“I understand this is priority #1. Sure, we can start immediately, plan as we go and finish by October 1st.”

There we are, sitting in an executive’s office. It actually has a window and walls with artwork rather than a poster, like the shabby hovel where we work. We’re listening to executives who outrank us by a mile. They’re confiding in us, trusting us, and telling us about the critical importance of this project. It’s a little vague as to what the executives actually want, beyond a fast start on the project. But there’s pressure from “up top” and the whole organization is counting on us to get going quickly. We don’t want to upset the executives with awkward questions about scope.

Grizzled veteran PMs know that a little polite pushback upfront avoids really angry executives at the end. PMs need to know what executives expect the project to yield for the business… what business value it will produce. They need to ask tough scope questions now to “frame” the project within an unambiguous, verifiable scope. They need to get executive commitment on how they will measure the project’s success. Sure, everybody is much happier when the PM is an eager puppy ready to run off and do something… anything to get started quickly. But projects launched without answers to those scope questions drift from one vague objective to another as the political winds change.

Read the rest at 4pm.com.