HEILMEIER's CATECHISM
What are you trying to do?
Articulate your objectives using absolutely no jargon.
How is it done today, and what are the limits of current practice?
Why now? Why are improvements needed, and what are the consequences of doing nothing?
What's new in your approach and why do you think it will be successful?
What preliminary work has been completed/how have the assumptions been tested
What is "Plan B" if the proposed approach doesn't work?
Who cares?
Who will benefit from the effort? Who are the anticipated end users or other stakeholders?
If you're successful, what difference will it make?
Articulate your objectives using absolutely no jargon.
What are the risks and the payoffs?
What innovation do you anticipate and why should it be done now?
What unique or perishable resources exist now (e.g. people/talent, collaborative relationships, data, monentum, etc)?
What are th potential rishks and how have they been mitigated?
How much will it cost?
Cost = personel resources, time/level of effort, organizational resources
How long will it take?
This also is where some pruning or down selection can take place (or a very large project broken up into reasonable chunks), and natural boundaries established to ensure that the effort is not only achievable within the time and resources proposed, but includes some necessary checkpoints or stopping functions to prevent unintended scope creep
What are the midterm and final "exams" to check for success?
How will you access progress and make midcourse corrections?
How will you know when you're done?
Reference