The most precious resource you have is your time. As a result, you need to be selective when you take on projects and programs. It is easy to come up with an idea and get excited about it, but that doesn’t make it something you can implement. There are important questions to ask before taking on projects become part of your portfolio. This is relevant if you work at a synagogue, day school, non-profit, or really any type of organization.
1. What is the goal?
This is probably the most important question of all of them and the one most frequently skipped. Therefore we should ask, what is the goal that you are trying to accomplish? Without this important sign post, it is hard to measure forward movement. This goal should be measurable and feasible.
It probably doesn’t make sense to make the goal: to revitalize my community’s prayer experience. It is laudable, but hard to accomplish. Using intentional and achievable goals, you can really make a difference.
The goal for this post, for example, is to help you be more effective in what projects you spend your time doing. This is achievable because these questions weed out the ideas that are good on paper but not something you can implement.
Another example, is a concert that my team and I put on last year. Our goal was to put together a concert for our community with the artists we identified from Israel.
Let’s be clear, ideas are important, but they need to have some weight and a plan before they are projects.
2. Who will be the team?
No one can do everything on their own. We all need help. So, who is going to help you meet your goal?
I have found, in my experience, that teams of three or four are the right size to run most projects. Of course, that team requires other people too, but more than three or four people, conversations get unwieldy and hard to manage. This number is small enough to actually get the work done without anyone feeling overwhelmed.
Also important is that your team is made up people who will think critically, do the work, and bring different competencies to the table.
Each person brings something valuable. Consequently, make sure you think about what skills each of you have and how you can best utilize them.
Is someone good at rallying people to a cause?
Is someone good at managing the money?
Is someone good at organizing the pieces?
Is someone good at the bureaucracy you’ll encounter?
Is someone good at marketing?
Is someone good at knowing what you will require to meet your goal?
Each of these skills, as examples, are important to meet whatever goal you have in mind.
In the concert example, our team had someone who knew about production, someone who knew the community, and someone who was good at organizing. While of course, there was a lot of overlap, each person brought something valuable.
3. Who is the target audience and what do they need?
Above all, this is by far the most challenging of the questions. Who are you trying to help with your program or project? No, it can’t be everyone. Think about it and be specific.
There are two approaches to this:
First, you have a project in mind and are trying to identify who it will serve and will adjust accordingly.
Second, you want to serve a need of a population, but not sure exactly how.
You need both to be successful.
Who is the person who will attend your project?
Is your person male, female, non-gender binary?
Are they knowledgeable about the subject and do they need to be?
Will they be able to pay for it?
Are they available at the time you planned?
Once you’ve thought about your target audience, you have to think about, what do they need?
This is really hard.
The Jobs to be Done model is great.
If you haven’t already spoken to someone in your target audience, go and do that. This step is really valuable.
They might not know if it will work for them and it is worth testing and experimenting. However, actually talking to who you are trying to serve is absolutely essential. Serving seniors, young families, or Hebrew speakers is great, as long as you actually do that.
In the concert example, our audience was: families who were interested in Israeli music, who wanted something upbeat, and were willing to pay some money.
We had to be conscientious about all of the different factors that might impact our audience. When could we do the concert? How much would it cost?
4. How will it be paid for?
No one likes the money question, but it is important.
Who or how are you going to pay for this project?
There are lots of options and most of them are context specific. You might have budgeted for this already or you have received a grant. You might have a donor or you’re going to sell tickets.
Ultimately, thinking about where the money is going to come from and how you’re going to spend it is essential. It will force you to focus on what matters.
This also means that you have to be reasonable and honest about what things cost. We like to be wishful here, but that serves no one, particularly you.
In the concert example, because we received a grant, it made it possible for us to continue. We used donors and tickets to help pay for everything else. We focused on what we needed to spend to do the job right.
5. Will it actually do the job?
Before moving forward, this is an important question: will this project you’ve devised actually do the job that you want it to do?
Be critical here and be honest.
Does this meet the goal and the needs that you are trying to meet?
6. What are the next actionable steps?
Finally, you’ve identified your goal, who will be on your team, who your audience is, and how you will pay for your project.
As a result, you might ask: what’s next?
- It is time to make a big list of all the steps that you’ll need to take.
- You put them in order. Not everything has to be done first.
- You assign tasks. Strive to use people’s skills and not over-burden any one person.
- You set deadlines as appropriate on the assigned tasks.
- You set a next meeting or follow up date.
And there you go! Because of the work that you’ve done, you are ready to be critical, to use your time effectively, and to meet your goals!
I know you can do it!