About the article

This is a very short (2 min) article with some key tips and a template for setting up your start-up using project management techniques. The author is a very experienced project manager and start-up guy.

Setting up your Start-up as a Project

The most common reason for delays, non-delivery, failure is actually surprisingly simple.

The objectives the project was trying to deliver are not clear.

I know this sounds stupid but even the most complex projects are really simple at their core, they need to deliver something. That something needs to be understood by everybody. This is even more important for start-ups where budget is tight and it’s easy to get distracted.

I have a simple technique for ensuring your start-up project is delivered. When you’re thinking about what you’re trying to deliver, do all your usual things in terms of detail ie. write out the scope, exactly what you’re trying to deliver in as much detail as you need.

Once you’re finished and you’re clear, prepare a simple slide providing a high level overview what you’re going to deliver.

Make the slide look as slick as possible.

This slide takes longer to do than you think but I promise, it’s worth it.

Once it’s complete, share it with anybody who is important in accepting the project at the end – this could be your partners, staff, board members, etc. Make changes as needed so everybody is 100% clear. Share this slide Regularly. If anyone joins the project or the company, it should be the go to slide to explain the project in plain English.

The slide can (and should) change over time. When it does change though it needs to be thought through and agreed with people. It’s a conscious change rather than a drift.

For highly challenged projects, this slide never exists. It’s where I always start and typically people all think they’re delivering different things. Once agreed, it’s much easier to get back on track.

I’ve done up a basic example for someone setting up a t-shirt business but this template can be used for any business.

About the author

I’ve seen hundreds of projects over the past 15 years. I’ve run lots of huge (and small) projects. I frequently conducted independent reviews of highly challenged projects.