

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lines of business that this
particular program has to be

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implemented for, implemented
across because each of the

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horizontal work streams are
going to have work intersecting

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with the vertical work streams.
And so and they're each going to

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have different responsibilities.
But you can define your program

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structure or organize it with
any kind of shapes or buckets or

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whatever it is that you want to
use.

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But you definitely want to have
clearly defined buckets or

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subcategories or subteams, and
you want to define who the

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owners of those are and kind of
what their role or what their

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responsibilities are going to be
for that work stream.

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So if they're responsible for
making sure that everything that

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falls into that work stream gets
done, if they're responsible for

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driving decisions, if they're
responsible for managing any

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risks and issues that might come
up, you want to make sure that

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those roles and responsibilities
are clearly defined.

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And then that they're agreed
upon by those individuals that

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you're putting in the buckets.
Because this is what you're

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gonna harken back to when you
are setting up kind of any

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future meeting cadences, when
you have people, you know,

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determine who's responsible for
what tasks, who those overall

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owners are.
So setting up that program

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delivery structure is super
important.

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And I'll share a fun story here.
So early on, probably my second

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project in consulting.
And I remember sitting at the

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hotel with my managing director
at the time, we were just

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chatting after work and he took
out a napkin and he wrote the

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delivery structure on a piece of
paper.

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And, you know, in with the
horizontals and the verticals

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of, you know, all the things
that were the, the, you know,

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the way the teams were going to
be broken out and how we needed

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to think about who is going to
be responsible for those.

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And as I was a senior analyst at
the time, it was my

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responsibility to kind of create
this delivery structure deck and

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build and maintain this delivery
structure deck throughout the

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entirety of the program.
And so any time either we needed

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to add a new work stream or a
new vertical line of business,

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any time a name changed, I was
responsible for maintaining it,

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maintaining the roles and
responsibilities and all of

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those things.
And as a senior analyst at the

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time, I definitely didn't
understand the importance of

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this.
I honestly wanted to just write

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it off.
It was one of the

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responsibilities I had that I
just, I did not look forward to

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keeping it updated or
maintaining it or anything like

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that.
And I just really didn't get why

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we had it.
But now having gone through so

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many projects, this is always
one of the first things that I

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do, one of the first things that
and it really helps ground me

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and ground everyone in how is
this program or how is this

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project organized?
And I remember when I joined a

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startup right out of Business
School, one of the first things

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that I did was I like talked to
everyone at the startup and I

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asked what everyone's job was.
And I put together the startups

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delivery structure.
I put together, you know, the

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horizontals, which were our
operations, products, technology

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teams, and then the verticals,
which were the various products

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that we were offering.
And it just really helped

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everyone understand where they
fit in the organization and who

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they were serving and who they
intersected with.

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And, and you know, how we would
think about these different

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buckets of the work that we were
doing.

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And so if you are, you know, on
a project or you're at a company

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and you're not really sure, you
know, where you're, where you

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fit or, or you know, what your
team's doing or things like

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that.
I definitely encourage you to,

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even if it's in the middle of a
project or a program, to take a

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second and maybe ask for the
delivery structure.

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And if it doesn't exist, you
know, try and sketch it out and

269
00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:30,960
put it on a piece of paper and
people can being pressure tested

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00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:33,360
with people and ask, is this
what we're doing?

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Is this how we're organized?
Because I guarantee that it will

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help just categorize into
different buckets what your team

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does, what your team is
supporting, how it's part of the

274
00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:48,840
bigger picture and how
everything all fits together

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because people have a lot of
different ideas of of what's

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00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:55,520
going on in their heads.
But getting it on paper and

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00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:58,720
getting everyone to have a
common understanding of how all

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these teams intersects can
actually be super valuable.

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So that's my fun consulting
something happening on the back

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00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:09,920
of a napkin story.
I'm sure everyone has a good one

281
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of those.
So shout out.

282
00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:17,920
Thanks, Jason for that.
All right, that's three who the

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delivery Structure 4 is now that
you have why you're doing

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00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:26,440
something, what you're doing and
who's doing it.

285
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But the next thing you want to
define is a high level timeline

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00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:36,520
or a high level road map based
off of all of the key activities

287
00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:42,000
that need to get done and kind
of the sequence or rough timing

288
00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:47,360
of when they're going to get
done relative to each other.

289
00:17:47,360 --> 00:17:50,800
So a lot of times you'll want to
work backwards, start with the

290
00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:53,200
end in mind.
So you're going to want to start

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00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:56,480
with, you know, what's the final
date that we're trying to hit

292
00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:00,920
and then what are all of the
major things that need to be

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00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:05,480
sequenced prior to that in order
for us to hit this final date.

294
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So for smaller projects, it
could be 5 to 10 major

295
00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:13,880
milestones.
For larger projects, it could be

296
00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:18,200
significantly more than that,
but you really want to have just

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00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:22,240
a high level timeline of what
are the key milestones that are

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00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:25,560
going to need to get done to
reach that end in mind.

299
00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:30,880
And this can be rough because
this is kind of going in your

300
00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:36,680
hypothesis of relative dates of
everything and and how they go

301
00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:39,400
in order.
But the next step that you're

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00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:44,520
going to do is you're going to
have those work stream, you

303
00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:47,680
know, team members that you've
outlined in that delivery

304
00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:50,680
structure.
Take your high level timeline,

305
00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:55,040
bring it back to their teams and
they're going to build out sort

306
00:18:55,040 --> 00:19:00,880
of a bottoms up plan that
outlines a lot more of the key

307
00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:04,720
activities and specific details
that they know that they're

308
00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:08,840
going to need to get done in
order to reach that final goal

309
00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:12,720
that you have Now.
You might ask, why don't we have

310
00:19:12,720 --> 00:19:16,920
people start with their own
bottoms up activities and start

311
00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:20,520
with their own sequencing.
And the reason why we start with

312
00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:27,400
that high level timeline is
because when teams take back,

313
00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:30,560
you know, and start building out
their own plans, they need to

314
00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:34,720
have some guideposts of what are
the dates, the interim dates

315
00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:38,160
that they need to hit along the
way because there are so many

316
00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:40,960
moving parts.
And so that's why having that

317
00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:45,840
high level timeline upfront
really helps teams drive into

318
00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:48,320
what those, you know, lower
level details are.

319
00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:52,440
And teams might come back and
say, hey, XYZ date is

320
00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:56,560
unrealistic because we need more
time to do this.

321
00:19:56,560 --> 00:20:00,000
And you go through kind of a
period of adjusting those and

322
00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:04,080
figuring out who all of the
other, you know, if that works

323
00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:05,640
for everyone else that's
involved.

324
00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:10,800
But realistically those teams
are going to have a lot more

325
00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:14,640
detail.
So assuming that you have the

326
00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:18,040
right people leading those
various categories in those

327
00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:21,240
various buckets that we talked
about in the delivery structure,

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00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:25,520
you're going to have people that
are really experts in what

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00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:28,480
they're going to be doing.
And so they're going to be able

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00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:33,560
to build out those like lower
level details and those lower

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00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:36,960
level activities with a lot more
specificity because, you know,

332
00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:41,560
they've hopefully done it before
or have some sense or some ideas

333
00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:45,000
around what needs to happen or
they'll have conversations with,

334
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,000
you know, experts in their
organization as well to help

335
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:50,160
inform that.
But essentially, they're going

336
00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:55,480
to build out their bottoms up
plan and then you'll pressure

337
00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:58,880
test that collectively as a
group once all those, you know,

338
00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:03,480
work streams have their bottoms
up plan built out and match that

339
00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:07,000
up to the high level timeline or
that road map and figure out,

340
00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:11,040
you know, where do those dates
that you initially had proposed

341
00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:15,720
need to adjust.
So when you're putting together

342
00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:18,360
that high level road map, you
definitely want to get some

343
00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:21,480
input from the teams of what
makes sense.

344
00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:25,320
But don't let, like I always
say, don't let perfect be the

345
00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:28,920
enemy of the good.
You know know it's going to

346
00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:31,920
change and it is just a
hypothesis and make sure that

347
00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:35,200
you're communicating to people
that their job is to pressure

348
00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:40,040
test these dates and figure out
if these dates are realistic or

349
00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:42,520
what would need to change or
what support they would need to

350
00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:44,240
make to be able to hit those
dates.

351
00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:48,640
One thing that you definitely
want to make sure is part of the

352
00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:52,280
discussion when you're building
out this more detailed timeline

353
00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:55,320
or when these work stream
leaders are building up their

354
00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:58,160
more detailed timeline, is that
they're identifying what their

355
00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:02,520
dependencies are.
So their dependencies are where

356
00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:05,880
do they need another team to
finish something before they can

357
00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:08,600
start on something and vice
versa.

358
00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:12,360
So make sure that those teams
are working through defining

359
00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:18,920
what they need as well so that
you can work backwards if needed

360
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,960
to make sure that everything
lines up in the right sequence,

361
00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:26,200
right.
So one of my favorite programs

362
00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:31,640
that I worked on where we
implemented this really well, it

363
00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:37,240
was a $4 billion acquisition for
a wealth management company.

364
00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:43,080
And, and we started off and we
built out this kind of really

365
00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:47,440
high level timeline of what are
the key dates that needed to

366
00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:50,480
happen, including, you know,
building other requirements of

367
00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:52,840
how things were going to migrate
across the different work

368
00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:56,240
streams, whether it was the
customer data or whether it was

369
00:22:56,240 --> 00:23:00,080
the employee data, how they were
going to migrate, you know, the

370
00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:02,960
key contact center dates, things
like that.

371
00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:06,640
So we had put together kind of a
straw man timeline essentially

372
00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:09,240
of when we thought all of these
different milestones were going

373
00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:13,040
to happen.
And we had this summit with all

374
00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:16,840
of the key work stream leaders.
So everyone's names that we had

375
00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:19,240
put in those boxes on the
delivery structure.

376
00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:23,120
And we essentially created a 90
day plan for the plan.

377
00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:27,680
So within these 90 days, the ask
back to the work stream leads

378
00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:32,440
was to take this straw man of a
timeline and go back to their

379
00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:36,240
individual teams, build out
their more detailed project

380
00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:41,200
plans and tell us that if these
dates were accurate, if they

381
00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:46,320
needed to adjust minimally or if
they needed to adjust majorly.

382
00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:52,920
And we had presented sort of two
options of dates on this road

383
00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:55,320
map.
The first was a go live around I

384
00:23:55,360 --> 00:23:59,720
think February and the second
was a go live that would occur

385
00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:03,360
in June.
And the reason we had these two

386
00:24:03,360 --> 00:24:07,600
very different dates that were
very far apart was because tax

387
00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:09,800
season was right in the middle
of those.

388
00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:14,600
And so that's when it was super
busy for the not only the

389
00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:18,040
employees, but also it's very
disruptive time for customers,

390
00:24:18,120 --> 00:24:20,720
customers because people are
calling, they're trying to get

391
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:22,560
all their tax information,
things like that.

392
00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:26,440
So we really wanted to avoid
that March through May time

393
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:30,720
period.
And so we told teams to go and

394
00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:35,320
kind of validate could they hit
this earlier February date

395
00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:38,880
because you know, time is money.
And so the earlier that we could

396
00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:41,920
get everyone all in one platform
and all the employees all in one

397
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:45,080
platform, you know, the more
that they could realize some of

398
00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:48,240
the value and the reasons behind
why they had made the

399
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:52,440
acquisition in the 1st place.
And so we had a 90 day plan for

400
00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:55,560
the plan.
We had this sort of kick off

401
00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:59,040
with all of this, you know, the
overview of all the key

402
00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:04,320
milestones, things like that
sent the teams out to go build

403
00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:07,360
their bottoms up plans, look at
various dependencies between the

404
00:25:07,360 --> 00:25:11,600
work streams over the 90 days
and then at the end of the 90

405
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:16,640
days came back and you know,
validated that we could actually

406
00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:19,120
hit that early earlier February
date.

407
00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:23,720
And so that was that was good
that we kind of gave people two

408
00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:27,080
options and we talked about, you
know, what we need to pull in or

409
00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:30,120
where do we need extra support
or resources to kind of be able

410
00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:33,840
to hit that earlier date.
But that's why you want to have

411
00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:37,240
the high level timeline, those
key milestones and then have the

412
00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:40,080
teams go back and validate that
with their bottoms up plans,

413
00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:43,640
what they can actually do to
make sure that what you're

414
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:47,200
proposing is actually feasible
and everyone's in alignment and

415
00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:49,640
everyone agrees to that.
So you can all start marching in

416
00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:51,720
the same direction at the same
time.

417
00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:56,200
So one cool thing that we did
for that was we printed out

418
00:25:56,200 --> 00:26:03,560
these really massive.
It was probably like 12 by 6

419
00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:09,200
feet of paper that just had all
of the milestones printed on it,

420
00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:11,200
like really blown up so everyone
could see it.

421
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:15,720
And it's something that we kept
throughout, you know, some of

422
00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:18,360
the key executives offices.
So they could kind of walk

423
00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:21,080
through each day and see, you
know, what's coming up this

424
00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:22,960
week.
What are the key things we're

425
00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:24,960
doing this month?
How are we tracking?

426
00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:28,800
And so that was, that was really
fun to see it, you know, all

427
00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:31,800
blown up there.
But essentially really important

428
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:35,280
to be able to start from
something and then have teams

429
00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:37,600
come back and kind of validate
whether or not they can actually

430
00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:41,640
do that.
So now you have the why, the

431
00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:45,080
what, The Who, and the when.
The last thing that you need to

432
00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:48,680
put in place is the how.
So these are the tools and the

433
00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:52,400
methods that you're going to use
to manage the project or the

434
00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:55,960
program going forward.
And so there's a couple of key

435
00:26:55,960 --> 00:27:01,960
aspects to the how in my mind.
The 1st is that you need to have

436
00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:08,120
a meeting cadence that makes
sense for the scale and the

437
00:27:08,120 --> 00:27:12,960
speed and kind of the priority
of the project or the program

438
00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:17,040
that you're working on.
And so my default is to just

439
00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:22,000
always have a 30 minute weekly
meeting with, you know, the work

440
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:27,040
stream leads or whoever the key
leaders are that are involved in

441
00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:31,240
making decisions for the project
or the program.

442
00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:37,440
And this 30 minute meeting is
really about having quick hitter

443
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:41,640
conversations on.
Are we on track for the plan

444
00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:46,400
that we've set out to do?
Are there any open items or

445
00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:49,360
questions that have come up that
we need to capture?

446
00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:53,720
And let's talk through those
quickly and assign specific

447
00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:58,360
tasks to people to either, you
know, follow up, have a deeper

448
00:27:58,360 --> 00:28:00,480
dive meeting or get things
resolved.

449
00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:04,240
If there are questions or things
like that in these meetings that

450
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:10,040
can get answered within 3 to 5
minutes, it's OK sometimes to

451
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:13,000
let those conversations happen
naturally.

452
00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:17,000
But I really try not to let
those meetings be a problem

453
00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:19,440
solving meeting.
They're really to make sure

454
00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:23,640
everyone's on the same page and
if anything new has come up or

455
00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:26,880
if there's any major delays that
everyone is aware of that.

456
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:31,160
And if we need to have specific
follow up conversations with

457
00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:35,360
specific people to tackle
issues, then we assign that and

458
00:28:35,360 --> 00:28:38,440
we schedule that throughout the
week and we can come back with

459
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:40,560
an update to the group on the
meeting.

460
00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:44,960
But it's always good to have, I
think just a checkpoint meeting,

461
00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:47,960
whether it's once a week or
every other week, you know,

462
00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:50,880
depending on the length of time,
the urgency, the frequency,

463
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:53,520
etcetera, that can be totally up
to you.

464
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:57,200
But I like to always start with
once a week, 30 minutes and then

465
00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:01,720
you can, you know, regroup and
change that if needed.

466
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:08,440
And then some sub teams might
have their own, you know,

467
00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:12,320
meetings that they have going on
as well in parallel to check to

468
00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:15,400
get more granular updates on
what's going on.

469
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:19,640
So for example, I'm on a, one of
the projects that I'm working

470
00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:24,040
with right now, we have that
checkpoint meeting for all of

471
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:26,920
the leads to come and talk
about, you know, status and open

472
00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:29,520
items.
But then we also have like a

473
00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:32,480
specific readiness meeting where
the communications and training

474
00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:37,160
team is chatting with some of
the more people that are in the

475
00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:41,280
weeds on that and you know, kind
of making decisions, working

476
00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:44,240
through what the communications
are working through a training

477
00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:46,880
status.
Any insights from the lines of

478
00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:48,760
business that we should
consider?

479
00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:53,320
So you have those more tactical
meetings as well to support, you

480
00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:57,320
know, the overall project.
So that's kind of the, you know,

481
00:29:57,320 --> 00:30:02,400
meeting cadence, but you want to
set that up in advance and make

482
00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:05,360
sure everyone's kind of has that
scheduled and it's recurring so

483
00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:07,640
it doesn't fall off the calendar
and you don't forget to schedule

484
00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:10,360
it later on.
The second thing that you need

485
00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:14,200
to really make sure you're
aligned on is the tools.

486
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:18,040
So what are you going to use to
what are you going to use to

487
00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:22,080
track the status and the
progress of the plans and who's

488
00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:24,080
going to be responsible for
updating those?

489
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:27,600
So I've seen all types of things
work really well.

490
00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:30,800
I've seen Excel work well.
I've seen SharePoint lists or

491
00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:35,880
SharePoint tasks.
I've seen Asana, which is a tool

492
00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:38,040
you can purchase.
There's obviously all types of

493
00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:40,600
things out there, project
management software like clip,

494
00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:42,400
click up or other things like
that.

495
00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:47,520
But you want to pick a tool
that's right sized for the type

496
00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:49,000
of thing that you're trying to
accomplish.

497
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:53,480
So for smaller projects and
organizations that don't

498
00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:59,080
necessarily have any of those
paid tools in place, Excel tends

499
00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:02,680
to just be the easiest place to
track a list of things and

500
00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:04,880
status.
And the great thing about

501
00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:09,200
Microsoft Excel nowadays is that
you can share a live link and

502
00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:12,040
everyone has access to it.
So it's super easy.

503
00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:15,840
But if you want some more cool
features to track status or if

504
00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:18,920
you want people to update their
status more frequently or own

505
00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:21,880
their own tasks, I've also seen
Asana work really well.

506
00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:25,880
Not necessarily an endorsement
of that, but that's one of the

507
00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:28,880
things I've used.
And then you also want to be

508
00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:35,880
able to track open items or
risks, risks and issues.

509
00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:42,440
So I typically just like for a
smaller project, I like grouping

510
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:45,640
all open items together and just
keeping a list.

511
00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:48,880
So it could be a risk or an
issue that you all need to

512
00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:52,520
resolve or work through.
But if it's a smaller project

513
00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:55,160
and it's just in the open item
list that you're working through

514
00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:58,640
it, I think that's totally fine.
Obviously, on a bigger project,

515
00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:01,680
you might have some more
structured risk and issue

516
00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:04,080
management.
I won't get super deep into

517
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:07,400
that, but I think you would the
very least need to have a list,

518
00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:12,720
list of open action items or
other considerations that need

519
00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:14,720
to be revisited on a regular
basis.

520
00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:18,920
And this too can be in Excel or
in any of the other tools that I

521
00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:21,160
talked about.
But you at least need something

522
00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:24,040
to be able to capture that so
that you don't lose track of

523
00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:27,320
what people are supposed to be
doing outside of just the list

524
00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:31,720
of tasks in that plan that you
put together in Step 4.

525
00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:37,040
And then also make sure that you
have a cadence or it's clear on

526
00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:39,120
how you're going to be reporting
updates.

527
00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:43,120
So if that means in the meeting,
people are going to come and

528
00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:45,600
give their updates and you're
just going to capture it.

529
00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:50,080
Or if people are responsible for
putting their own updates in

530
00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:52,200
before the meeting and going
over it, just make sure

531
00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:55,200
everyone's clear on what their
reporting responsibilities are

532
00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:58,440
and how that's being either
reported up to an executive

533
00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:02,040
level or something like that, so
people know what the

534
00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:04,720
expectations are.
You want to be really clear on

535
00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:08,680
what the expectations of people
are upfront so that no one's

536
00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:11,440
missing them or, you know,
there's no oversight there.

537
00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:18,320
And once that's all established,
I recommend either doing a

538
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:22,240
kickoff meeting or you can have
a kickoff meeting once you've

539
00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:24,920
established the delivery
structure and before you get

540
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:27,280
into planning.
But at some point, I think you

541
00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:30,760
need to have a kickoff meeting
where you pull everyone

542
00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:32,480
together.
You say, this is what we're

543
00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:35,760
doing, this is who's doing it,
this is when we're doing it.

544
00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:38,160
And then you can kick off your
regular meetings.

545
00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:41,720
But I think it's super important
to make sure that you're getting

546
00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:45,320
everyone on the same page and
that you're over communicating

547
00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:48,880
the expectations.
You never want to assume that

548
00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:51,760
people know what's going on or
they've heard it through the

549
00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:53,760
Grapevine or they read their
emails.

550
00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:57,000
So having a kickoff meeting, I
think it's just always a good

551
00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:01,640
way to get everyone together and
get motivated before you kind of

552
00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:04,720
send everyone off to do the work
they need to do.

553
00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:07,960
And from that point, you're off
to the races.

554
00:34:08,199 --> 00:34:14,960
So hopefully that helps provide
some step by step guidance on

555
00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:19,440
how you can approach and set up
your next project or program or

556
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:21,520
activity, whatever it is that
you're doing.

557
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:25,000
So I'll just go over them real
quick again.

558
00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:28,760
The 1st is establish the why.
So what's the value that this

559
00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:31,639
project or program is going to
be delivering and making sure

560
00:34:31,639 --> 00:34:35,159
everyone is clear on it.
The second is establishing the

561
00:34:35,159 --> 00:34:39,159
what, so the parameters around
what you are doing and more

562
00:34:39,159 --> 00:34:40,880
importantly what you are not
doing.

563
00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:46,880
The third is The Who, and that
includes not only who is doing

564
00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:50,120
the work, but how are those
people all interacting?

565
00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:54,040
What's the delivery structure
that people are going to adhere

566
00:34:54,040 --> 00:34:57,480
to to understand the overall
project?

567
00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:01,560
4 is the when.
So that means your high level

568
00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:05,240
timeline supported by your
bottoms up planning to kind of

569
00:35:05,240 --> 00:35:08,520
validate your final road map.
And then the five is the how.

570
00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:11,360
So those are all of the tools
and methods that you're going to

571
00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:17,920
use to track status, open items,
reporting and your regular

572
00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:20,000
meetings to make sure that
things are moving and that

573
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:23,680
you're tactically addressing any
issues that come up.

574
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:28,080
So hopefully this helped.
If you have any other tips that

575
00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:32,160
you like to use when you are,
you know, setting up a project

576
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:34,520
or a program, I would love to
hear them.

577
00:35:34,520 --> 00:35:38,960
So please share in the comments
and don't forget again the

578
00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:40,800
announcements that I made at the
beginning.

579
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:44,320
Make sure that you are checking
us out on Instagram.

580
00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:46,720
Check out our website,
sheisbossy.com.

581
00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:50,840
If you have, if you want to, you
know, leave any questions that

582
00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:55,520
you have and follow wherever
you're listening and leave a

583
00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:58,600
rating or a review if you, if
you so choose.

584
00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:01,600
I would love to hear from you
and hope you all have a

585
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:04,800
wonderful week.
I'll see you next time.

586
00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:06,560
And don't forget, stay bossy.