Congratulations! You’ve gotten buy-in from your stakeholders. Now it’s time to put your plan into action by creating a roadmap.
In addition to supplying stakeholders with key information, roadmaps should always be clear and transparent. Without these two things, you risk losing stakeholder buy in.
Ready to get started? Follow the steps below to ensure success:
1. Create a Responsibility Assignment Matrix
The infrastructure of your project is made up of processes and organizational structure. The most important part of this structure is clearly assigning roles and responsibilities. We like the RACI model, which outlines the four key roles a team member could have:
- Responsible: the person who executes the task at hand. Only one person can have this role, however, he/she may delegate specific tasks to other team members. At the end of the day, this person is responsible for ensuring that the work gets done.
- Accountable: often the project owner or executive, this single person approves all tasks executed by the responsible person. He/she must sign off on all completed work and give the ok to “go live”.
- Consulted: these people are the subject matter experts who are able to provide the responsible team members with the information they need to execute the project. Most projects will have many consulted people. Two-way communication is a key feature between the consulted and the responsible.
- Informed: the people who are affected by the outcome of the task at hand. They should be informed regularly about the project and its progress.
2. Publish a Timeline with KPIs
The centerpiece of your roadmap should be a timeline with key dates and milestones marked by measurable KPI’s. Include a detailed timeline with descriptions of work, key players, and major deadlines or transitional periods. A simplified visual representation with major events can give stakeholders a high level overview and inform them of actions they may need to take.
Make sure your timeline document is kept in a central location where all stakeholders can easily access it.
This will be a living document throughout the duration of your implementation. Keep it up to date with changes to the dates and deadlines as well as shifts in the scope or nature of the work. By incorporating stakeholder feedback, your project will inevitably change and you must communicate that transparently to all those who are affected.
3. Outline Next Steps
The last step in this process is to explain to your stakeholders what concrete actions or changes will be coming down the pipeline in the near future. Include clear directives for individuals or teams who have actionable tasks. You must also remember to inform the people who will be affected the next steps.
Need some more ideas on how to set your project into motion? Contact us to see how you can set up your project and marketing team for long-term success.