Project Management can be as simple or as complex as needed. If your project is you and a few highly-aligned folks in the same room then you might be able to make do with a whiteboard and some sticky-notes, but this doesn't scale. There's a lot of expertise involved in taking a project from sticky-notes to a scaled agile enterprise operating model, but the foundations of planning don't change. IE: If you want to dig for treasure, then you should plan to get a shovel to enable your success.
This primer is most useful for founders, PMs, and engineering leaders moving from early execution into repeatable delivery.
Before you jump into executing your vision, start by discovering your minimum viable operating posture (see also the concept of minimum virtuous products), as this dictates a large portion of your overall organizational structure and talent strategy. Getting this wrong is similar to getting software architecture wrong -- it's all dysfunction and debt that will have to be corrected at some point, but at much greater risk and cost down the line.
- Thoroughly describe your vision, its unique value, use case, functionality, target markets, customers, etc.
- Measure your vision against external mandates, and understand that they take precedence.
- Data Protection Regulations - GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, etc.
- Accessibility Regulations - ADA
- Customer Demands (SOC2, ISO27001, WCAG, etc. Hint: Many vendor evaluations stipulate such req.)
- Other Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs), such as performance, reliability, availability, recoverability, data residency, localization, etc.
- Bonus: If you're doing profiling on people, be aware of incoming regulations in this area.
Yes, this is a lot of material, and it represents a large investment. This is a big part of why the "golden age" for startups is over. There will always be startups, but anywhere protected data is in play it is strongly recommended to operate in shadow mode until SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, WCAG 2.0, etc., (as appropriate) are secured. This demonstrates essential due care and due diligence while mitigating risk from day one.
Having discovered your MVP, you're well on your way.
Use this minimal execution checklist to convert strategy into predictable delivery:
- Define decision ownership (who approves scope, risk, and release).
- Establish a prioritized backlog and planning cadence (weekly/biweekly).
- Define "done" criteria for stories, features, and releases.
- Track delivery, quality, and reliability KPIs on a recurring cadence.
- Maintain a visible risk register with owners and review dates.
- Add release readiness gates for security, compliance, and operations.
This material isn't easy, and getting it wrong can be costly. The good news is that the roadmap to success in project management is well refined at this point. The fact that it's been largely the same material for over 10,000 years is encouraging, so take advantage of discipline knowledge that's older than Göbekli Tepe (9000 BCE).
Copyright © 2024 Alex Atkinson. All Rights Reserved.