It's All About Requirements

Before a project is started and maybe even while the project is going on, there needs to be good requirements.  For many projects this is a difficult enterprise.  This is because there may or may not be time to elicit the requirements.  But successful project managers know that this is absolute an imperative action to ensure project management success.

Requirement elicitation is important.  It is important to know exactly what the customer feels the features of a done project look like.  There are  techniques that a project manager use to elicit these requirements.

One technique is to interview the customer about the requirements and what done looks like. This type of information might be in the Statement of Work (SOW) or the Performance Work Statement (PWS), but that is not always the case.  The interview should use probing questions and should refrain from yes and no answers.

Another technique is to hold a panel or focus group of the customer's subject matter experts.  This type of technique can draw out many responses, but it can also get out of hand quickly and requires a steady hand to guide the discussion.

Once the requirements are discovered they need to be categorized as critical, must haves, and like to haves.  This categorization allows the project manager and project personnel to understand the prioritization of work.

Then the project manager needs negotiate all the requirements into the the SOW or PWS and included into the contract. 

All the critical and must-have requirements are tracked in the requirements tracker throughout the project.