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WHAT IS THE DEFINE PHASE?
The Define phase of the each project is the foundation
of the project. During this phase the customer requirements
will be defined, the team will be put together, and the path
for that team will be lay out for them to follow.
A lot of projects fail because there was no define phase
on the project or the team cheated and decided some of the
steps were not necessary to be follow. From my own experience,
I do not think there is any perfect process that will get
you 100% results every time you use it. But I believe that
whatever process you use unless you check and follow each
step you wont get positive results (project rigor).
WHAT HAPPENS DURING THE DEFINE PHASE?
The first step of the Define phase is to ask the project
Sponsor to create a Concept
Brief. The Concept Brief forces the Sponsor
to think about the value of the project towards the Organization
and the individuals. After completing the Concept Brief the
Sponsor of the Project will meet with the Stakeholders of
the Project to get their buy-inn and commitment to make the
project a success. The meeting in which these decisions take
place is called the Tollgate.
The purpose of the tollgate is to act as a check point for
the project, to make sure all of the project members are working
toward the project goals and objectives, and that all the
important points are communicated and agreed among the stakeholders.
Once the Concept Brief Tollgate is passed, the sponsor will
assigned a project leader to oversee the completion and execution
of the project. Most of the time the selection of the project
leader occurs during the tollgate meeting. The project leader
will now take the Concept Brief to more refine stage (Project
Charter). At this point the project leader will start
gathering the voice of the customer and the critical factors
which will make the project successful (CTQs). The purpose
of the charter is to create the initial team that will be
working on the project until deliverable of the objectives.
Once, the charter has been completed it is presented to the
stakeholders during a Tollgate. During the Tollgate the stakeholders
will sign off on the vital deliverables of the project. At
this point the team will start working towards meeting the
customer requirements specified in the Project Charter document.
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