Musings of a Marketing Maven

The rel­a­tive suc­cess or fail­ure of most projects is deter­mined at the out­set, by how well the project is defined and scoped, roles clar­i­fied, and expec­ta­tions set. This is crit­i­cal if you aim for high-impact results.

Whether you use an out­side con­sul­tant or an inter­nal con­sul­tant, respon­si­bil­ity for design­ing a project is shared between the client and the ser­vice provider. After all the client knows (or needs to know) how the project will even­tu­ally be assessed, by whom; and what will be required to put the rec­om­men­da­tions into action.

Design­ing projects to achieve high-impact results becomes even more impor­tant when the econ­omy is under threat, bud­gets get squeezed, and man­agers’ per­for­mance is under more intense scrutiny. I see this all the time in my con­sult­ing practice.

If, as many peo­ple pre­dict, we’re head­ing into another reces­sion in 2008, know­ing how to scope and orga­nize a project will become increas­ingly impor­tant. It could have a big impact on your abil­ity to get the resources you need to achieve your busi­ness or depart­ment objectives.

Here’s an out­line that can help you do that.

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