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There are five clear stages of any project – conceive, define, start, perform, and close. Not only do you need to determine who should be involved for each part of the project, but you need to consider how involved they should be.
An essential part of project management training, be it APMP, PRINCE2 or PMP, is learning who to involve in your project and when. Whatever project management qualifications you will have gained, you will know that there are five clear stages of any project – conceive, define, start, perform, and close. Not only do you need to determine who should be involved for each part of the project, but you need to consider how involved they should be. Read on to discover more about including supporters, drivers, and observers throughout.
Let’s begin with the easiest of them all, and this is the observes. You need to select observers that you want to actively share information about the project with. They should be involved throughout the entire project, but only at a minimal level for every stage. Firstly, when it comes to the concept, you should inform all observers about the creation of the project and what it is going to produce. When it comes to the definition, tell them about the timeframes and the outcomes that have been planned out. They should also only have minimal involvement at the start of the project, whereby you will tell them that the project has begun and you will confirm the dates of any planned milestones. During the performance stage, tell the observers about the project’s key achievements. And, finally, when you are closing the project, they need to know that it is complete, and you should tell them about the products and results of the project.
Next, we have the project supporters. These are the individuals that will support and perform the project work. As a consequence, they need to know about any requirements that have changed so that they can identify and address any issues promptly. Involvement is also important in terms of their commitment to the project and motivation levels. So, how should they be involved in each stage? When it comes to the concept, moderate involvement is required. Key supporters should assess the feasibility of meeting driver expectations. After this phase, they will have heavy involvement throughout the next four phases. They are major contributors in the definition phase, as they facilitate or do all the work, which means that have the ability to decipher resources, schedules, and technical approaches. When the project starts, you need to clarify how you expect all of the supports to work in order to achieve the desired results. Of course, as they perform the project work, they are going to be exceedingly involved during the performance phase. They also play a critical role during closure, as they will need to conclude the tasks they are working on and you should make them aware of their accomplishments.
Last but not least, we have drivers, which, again, need to be involved from start to finish. They evaluate the success of the project, and they define what should be produced, which is why their involvement is so important. They should be heavily involved during the concept phase. The pursuit of the project is influenced by their assessment of feasibility and their desires. Moderate to heavy involvement during the definition phase is expected. They will then have moderate involvement when the project starts and during the performance of it. At the conclusion of the project, they will be heavily involved, as they will need to determine whether expectations and needs were met.
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