6 Essential Elements of a Successful Project

Not every entrepreneur or business has a project manager on their team, but it’s still critical to  manage projects efficiently for an impactful, successful project launch. And even if you do have a project manager on your team (or one you work with on a per-project basis), taking the time to understand the basics will set you up to work with that person with greater understanding.

What I’m trying to say is…if you have a business and launch projects (or want to build on evergreen ones), this article will give you a greater understanding of the basics that every successful project needs so you can be more effective with your and your team’s time. Let’s dig in!

1. Goals

First and foremost: goals! Every project needs specific goals that are realistic for your team to accomplish. These goals must be clearly communicated to your team (even if it’s just your dog — it helps you stay accountable).

Not only does the project need a goal, but that goal needs to be in alignment with the overall goals for the business. Also take time to consider whether the goals are measurable and how you’ll evaluate the results.

Having these parameters defined before any work begins will help you assess and pivot if needed while the project is underway. Knowing your goals also helps you assess your marketing after your project wraps up.

Related Reading: The 2 Branding Essentials Every Business Owner Must Know

2. Defined Scope

Scope is project manager-speak for “work your team needs to do in order to complete a project.” This includes a clear understanding of what the project will entail, a clear overview of the expectation for the final deliverable, any must-haves vs. nice-to-haves, budget, etc.

This is an essential piece of project management because it helps to lay out all the pieces you’ll need so you can make sure everyone on your team is on the same page from the start, and so you can create a realistic schedule (more on that next). It also helps to avoid scope creep, which can happen if everyone doesn’t understand goals, strategy, scope, and deliverables upfront.

Think of scope creep like a party. Say you want to have a simple night of s’mores around the fire with your family, but your partner keeps adding “one more thing” until your casual night becomes a full-blown dinner party where the guests expect porcelain rather than Chinet. Scope creep not only creates churn in a project, but it also requires more time, and, you guessed it, more money. Neither of which help your business bottom line or the efficiency of your marketing projects. 

If you aren’t clearly stating the goals ahead of time and then measuring the scope of what’s needed against the goals and strategy, you could be in for some serious scope creep.

Related Resource: Project Management Basics, Part 1 – Project Management Glossary

3. Schedule

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “A goal is a dream with a deadline.” Schedules and budgets are probably the most inflexible part of project planning because, usually, they are cut and dry. While there may be some wiggle room, there has to be a due date for everything.

That’s why it’s important to be incredibly clear about your goals and the scope during the planning process so the schedule is balanced and, most importantly, realistic. 

Let me say that one more time for the folks in the back… Please, for the love of all things Holy, if you only take one thing from this article, please let it be the importance of realistic schedules!

When laying out a schedule for your project, account for:

• All the steps of the project (not just the project as a whole you’ll have at the end)
• Reasonable turn times for your team
• Time for each round of revisions you project you’ll need
• Final quality check at the end
• Who’s responsible for the final approval (and what’s their workload like)
• Whether the due date is a hard deadline and, if not, the absolute final “gotta be done by now to keep things moving” date
• Unexpected hiccups, emergencies, and any extra wiggle room you can give (AKA buffer time)

When you have a clearly-defined, well-planned, and realistic schedule upfront—one that’s based on your desired scope and your team’s needs—then you’ll have taken a huge step towards setting your projects up for success.

If you’ve thought through all the steps, accounted for creation and review time, and so on, you should be able to stick fairly closely to your anticipated schedule (or come very close — that’s another article for another day). And, trust me, if you give your schedules the time and attention they deserve upfront, your team will thank you and you (and your business!) will feel the positive effects of the efficiency you gain! 

Related Reading: Project Timelines: 5 Must-Have Elements to Include

4. Budget

Just like how every good Target run should have a budget (we all know that cliche that you can’t walk out of Target with just one thing…and it’s a cliche for a reason!), so should a project. That way, you have a sense of the investment going in when you measure the return at the end of the project.

Think of your budget in two ways: a monetary budget and a time budget. You’re estimating how much it’ll cost and how much time it’ll take, then you’re doing your best to meet the estimate for both of those.

Success Tip: At the end of your project, take a moment to review how the project went, the time it took, the investments you made, and the results you got. If you ended up over budget, look at your project details and analytics to see if you can identify why. Make notes of anything you can address and avoid in future projects, or any budget overages that you need to account for (and thus, budget accordingly for) in your upcoming planning (like extra resources, increases in subcontractor rates, longer timelines, etc.). 

Related Reading:Project Kickoff Meeting: 7 Essentials for Successful Projects

5. Deliverables

Similar to scope, deliverables are the actual elements of the project that, when combined, make the whole thing. Think of it as … for lack of a better word … the tangible thing(s) you want to actually get or produce at the end of the project. 

Deliverables are one of the most important elements to define for your project, because, well, if your project doesn’t have a deliverable it isn’t actually a project. Every successful project has a beginning and a defined end, and the only way to have a definite ending to your project is if you have a clearly outlined expectation of what you hope to produce — i.e. the deliverable. 

Success Tip: It’s important to specify your final deliverable(s) at the start of the project to make sure your team has a clear understanding of what you/they are creating. But it’s equally important to establish (and make sure your team understands) deliverables at each step of the project timeline— i.e. what is expected at the end and at each review point? This will not only help you avoid mishaps and inefficiencies during your project, but it will also help inform your schedule to make sure you have realistic timelines for each deliverable throughout the life of the project. 

Related Reading:7 Project Planning Mistakes to Avoid

6. Team

Every project needs someone to do the work, AKA: team, or people supporting the project. Again, even if it’s just you, it’s important to have a complete picture of the scope and deliverables so you can accurately assess where you might need to pull in any support.

Your team will support the project, so it’s best to bring them in as close to the beginning stages as possible so they can understand their role, scope or scheduling requirements, and the roles and responsibilities of anyone else on the project. (This is where a solid and well-defined project kickoff doc comes in handy!)

It’s also important to know who’s managing the team and who is responsible for routing deliverables for review and consolidating feedback so the project moves smoothly and stays on schedule. So, make sure you clearly determine your project team from the start, and also express their roles, responsibilities, communication protocols, and review/routing processes. This will help to avoid the dreaded “I didn’t know I was supposed to do that” hiccups and will keep your team fully aligned and operating like a well-oiled machine throughout your project. 

Related Reading:Project Management Basics, Part 3 – Take Your Project to an Efficient Level

This isn’t an exhaustive list of every single thing that can help contribute to your project success (stay tuned for future articles to cover all the other little things you can do!), but these 6 elements are, by far, the most important core things every project must have. They’re the minimum required steps when project planning to ensure the success of your project.