Course 2 — Initiate a Project
Course 2 of the Google PM Certificate. The initiation phase is where the PM defines what the project is, why it matters, who’s involved, and whether it’s worth doing — culminating in a signed project-charter.
The four phases of initiation (as taught in the source)
Phase 1 — Project initiation fundamentals
Initiation establishes six core topics and two core behaviors:
Topics:
- Goals — what you’ve been asked to do and what you’re trying to achieve
- Scope — the process to define the work needed to complete the project
- Deliverables — products and services created for the customer/sponsor
- Success criteria — standards by which success is measured
- Stakeholders — people with an interest in and affected by the project
- Resources — budget, people, materials
Behaviors:
- Active listening
- Excellent communication
A cost-benefit-analysis (CBA) is performed to evaluate whether the project should be executed — compares measurable gains to costs using ROI = (G − C) / C. If ROI is positive, the project is economically justified.
Once the six topics are established, a project-charter is drafted.
Phase 2 — Defining goals, scope, and success criteria
Covered in depth on dedicated pages:
- Goals & deliverables. Goals = desired outcome (clear, specific). Deliverables = what gets produced/presented.
- smart-goals — Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound.
- okr-framework — Objectives + Key Results. Levels: Company → Department → Project. Project-level OKRs must align with higher levels.
- Project scope — boundaries of the project. Phase covers scope-defining questions (stakeholders, goals, deliverables, resources, budget, schedule, flexibility).
- Scope creep — uncontrolled changes to scope. Sources: external (customer requests, business shifts, tech changes) and internal (product improvements, process changes). Seven best practices for managing it (define requirements, clear schedule, explicit out-of-scope, alternatives, change control process, say no, collect out-of-scope costs).
- triple-constraint — Scope, Time, Cost are linked: change one, another must give.
- Launching vs landing. Launch = delivering final result. Land = measuring success against criteria.
- Success criteria — measurable aspects, stakeholder-agreed, signed off. Include how success is measured, how often, and who’s responsible.
Phase 3 — Working with stakeholders
- Choosing a project team. Consider required roles, team size, skills, availability, motivation.
- Project roles. Project sponsor (accountable), team members (doing the work), customers/users (value recipients), stakeholders (vested interest), project manager (planning/organizing/oversight).
- stakeholder-analysis — primary vs secondary; three steps (list, rate interest+influence, assess participation); Mendelow power/interest grid.
- Stakeholder buy-in — involving stakeholders in decision-making to reach consensus.
- raci-chart — Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed. Clarifies who does what.
Phase 4 — Utilizing resources, tools, and documentation
- Resources: budget, people, materials.
- Tools help track tasks, manage budgets, and enable collaboration.
- Documentation ensures transparency. Answers: what problem, what goals, what scope/deliverables/stakeholders, what resources. Acts as a historical record.
- Project proposal — persuades a stakeholder to begin a project. Comes before the charter.
- project-charter — formal document defining the project and its key details. Comes later in initiation and ensures stakeholder agreement.
Connections
- course-1-foundations-of-pm — previous
- course-3-project-planning — next
- cost-benefit-analysis project-charter
- smart-goals okr-framework triple-constraint
- stakeholder-analysis raci-chart