When someone proposes to do something, you want to avoid rushing out and taking action until you know what is going on. You want to observe and measure what is going on before the project gets underway. This is useful for several political reasons.

• You understand the current situation or process better so that you can define the project with greater clarity.

• You can help people to understand the problems and limitations with the current situation. You must assume that most people have no desire for change or the new project. They have functioned just fine without it for many years. A fundamental tenet of alcohol and drug rehabilitation is that the person must be aware of and admit that they have a problem before they can be cured. It is the same with the project.

• You can validate that the project is, in fact, needed.

How can you employ this score card? First, you use it to summarize the problems and issues related to the situation in each location. Second, it is useful in presentations to management. Managers see the score card values and they tend to react. The reaction leads naturally to intense discussion about both the current situation and the future project. It will likely result in some change in thinking among the managers.

This sounds like a lot of work to do before you even get started. It is but it is also essential. You have to understand what is going on now and you must start to build up support for change. Remember that collecting information early is much cheaper and easier than making changes later. It should also be stressed that you are not looking in detail at the situation—just an overview.

There are some other things to do when you are collecting this information. You should collect data on the level of current work, what resources are available to support the new project, and whether current projects are making progress. You will be using this later when you propose the project and enter the fray for fighting for resources.

What is another major reason to measure what is going on?

If you do not measure before the project is started, you have no real way of determining the benefits of the work.

With background knowledge of the current situation at each location, you are now ready to create the project concept. The project concept consists of the general view of the project. It is developed prior to developing the plan or staffing the project. Elements of the project concept include the following:

• Purpose of the international project from different viewpoints;

• Scope of the international project—what will be included and excluded;

• Roles and responsibilities of departments and business units in the project;

• Availability of resources to support the international project;

• Initial issues that the project is likely to face;

• Budget and schedule for the international project;

• Likely benefits that will accrue when the work is completed.

Why is the project concept important? It gets everyone “reading off of the same page.” It provides a forum for arguments and trade-offs as to what to do with the project. Creating the project concept also builds consensus in terms of agreement and commitment. As such, it’s really more important than the project plan. The project plan validates the project concept and provides more detail. Now let’s move on and develop the elements of the project concept.