Ask these 10 questions for your next project | Help me with my next course idea

You’re not alone. It’s hard to kick off a project. What questions do you ask? What don’t you know? What do you need to know?

Set your project up for success by asking smart questions. How?

Ask the right questions and be prepared to answer the tough ones.

Today, I’ll share my top 10 questions to ask for your next project to gain clarity and bring alignment.

Let’s dive in.

Ask these 10 questions for your next project

1. What outcomes are we driving? 

   What’s the ultimate goal? Why should teams care? How does this tie into company goals? This helps teams march in the same direction.

2. How did you arrive at this idea?

   Get clear on the context. Who’s idea is this? If you’re not sure, ask your executive sponsor to walk you through the logic/rationale.

3. What is the timeline for this project?

   Is this in Q1? Multi-quarter initiative? Ongoing? A clear timeline sets expectations.

4. What assumptions you are making?

   Uncover any inherent bias or beliefs so everyone operates from a shared baseline.

5. What are the potential risks?

   Map out all potential risks reducing any surprise obstacles and derailments. This also helps with defining scope.

6. And what is our mitigation plan?

   The best projects have a strong mitigation plan. Define key actions when faced with potential risk/challenges.

7. What impact will this have on our teams?

   This helps you construct a strong narrative and aid in change management. A PM must help define change impact and help teams navigate through it.

8. What are the key milestones & deliverables?

   Clear milestones keep everyone aligned and serve as measurable markers of a project progression.

9. Have you considered alternative data or sources?

   How do we know our plan is rooted on the right problem? What data can help us define our root issue and ensure we have the right plan?

10. What are the key data points that support this idea?

    Grounding ideas in data gives credibility, ensures feasibility, and builds stakeholder trust. This also helps define success metrics.

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