Last week I shared with you my passion to design new projects , today I would like to focus on the process.
Let’s take a step back. Each project differentiate for the goals that it proposes, for the products and the results to achieve, for the context in which it is placed, for the timing and the resources assigned to it, for the identity of those who works on it and of the recipients.
Each project is therefore unique, but all projects follow a common process structured in different and subsequent phases staring from the initial idea to the realization.
Let’s start talking on how to realize a project, the life cycle of the project or the process.
I love the process, sometimes more than the goal itself. There are some phases of the process that fascinate me so much to the point I wish they would never end.
I can see a possible overlapping between the process of developing a professional project to the process we put in place when we want to make a personal project or a change.
When it comes to structured projects, there are four main phases:
the ideation, the planning, the realization, the closure.
I see that the process is pretty much like the personal growth one when it comes to counseling individual sessions.
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The ideation
This is the phase in which the main characteristics of the project are defined:
starting from an idea, we define the goals,the recipients, the work’s plan, the products, the expected results, the partners, the timing, the places and the resources.
From the pure idea we move on to a list, to a document that can be more or less structured.
When I see a client for the very first time, I listen to his/her idea, which sometimes is confused. Together we decide whether we have the resources to work together and we set up an agreement. We decide to work on that idea, making it clear.
The planning
Now it is a matter of going into detail: defining the strategy, the process and the resources necessary make the project happen.
We analyze the idea in every detail and we define the necessary actions, the activities, the timing, the costs, the control phases. We write down the project and we share it with the team, if we have it, so that it becomes our guideline.
In a personal growth development process, we call this step “exploring”.
Qui si passa all’azione: parto dal piano condiviso e metto in pratica le azioni necessarie per arrivare all’obiettivo.
Alcune attività sono comuni a tutti i progetti indipendentemente dai loro contenuti:
gestione, comunicazione, monitoraggio e valutazione di un progetto partono contemporaneamente al suo avvio e si estendono per tutta la sua durata.
The realization
Here we move on to action: starting from the shared plan, we put into practice the necessary actions to reach the goal.
Regardless of their contents, some activities are common to all projects: management, communication, monitoring and evaluation of a project start at the same time at the beginning and they are extended for its entire duration.
Once we woke up our resources, we proceed with deepening and the real support to change, a very active phase in which we train our new skills.
The closure
The final check plays a key role and it represents a real sum up of the entire path we’ve taken. Based on the results of this final check, it will be possible to decide whether the project has achieved the desired results, what should be modified to better adapt the project to reality or to extend it to other contexts.
This is the phase in which we capitalized for the future the work we’ve done. We could say that, a well managed closure of the project, is an excellent opening for new projects.
On the other hand, we can state that a successful empowerment process reach an end, otherwise it becomes dependency.
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In a nutshell:
_IDEATION/ FIRST CONTACT:
reading of the existing, of needs, sense, resources, examination of reality; listening.
_PLANNING/ EXPLORING:
definition of general and specific goals; defining the agreement.
_REALIZATION/ DEEPENING AND SUPPORT TO CHANGE:
action plan, what to do and how to approach the expected results according to the goals set; training.
_CLOSURE:
final check and evaluation; closing the help relationship.
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Doesn’t it remind you of the Gestalt Contact Cycle? Do you know it? Please let me know if you are curious, I will be happy to deepen it. Meanwhile, I’ll share one of my illustrations here.
