Vision and Problem Definition - Prerequisites to Good Project Management

Many a project manager gets assigned to a project and immediately begins assembling a team to develop a solution. Even worse, many a project sponsor comes with a ready-made solution for the project manager to "implement".

Would you go to a doctor and say "I need Zithromax to address a bacterial infection I have in my throat?" No, you'd say, "My throat hurts and I have a temperature," and the doctor would examine you and prescribe the proper remedy. It's the same with project management (in most corporate projects anyway). We need to determine the problem before we attempt to devise a solution. This may take convincing the sponsor sometimes, but it's well worth it, as everyone ends up happier in the end.

When defining the problem, it's also important to craft a vision of what the desired end state should look like. If you don't know where you're going, you're probably not going to get there. Or as John Lennon once sung, "How can I go forward if I don't know which way I'm facing?"

The following white paper from ittoolbox.com offers a good explanation of the often misunderstood concepts of vision, business problem, outcome, objectives, etc. and how they are best used.

Vision, Business Problems, Outcomes, Objectives, and All that Stuff