Enthusiasm

In something a big as the project we’ve been asked to help define, we need to remember the iron triangle of project management.  As I’m sure we all know (but often get lost in the weeds on), any project should be broken down into these three pieces. Scope, Time, and Cost. Scope is defined by what we are going to do. Time is defined by when and how long it’s going to take. Cost is defined by who is going to do the job and the amount of resources allocated to completing the task.

1. We need to first define the SCOPE of WHAT we are going to accomplish. Basically the end all big picture ideology or VISION of what our future common platform will be.  
2. Then we can work with project management to give them time estimates, so they can be successful in figuring out the time of WHEN things are going to be fit into the long term roadmap as well as a generic count of the number of people WHO might do it to get it accomplished in that recommended time frame.
3. Once that is done it can be taken to people who have control of COST (aka Tim and Mark) and they can determine whether they like what we’re presenting. If they want it to happen in less TIME, they need to increase COST by adding resources or decrease the SCOPE.
4. Then after everyone is in agreement on WHAT, WHEN, and WHO, then we can start to get to work on the HOW.

In summary, we need to first focus on the what before we even consider the when, who, or how. Finally, I believe that if we don’t start with a “pie in the sky” mentality then we won’t get what we want. Product management and the people who sign the checks will always want to decrease the initial scope or at the very least baby step the scope in effort to reduce time and cost. If we don’t show them the full scope of what we want to accomplish, then we never will. We certainly don’t want to give them part of the whole picture of what we want to accomplish.