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SECTION 2

GETTING STARTED

If there is one section of this book that we can call the most important, this is the
one. Here we discuss how to get the project off on the right footing. Here we
point out several common errors that contribute to project failure.

We continue our discussion of project organization and project teams, relating
these items to the project initiation process. We introduce the concept of the
Project Charter, as a means of authorizing and defining the project. We promote
the concept of Strategic Planning, as an important process in project initiation. In
addition to showing the way to properly initiate a project, we provide examples of
how things can go awry.

In Project Initiation Techniques (Chapter 2.1) we cover the three primary con-
cerns for getting the project off the ground. First, there is the need to establish
the project team, and to get them (the entire team) involved at the earliest stages
of the project. Second there is the need to look at objectives, constraints, issues,
opportunities, threats, and stakeholders—the traditional components of strategic
planning—here applied to the project as if it were a business opportunity (which,
of course, it is).

And finally, there is the need to establish structures to facilitate the building of
the plan and schedule. These include Work Breakdown Structures, Organiza-
tional Breakdown Structures, Budgeting Structures, and Project Milestone
Schedules. We introduce these structures in Chapter 2.1, and discuss the finer
points in Chapter 2.2, Do You Weebis? Clarifying WBS, OBS, and RBS.

Most projects have a project life cycle (PLC). The PLC typically forms the ba-
sis for one of the work breakdown structures. Using the PLC as a WBS offers sev-
eral advantages. These are discussed in Chapter 2.3.

The use of WBS type hierarchical structures does more than just facilitate the
development of the plan. They also provide a basis for sorting, selecting (filter-
ing), and summarizing all the project data.

There are several things that we want to accomplish by having a set of project

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