Is there a PM starter kit that the PM needs to know in order for him to take on any projects whether its complicated or not, from scratch or from any other project scenario?
3 Answers
I'm hoping that I've understood your question correctly.
Before starting any project I would recommend that you request a formal project directive from your customer. This will probably help you in understanding what kind of project you are supposed to implement, and more importantly what you should NOT implement (Project Scope).
From that point, my advice will be to try to get the customer to be involved as much as possible in the process of determine goals, requirements etc. Don't be afraid of educating the customer in what is required for actually implementing a project with satisfactory results. Set up clear and defined decision points that will limit you and the customer from rushing into a project that is to undefined to succeed.
The "correct" answer from the PMBoK is to start to develop a project charter. That really means writing down on paper a high level description of the project that everyone agrees on. Please note that "write it down" is not optional. You can't do this by just talking to people.
I've started out a few projects where the key stakeholders involved all had completely different ideas about what the project was supposed to accomplish. Until I wrote it out and had everyone read the document, they had no idea that they didn't agree. When I did not do something like a project charter document, it did not turn out well.
The charter only needs to be two or three pages long (if a document) or maybe 6 slides (if your company is overly addicted to PowerPoint)
Start with a single sentence giving a high-level description of the project. Something like "'Project Management - Stack Exchange' is a Q&A website for expert and enthusiast project managers who have questions about managing projects."
Then start gathering requirements - this doesn't have to be formal at first, but write down some things the project will and will not do. You may even sketch up some design/interface ideas.
After this, write up your charter and then you can start on the formal requirements and functional specs.
