Project justification

Dan: Projects in this organisation seem to start for very sound business reasons. Is that always the case?

Tom: We would like to think that every project is necessary and founded on good business rationale. However, they have been started for some unusual reasons. For example there is the case of a senior manager who request a project to be started for a new piece of software because he read about it in an in-flight magazine and thought it would be ‘neat’ to have it in his organisation.

There was also the time when a director of a large international computer manufacturing company asked his secretary how much it cost to produce a single copy from one of the many copiers that they had around their office. The secretary was very efficient and started a small project which involved about half a dozen people over the course of a few days as they gathered and checked all the relevant data. After about a week the secretary informed the director that they cost 10.2 cents a copy. He thanked her for the information and gave her a dollar to put in the petty cash as he had made five copies for his church the previous week. This is a very good example of why you must be absolutely clear about your project right form the start.

Dan: But surely nobody would start a project just on a simple question like ‘How much does a copy cost?’.

Tom: You would be surprised Dan. Projects do start and companies do invest lots of resource based on very informal requests. It is not unusual to be asked to start a project through an email, a casual conversation in the hall or at the water-cooler or by someone asking us to just ‘check this out’. It is not the way to be in control or to be professional, but it happens.

Dan: If that is the case then should all requests for projects come on a formal project request?

Tom: In an ideal world all projects would start with a formal request. The benefit of using a standard method is that the project request form would prompt the person filling it in to provide the right information for a quick and efficient start. If you are asked to manage a project and you do not have a formal project request then fill one out yourself and have the person who requested the project to review the details and sign it. It will save you a lot of time later.

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