A project management checklist for excellence on autopilot

A project leader juggles a thousand balls: projects in different phases, tasks for themselves and others, priorities that need communicating, updates for executives. And the first step to failure is trying to keep it all in your head. 

One way to minimize risk of failure is to build systems that help you outsource your brain to reliable processes. When you're following a well-built process, you'll be confident that you're taking all the necessary steps and honoring the needs of all the folks involved. Let me walk you through the checklist I use to manage projects and make sure I'm not missing steps. 

To get a detailed guide on using this checklist (and a template version of this checklist), dig into our Project Management Handbook. 

Kick Off 

Identify stakeholders 

🔲 Determine who needs to be engaged in decision making  

🔲 Interview stakeholders to define their expectations for what will be created and delivered through this project or initiative

🔲 Ask questions to understand the strategic purpose of the project as outlined by stakeholders, so you can steer projects to meet strategic intentions  

Build a team and identify their roles

🔲 Ask stakeholders which teams will need to be involved; at this stage, err on the side of inclusiveness 

🔲 Connect with leaders from the involved teams and ask them to designate leads in each functional area for all needed work. Leads are accountable for the work that needs to be completed for their functional area 

Scope effort  

🔲 Hold scoping discussions with leads to identify the steps they'll need to pursue to accomplish their work 

🔲 Keep these discussions open so leads feel comfortable airing their questions and concerns 

🔲 Dive into the details to understand edge cases 

Hold kick-off discussion

🔲 Convene project leads and team members in a live discussion 

🔲 Agree on how, where, and how often you'll communicate 

🔲 Review the draft project scope and ensure you've identified all the work and steps that will need to happen and included all teams who might need to be involved

🔲 Outline order of operations for needed work 

Document project brief

🔲 Write a project brief to document the steps you've completed and scope of work you've agreed; share with project team to create a shared agreement around the project plan

Implementation 

Create project dashboard/resources

🔲 Create a project dashboard in a platform like Trello, Notion, or TeamGantt. Dashboard should include project brief, regular weekly update content, and the latest status of the project

🔲 Establish recurring update plan; this could be a weekly call where team members share an update on their progress and highlight areas where they need help solving problems. This can also occur in Slack as a regular update, as long as you have a format for problem solving if discussion is needed 

Proactively communicate across affected teams 

🔲 Check in with project leads on a regular cadence 1-1 in addition to your recurring updates; understand concerns or areas they are encountering issues such as needed business decisions or additional resources. Work to proactively address these concerns before they become blockers 

🔲 Proactively update stakeholders on status in a mutually agreed format

Solve problems and document decisions 

🔲 When stakeholders need to make decisions on how to solve a problem or implement a process or feature, engage them in making these decisions and document the decisions. Outline risks for resources, requirements, or timeline that might arise from any given decision path

🔲 Communicate decisions to the rest of the project team 

Project launch 

Ensure quality 

🔲 As you approach launch-readiness of a new product, process, or team, define a testing plan to ensure that the work product meets project expectations 

🔲 Engage in the testing yourself. Ensure you have first hand knowledge of the work and its quality. Dig into issues that arise through testing and prioritize their resolution

🔲 Ensure stakeholder review of work product is built into timeline and if they are busy exec folks, make sure they're holding time for testing in their schedules. Obtain their sign-off before proceeding to release 

Drive launch

🔲 Create launch plan and schedule by working with team leads to identify the steps they'll need to take to release work and talking through the order of operations

🔲 Identify and publicize your launch date internally so folks know what to expect. Communicate to appropriate teams before, during, and after the launch process so folks feel included

🔲 Track any issues that arise and ensure team resolves any problems

Project wrap-up

🔲 Hold a retrospective if necessary or useful. Document and share lessons learned

🔲 Share results as appropriate with other teams

How to use your checklist

Here's how I keep track of progress for all my projects: I keep a checklist for each initiative I'm driving based on this template. I set myself a recurring task to review the checklist, and ask myself if I'm working through all the steps. This helps me ensure I'm thinking ahead as well as working effectively in the present.