To this point, we have looked at what projects are, how they fit within organizations, and who they impact.

With that knowledge, we are now ready to initiate an actual project.

But remember what we said in the introduction to this Module – a project doesn’t start with a plan; as with all innovations, a project begins with an idea.

Initiation is the process of taking that idea and testing it under stress to as definitively as possible answer the following questions:

• What is the problem we are solving?
• Is there a better way to solve this problem (or does the problem need solving at all)?
• Are we the best ones to solve it, and
• How will we know when the problem is solved?

These seem like obvious questions for every organization to ask of their projects, don’t they?

Unfortunately, all too often, individuals and organizations either assume they know the answers or get so excited by the awesomeness of their idea that they forget to ask them.

Even if you are never officially responsible for initiation as a project manager, understanding and communicating the process to others will make an immeasurable difference to your projects and performance.

After all, there is no point in doing the project right (project management) if we are not doing the right project!