7 Things to Do Before Starting Any Project

Before starting any project, it is crucial to complete seven key tasks to ensure its success. First, gauge the scope of the project and be aware that the scope may change as different stakeholders ask for more to be included. Second, set the success criteria and define the Key Performance Indicators that must be measurable and aligned to the objectives of the key stakeholders. Third, identify major risks and try to limit their impact. Fourth, use SMART milestones to help keep the project structure and different teams in the loop. Fifth, optimize allocation of resources, ensuring maximum availability of all resources working on the project at the same time. Sixth, produce a Gantt chart, one of the most widely-used progress measuring tools that allows users to see the order tasks should be done in, amount of time required to complete them, and relevant dependencies that exist between them. Finally, create a baseline to track actual performance against what was expected and to perform new analyses.