Idea clarity is key: Know exactly what you are trying to accomplish. You know you "have an idea" when you can answer the questions Where are you going? How are you going to get there? What will it cost? What is the payoff?

Have an Idea

There is one simple way to clarify the murk of multiple projects. Instead of vague targets like "improve" productivity or throughput or client experience, think in very concrete terms: "Have an idea." In other words, know exactly what you are trying to accomplish. You know you "have an idea" when you can answer these questions. Where are you going? How are you going to get there? What will it cost? What is the payoff?

Management sponsors projects to solve problems, but all too often, it is unclear what the relationship is between the cost of the problem, the ultimate savings associated with solving it and the investment required to solve it. And, every once in a while, managers need to climb on top of their desks to see the "big picture" and then communicate what they see. Lower-level people can't take the big picture into account if no one tells them what it is. At every decision point, every stakeholder needs to know more than just "turn left" or "turn right." They need to know whether the destination is Boston or L.A.

A major challenge to answering, How are you going to get there? And how much will it cost? arises when projects are planned by small groups that are insulated from the realities of what it takes to actually complete the assignment. Besides the burden of isolation, they often suffer even more because they are under the gun to complete a proposal within rigid time constraints.

For example, a team includes an arbitrary one-month lead time for securing a subcontractor, when in reality it takes six to eight weeks just to complete the RFP cycle, let alone the time required for negotiations and contract sign-off. Or someone reviewing a proposal changes the scope or terms without adequate feedback because "that's what the client wants; we'll have to make it happen."

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