When starting out on something new, in virtually any arena, the urge to get on and do stuff is incredibly strong.

That’s pretty much the biggest error that can be made, especially with large projects.

Instead, you need to be guided by a vital principle:

Right at the start of any sort of delivery project — building a world famous museum, a new digital service, a house renovation, or whatever — there’s one basic rule of thumb that will save more time, money, anxiety, and recrimination than any other. It's this:

Discover stuff first of all.

For a Chief Delivery Officer or other delivery principal, heuristics like this are vital tools to help service and project delivery start out on the right track and stay there (heuristic = fast and frugal rule of thumb).

Hiring a CDO at the right level will be a big investment for the business. The person themselves will have costs, and they will likely also bring a team with them, maybe a mixture of internal and external people.

There will be disruption to business-as-usual and a reduction in velocity whilst change is happening that itself will incur costs.

So why do it?

Whether you're a services business or a product company, you need to deliver work for your clients. Often it's the part of the business that your clients experience most closely and, done well, is a foundation stone for your reputation.

I’m Joe Baker, and this is a newsletter about project delivery leadership for digital and creative projects, particularly relevant for current or aspiring Chief Delivery Officers and founders or leaders of ambitious businesses.

Mostly, I’ll look at all manner of things related project delivery and team leadership. Sometimes it’ll be about broader issues that delivery principals should be aware of and have a good working understanding about — things about economics, technology, geopolitics, and culture, for instance, all things that shape what we’re doing as delivery leaders and why we’re doing it.

It’s a completely free newsletter blog — a regular column that you can get in your email inbox or read on the web, and that’s it.

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