Background

Outline what problem are you trying to solve. What’s the history of the issue? What’s the business case for this project?

Goal

Outline the goal of the project, including what organizational strategies or initiatives it supports. Describe how completing the goal will impact the organization and/or its customers. Consider including items that are not goals of the project in order to create a clearly defined scope.

Scope/Requirements

List out the work that will need to be completed and by whom. Define teams who should be involved and/or will be impacted. Outline any items that you've identified as out of scope for this effort.

Define success criteria for this project. How will you demonstrate to stakeholders that the project has been successfully completed? Define how the project or its outputs will be measured, and make sure to include any development work for these metrics in the project scope.

Project Roles

Specify who will fulfill what role in the project. Add roles as needed to outline your project team in full.

• Project owner: The project owner is ultimately responsible for delivering the project. They make day-to-day project decisions and work with functional leads to execute the project.
• Stakeholders: These are the leaders who identified the need for the project, authorized its resources and set its requirements. If there is a needed change in scope, timeline, or resources, stakeholders will weigh in.
• Project manager: The project manager owns developing and driving the project infrastructure, which is to say they will facilitate defining the project requirements, resources, and timeline, ensure the team is working together towards implementing poject work, facilitate communication and decision making when red flags or major issues arise, and step in to handle administrative issues that otherwise don't "belong" anywhere else.
• Functional leads: When multiple groups (whether departments, teams, locations, etc.) are represented in a project or initiative, identify a "lead" from each group to act as their representative. This person will monitor all the work happening within their group in addition to whatever work they're driving themselves, and be able to participate in regular status updates and project discussions.

Consider if there are external parties (such as partners, vendors, or customers) with expectations from this project and how they should be included.

It may be useful to outline an accountability matrix in this section to ensure you're fully clear on communication expectations.

Timeline

First, define milestones. Are there any deadlines for the project as a whole or the component parts? How flexible are these deadlines? Then, define your project phases and estimate timelines; outline and keep updated throughout the project. Here's an example timeline to kickstart your thinking:

• Define project logistics - September 1
• Kickoff Meeting - September 15
• Finalize project brief - September 20