For CEOs and executive sponsors, project failure is often less about what is delivered, and more about the fundamental integrity of the project's internal health. You cannot afford to manage by consensus or optimism. You need unfiltered, quantitative awareness.
Assess Project™ provides a comprehensive, diagnostic framework to evaluate 15 critical dimensions of project health, enabling you to proactively identify systemic risk and enforce accountability.
Our assessment process focuses on the 80/20 principle: quickly identifying the handful of critical activities and results that drive most project success. The goal is to move beyond superficial reporting and expose misalignment, financial risk, and organizational weaknesses that threaten your investment.
This checklist is designed to guide an independent assessment, ensuring you focus on the areas of highest executive risk:
| Pillar | Executive Oversight Mandate |
Key Diagnostic Questions |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Align on Objectives | Confirm Strategic Lockstep. | Are all core team members, leaders, and constituents aligned on the project objectives and the associated business case? |
| 2. Select Assessor | Mandate Objectivity. | Is the selected expert genuinely independent? Are we avoiding the conflict-of-interest risk associated with partners or vendors conducting the review? |
| 3. Financial | Validate Reality & ETC. | Is the funding commitment complete and accurate? Is the Estimate to Complete (ETC) realistic and actively managed within approved precision guidelines? |
| 4. Scope & Solution | Clarity & Simplicity. | Could a non-technical leader understand the scope and solution in 30 seconds? Is the scope broken into clear, manageable components (e.g., PRONTO—Process, Organization, Technology, etc.)? |
| 5. Requirements | Quality over Quantity. | Are requirements defined at a sufficient level of detail to be verified during testing, or are we building against ambiguity? |
| 6. Commercial Agreements | Contractual Governance. | Are all vendor licenses and Statements of Work (SOWs) signed, clear on scope, and does the licensing agreement meet necessary terms (e.g., TCO, termination fees, support levels)? |
| 7. Project Organization | Staffing & Skill Sufficiency. | Are the right roles, skills, and experience assigned? Is turnover activity manageable, and is effective performance feedback being provided? |
| 8. Governance | Decision Velocity & Oversight. | Is the governance structure ensuring timely decision-making? Are business, technology, and partner leaders following a defined meeting rhythm and engaged at the appropriate level? |
| 9. Engagement & Adoption | Change Management Readiness. | Are all constituents impacted by the project actively engaged? Is there a clear plan for skills, roles, and training to enable adoption post-launch? |
| 10. Technology | TCO & Standards Compliance. | Are proposed technologies aligned with organizational standards? Are the risks (learning curves, vendor track record) of using non-standard technology properly assessed and mitigated? |
| 11. Project Management | Process Discipline. | Are core processes (scope change, risk, issue, decision management) actively managed with clear ownership? Is the schedule and execution synchronized across all teams? |
| 12. Dependencies | Risk Mapping. | Are critical upstream/downstream projects and activities identified, engaged, and coordinated to ensure the business case is enabled? |
| 13. Environments | Assumption Validation. | Have all key business and technology assumptions, issues, and constraints been documented and actively validated throughout the project lifecycle? |
| 14. Report & Action | Transparency & Resolution. | Are findings shared promptly and transparently with leadership? Is accountability assigned for action plans, and is follow-up tracked until closure? |
| 15. Post-Project Review | Institutional Knowledge. | Is an After Action Dialogue (AAD) planned to capture lessons learned and systematize that knowledge into a shared enterprise repository for future projects? |
The most enlightening input often comes from the team members on the front lines. Your job is to create awareness that potential issues are on the horizon and demand a change in behavior or results. Creating this awareness is half the battle for successful execution.
