Is Your Project Ready to be Re-launched?

Photo by Setyaki Irham on Unsplash

Management might put a project on hold because other priorities take precedence or it needs recovery. When it’s time to relaunch, you don’t pick up where you left off. Here’s the sequence of steps to take to relaunch a project:

• Document what changed. Team members must understand that things will be different. Otherwise, they might not dedicate themselves to the project for fear of failure. To restore confidence, share changes, such as changed priorities, new project management approaches, and scope changes with all stakeholders.

• Meet to review or revise project goals. Revisit project outcomes in case business circumstances have changed. Talk to business stakeholders and technical team members about reprioritizing outcomes or proposing new ones. Make sure that the project is still feasible. Communicate any changes to project goals to all stakeholders.

• Hold a re-kickoff meeting. A relaunch is like a new project starting. At the meeting have the sponsor reaffirm the organization’s dedication to deliver the project and share the schedule and budget. Communicate any reprioritized project goals. Introduce new team members that are joining the relaunched project.

• Expand project monitoring and reporting. Focus status reporting on the root cause of the project stoppage. Senior leaders will want assurance that priority or process issues won’t reoccur. Use status metrics that can provide that assurance. Discuss any other concerns senior leaders have with the relaunched project and tailor your status reporting to address those issues.

• Be positive. People will watch your attitude and behavior as project manager as the relaunched project progresses. Maintain a positive attitude, and you’ll inspire confidence in the relaunched project.

If you have other tips for relaunching a project, share with us in the comments section.

For more about launching projects, check out my Project Management Foundations course.

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