Key components of project initiation

I'll teach you about the key components that make up initiation, and how these pieces lead to the planning phase of a project. There are several key components of initiation that you need to consider in order for your project to be successful: goals, scope, deliverables, success criteria, stakeholders and resources.

First you need to consider the goals of the project, the goal is what you've been asked to do and what you're trying to achieve. All projects should have clear goals and often those will be determined by senior company leaders, with your help. From there, you will begin to consider the project scope. This is the process to define the work that needs to happen to complete the project. You also need to think about project deliverables. They're the products and services that you will create for your customer, client or project sponsor. 

Deliverables can be anything from product features and functionalities to documentation, processes and more, anything that enables the goal of your project to be achieved. Deliverables are submitted to help you reach your project goals. Also, it's important to keep in mind that the deliverables can be tangible or intangible. An example of a tangible deliverable might be submitting a chapter of a manuscript. If the goal is to publish a textbook. Or if your project goal is to finish implementation of a new point of sale software at a retail store, scheduling staff training sessions could be an intangible deliverable.

Once the goals, scope and deliverables are determined, you need to consider success criteria. Success criteria are the standards by which you measure how successful a project was in reaching its goals.

Another important consideration is your stakeholders. Stakeholders are key to making informed decisions at every step of the project, including the initiation phase. They're the people who both have an interest in and are affected by the completion and success of a project. As a result, they're often instrumental in determining the goals, objectives, deliverables and success criteria of the project, from coming up with the idea to outlining the expectations of its results. As you move through the initiation phase, it's your job to ensure that you understand the needs of the project stakeholders early on. It's also your role to ensure that all stakeholders are in agreement on the goals and overall mission of the project before moving on to the next phase. 

Now, let's talk about resources, resources generally refer to the budget, people, materials, and other items that you will have at your disposal. It's super important to think carefully about these pieces early on. No one wants to get started on a project, only to realize halfway through that they don't have enough money or enough people to complete the work. That would be a mess. 

Finally, once you've established your goals, scope, deliverables, success criteria, stakeholders, and resources, it's time to create a project charter. A project charter is a document that contains all the details of the project. Project charters clearly define the project and its goals and outline what is needed to accomplish them. A project charter allows you to get organized, set up a framework for what needs to be done and communicate those details to others. Once you've drafted the charter, you would then review the document with key stakeholders to get their approval to move into the planning stage. 

Resources 
Budget
People 
Materials 


Recap:
Goals
Scope
Deliverables 
Success criteria 
Stakeholders
Resources