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Project Discovery (DIY)
Project managers may not have much influence in determining which projects get the green light, but understanding how and why your project was valued is a critical part of your job. An informal discovery process can do more than clarify why the project was undertaken; it can shed light on how to best manage the expectations and complexities you’ll be facing.
This is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of The Principles of Project Management (SitePoint Pty. Ltd.; March 2008).
Projects don't just spring from nowhere. Although many project managers only get involved when it's already been decided that a project will be undertaken to achieve some end, there is, of course, a phase before this: discovery. Discovery is the process by which the organization reviews the available opportunities and decides which of them will become projects in due course.
Ideally, the discovery process should ensure that the best opportunities are pursued — not just those that were mentioned first, or those that have the loudest supporters. Where this process is undertaken, it's usually combined with some sort of portfolio planning through which the potential projects are matched against the resources or capabilities of the organization itself. The eventual result is a list of projects that are truly the top priorities.
The sad reality is that in many cases, there's either no …
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