Step 5:  Key Success Factors

What are the critical elements of this project that will impact whether it goes smoothly or not?  Once these elements are identified, the major pieces of the process may be clarified and moved forward.  Without these critical pieces, the rest just doesn’t matter. 

In most cases, there are only somewhere between 4 and 7 main Key Success Factors.  The rest will probably be subsets of these.

In our example, Key Success Factors might include the following.

1. Your ability to penetrate a modified customer base of larger customers within the commercial arena
2. Adding two effective salespeople to address this area
3. Expanding the production capability of our facility and our team, including 4 new hires in the shop
4. Gaining the funding we need to finance an expanded effort
5. Systemizing our production processes to ensure continued customer satisfaction as we grow
6. Staying strategic (and focusing on Unique Ability) to focus on the highest leverage relationships possible with strong referral sources.

With the key success factors clarified, your next step is to clarify your current and needed resources.

Step 6:  Resources

You know what you want to achieve and by when; you are clear on your scope; you have even identified some perspectives that will serve you.  You know the critical elements that must be addressed for the project to succeed.  The next step is to identify the resources available to you to achieve your objectives.

You will want to build two lists of resources.  The first list is the list of resources that you already have available to you at present.  The second list contains the potential resources you desire to complete the project successfully.

A safety tip here: Don’t stop identifying potential resources unless you have between 2 and 3 times the amount of resources that you need.  Otherwise, don’t be surprised if you project falls short of its intended objectives.

One of the biggest shortcomings of most projects is that they are under-resourced.  By identifying a multiple of the resources you will ultimately need, you will have enough depth in your planning to continue smoothly despite the fact that not all resources will pan out.

Categories of Current and Potential Resources include:

• human resources
• financial resources
• enough potential customers
• sufficient referral sources
• materials
• supplier support
• enough suppliers
• access to expertise
• and others as well.

With resources identified, you are now ready to create your Milestones., in Part 4.

Part 4…               Part 1…                 Part 2…