Your First 2 Weeks in a New Project: What to Do? | Video

You have a new project. And a window of opportunity to start it in the right way. What are your priorities in the first 2 weeks of a new project?

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Ten things to Do in the First 2 Weeks of a New Project

1. Read through any documentation that exists.
   Use highlighters and tabs to help build a summary and then organize the information for easy future reference.
2. At the start of the first week, remember that first impressions matter.
   Turn up to your new project with a confident, cheerful, and respectful attitude. You are there to listen, to help, and to get things done (in that order, in your first couple of weeks)
3. If you are working in a client organization, pay attention to the culture, norms, and expectations.
   Respect them. The more you understand the organization, the easier your dummylife will be.
4. Get to know the stakeholders – especially the key ones and your governance tier.
   Spend a lot of time asking questions, listening, and taking notes. Build a network diagram to understand the politics of the organization/s involved
5. Build relationships with your team.
   And spend time with your subject matter experts
6. Start work on a clear definition.
   Focus on understanding the problem that your project needs to solve or the opportunity it will exploit. Understand what different stakeholders view as ‘done’, or ‘success’. Can you help them articulate their evidence procedure?
7. At the same time, collect assertions about benefits
   (to feed into your business case)
8. Listen hard for – and keep notes on – dependencies, constraints, and the implicit assumptions that people seem to be making
9. Start noticing the problems, issues, and risks your team will need to address, to make good progress.
10. Start thinking through the structure of what you need to do.
    What the workstreams are likely to be and what sort of approach (where on the hybrid spectrum) is likely to deliver the best results.

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What Kit does a Project Manager Need?

I asked Project Managers in a couple of forums what material things you need to have, to do your job as a Project Manager. They responded magnificently. I compiled their answers into a Kit list. I added my own. 

Check out the Kit a Project Manager needs

Note that the links are affiliated.

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