The Project Initiation Stage is one of the most important phases of any project. Yet too often, we wing it—blindly following methodology without stopping to ask why.
The result? A mountain of Project Initiation Documentation (PID). Stakeholders review, approve, and tick boxes. It feels like progress, but the real purpose gets lost. The documents are often written for compliance, not clarity. Critical messages end up buried in jargon, and people assume everything is fine without truly understanding.
The true purpose of Initiation is simple: to create clarity.
Clarity on scope, quality, timeline, resources, roles, responsibilities, and success criteria.
Think of Initiation as the foundation of a house. If the foundation is shaky, the structure above will collapse—no matter how well-built the rest may be.
If we fail to provide clarity at this stage, we don’t just fail the process—we put the whole project at risk.
Project Initiation is not about paperwork. The purpose of the Project Initiation stage is alignment, understanding, and starting with a solid foundation.
