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Operational Readiness Template
Ready to lose weight in the New Year? OK. Go lose weight.
It’s not that easy, is it?! You need a gym membership and bag, workout clothes, a better diet, scale, family support, and maybe even someone to go with you on your journey. You need to make sure that everything is ready for your “losing weight project” to be successful.
It’s no different with the projects we manage. In order for them to be successful, they need to integrate into business operations. OK. Go integrate them into business operations. Hmm, not that easy. A lot of areas must be thought through to make our projects bring business value. The PMO Squad Operational Readiness Checklist Template will help you do just that and give you more time to spend at the gym!
Why use an Operational Readiness Template?
Projects aren’t done for the sake of doing projects, but rather for the sake of improving business. Integrating completed projects into a running business is an art unto itself. It’s like jumping into a car that’s already going down the road at 55 mph! That’s why an Operational Readiness Checklist is so important. It will help you decide if you are ready to jump. An Operational Readiness Checklist:
- Provides the Definition of “Done” - The definition of when a project is “done” can be wildly different from one person to the next. Defining Readiness Areas ahead of time and agreeing to objective measurements will remove subjectivity and opinions about when a project is considered complete.
- Provides Objective Reasons to Abort - It’s hard to abort a project that is supposed to go live, or be integrated into the business, on a particular date. Everyone may have worked hard to get it to that point, but if it’s not ready, it’s not ready. The Operational Readiness Checklist can be the bad guy that says, “No, we’re not ready yet.”
- Assigns Owners to Get Things Back on Track - Readiness Area status fluctuates throughout the life of a project. It will range from green to red at any moment in time. The Operational Readiness Checklist assigns owners ahead of time who are responsible for bringing status back to green.
How do you Use the Operational Readiness Template?
The Operational Readiness Checklist Template works best when you work with your business partners to put it together. Follow these steps:
- Identify Categories of Readiness - Work with your business partners on the Categories and Subcategories of readiness. This not only includes the project being ready, but everything else around the project that helps integrate it into operations. For example, “Training” would be a category, and “Quick Reference Guides Complete”, “Training Videos Produced”, and “Webinars Conducted” would all be subcategories.
- Fill in the Blanks - Continue to work with your business partners and fill in the blanks for each subcategory. Really pay attention to Showstopper, Target Date, Green-by Date, and Mitigation. You are jointly building out the definition of “ready” at this point.
- Determine Current Status - Now, work down the Readiness areas and assess the current status of each area: Green - Nothing is in the way of getting this done; Yellow - Off-Track for completion, but can brought back to green; or, Red - Off-Track for completion and high possibility may not be green by project go-live date.
- Compare Current Status to Green-by Date - On at least a weekly basis, look at the yellow and, more importantly, red items and assess whether they can be green by the Green-by Date.
- Have the Guts to Abort if Necessary - If an item is red, the recommendation should be to abort and reschedule until that item (or items) can be brought back to green. There’s a reason why everyone agreed to this up front. Don’t second guess yourself, and don’t feel apologetic in making the recommendation. You are asking for trouble if you decide to move forward with red items.
Did we mention working with your business partners in putting this checklist together? This can’t be emphasized enough, otherwise, it becomes a fight between Us (the project team) versus Them (the business team) when determining to go live or abort.
Benefits of Using an Operational Readiness Template
Using the Operational Readiness Checklist Template will allow you to:
- Remove Emotion - The decision to go live or abort is now an objective one. If this template is filled out correctly, it becomes an If-Then exercise: “If this is true, Then this is what needs to be done.”
- Instill Accountability - Putting one person’s name in the Activity Owner column makes sure everyone (especially that person) knows they are accountable for results. It’s easy to fall into the trap of putting in a department’s or two or three people’s names down. Don’t fall for it! Accountability rests on one person.
- Help you Think Beyond Just ‘The Project’ - Remember, projects aren’t done just for the sake of doing projects. The project may be complete, but unless it is operationalized, it is not improving business. Cook the meal (the project), but also remember that it has to be placed on the table for others to eat (the benefit).
Get Started Today!
Think beyond the project and start thinking about business benefits and value. The PMO Squad’s Operational Readiness Checklist Template will help you think through all that needs to be done so you can jump into that car that’s already going 55 mph… and survive!
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