How to get a project going

A few notes on how to get a (corporate) project going -- that is, a project where someone communicates a timeline and little details and then asks you to make it happen.

Understand the context

This should be an obvious point, but you need to understand the context and have a wholistic overview over everything before being able to 'make it happen'.

Sit down with whoever assigned you the task and ask questions.

Define goals and expectations

Compile the questions into a list of statements to confirm expectations.

Sit down and identify key challenges, ask more questions.

Identify key contacts and reach out to them

Ask around until you have all the relevant contacts. The important people are usually not the ones who you will meet first. Usually it is the project faces, ie. people who gloss over details, first. The real important people are the SMEs and technical personel who you will be introduced a few meetings later down the line.

Set a meeting (or multiple)

After a brief email -- "Hey, I've been told by X to approach you regarding Y. I'm Z, who is responsible for W, can we have a meeting to get to know each other and kickstart this topic?" -- directly set a meeting. This will let you gauge interest, and show your willingness to make hay.x

Introduce everyone

In the first meeting(s), the most important thing is to introduce everyone, and to connect them. "I am W, working on Z, these are my colleagues ABC, we are relevant because P..."

This gives everyone a nice, fuzzy feeling and closes the gap. We are all in this together!

Use the meeting chat as project chat

Corporate email clients (Outlook) usually create a chat on the side, which can also be used beyond the meeting.

Propose to use the meeting chat as project chat. Possibly rename the chat to be easier to be identified -- "tech workstram XYZ"

Introduce more people to the project

Continue sharing the chat and piling on people until the goals are achieved.