I gave my first Lightning Talk at CascadiaIT 2013: Getting Your Arms Around Unscopable Projects

(And yes, I realize that “unscopable” is not in the dictionary. That might be because no project is really unscopable!)

Here are the notes I prepared in my phone just before giving the lightning talk:

• My background: startup OEM, higher ed, startup cloud solutions company
• Unscopable project examples
  • “Improve and upgrade IT Service X!! For varying definitions of improve!”
  • “Move our office!  And/or our datacenter! But we’re not really sure what’s in them…”
• What are we trying to do?
  • How will we know when we’re done?
  • What resources and budgets may be involved?
  • What deadlines have already been promised?
  • Who needs to be included in the team?
  • Who needs to be informed about progress?
  • Who is the GO/NO-GO person for this project?
  • Are we looking for consensus on scope, time or money?
  • Is this project a democracy or a dictatorship?
• If any consensus is needed, build it… meet individually, meet in small groups, meet in a large group… cookies!  fruit!  healthy snacks!  but beware nuts and foods allergies!
• Write down:
  • what we’re trying to do
  • budget
  • time
  • people
• Get signoff on what you have put in writing from the go/no-go person!