Confession: I’m a project geek. I’ve been known to enjoy putting together a project plan, including the project framework. I find a certain satisfaction in translating ideas generated in conversations into the language of results-based management.
That said, I still find a blank framework intimidating. I have a routine that I use to work through it. I wish I could say that I developed this routine myself, but I’ve just copied what I’ve seen other excellent managers doing.
Let’s take a quick look at the overall framework now:
Those are a lot of boxes to fill in. Let’s go through them step-by-step.
Even if you’re working with a small agency with a very few projects, assigning numbers to projects can help keep track of them. (I like using project numbers that identify the date the project starts and its location: for example using GH-2008-1 for the first project started in Ghana in 2008.)
The impact statement will connect with the goal of the project; the outcomes will relate to the objectives. Sometimes these are just slightly re-worded versions of each other, with objectives and purposes being written in a form that begins with “to”: “To reduce the incidence of disease.”
Identifying indicators as you go along helps in clarifying the next level of results.
Outcomes may be some of the most important results that you identify. They’re what you want to see different at the end of the project. Take the time to get these, and their indicators, right.
RBM purists, relax. Technically we should be moving in an orderly, right-to-left fashion here, but the fact is, life’s a lot messier than that. We can simplify things by starting with a goal and objectives and working from there, but usually there’s a bit of back and forth before we arrive at our final statements. I find that this is especially true when it comes to creating outputs. They’re just a lot easier to write after an activity that might actually lead to them is identified.
Your reach, or number of people affected by the project, should get progressively larger as you move from left (outputs) to right (impact).
Make sure that you include the important assumptions and risks here. Make sure that at some point you explain what you are doing to mitigate the risks you have identified.
And you’re done!
Doesn’t that feel good?
Filed under: project management Tagged: | framework, RBM, results-based management
