The Pre-Planning Stage

Kenneth has 14 years of healthcare experience in government and private industry. Over eight years of experience managing healthcare IT projects, operations, contracts, and personnel. His work experience includes project management, contracts and procurements, data analysis, claims adjudication, business writing, and business process modeling. Kenneth was certified in 2006 as a Project Management Professional.

 

Some of the most important parts of a project occur even before the planning period. Some of this work might even begin before the project is officially approved. If a project is anticipated to be starting soon (or in the pipeline to be started soon), there is a lot of work that can be done in this pre-planning stage.

Getting ahead of the curve at this point in time can help a project be successful in the long term, while waiting on events to carry things along will sometimes carry the project straight into endangered status. The pre-planning stage is a great time for the project to get ready to start on the right foot.

Gathering the Right People
One of the first--and most important--steps is to gather the right people. At this point, all you might be doing is talking about the project or the possibility of the project, but if you have the right people around the table when you are talking about the project, then you will be generating forward momentum. Some key people to get involved at this stage include the stakeholders who can make decisions, the people who understand the objective of the project and the leaders who have the vision to execute the project.

Other key people might include a project manager and subject matter experts who can help facilitate and direct the strategy of the project. Gathering these people and facilitating conversations about the project …

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