The project lottery

The longer you’re in this business (and any business, I suppose) the more you start to figure out what things are in your sweet spot, and what types of things you should avoid.

Those “red flags” for bad-fit projects are something that my spidey-senses are well attuned to… but this week I spent some time trying to figure out what the perfect project would look like — the “dream project”.

Imagine if you could scope out the entire thing:

• What kind of business/organization would it be for?
• Who would I be working with?
• What challenges would I be solving?
• Would I be pushing myself or in my comfort zone?
• What deliverables would be required?
• What parts of the project would I be responsible for or farm out to my team/contractors?
• How long would the project take?
• How would I measure success?
• How much would I charge?
• What gratification would I get?
• How would it change my business going forward?

It’s kind of like asking yourself the “lottery” question (“What would I do if I won the lottery?”) — which is always something fun to dream about. The problem with the lottery question is that thinking about it doesn’t get you any closer to it becoming a reality…

But scoping out your dream project could.

Before doing this exercise I had an idea of what I was looking for, but it was all a bit abstract. The problem with that is you don’t have clarity on all of the aspects to be able to quickly identify them like you might with all your red flags.

Opportunities for your dream project are out there — at least ones that tick most of the boxes — but in order to find them, you have to know exactly what you’re looking for. When you know what “it” is, it becomes a lot easier to spot it in the wild.

Thinking about this is a great start, but writing it down makes all the difference — so…

I’ve created a dedicated thread in the group for this topic, and I’d like to invite you to come and answer these questions (and any others that would help you define your dream project) inside the group.

???? Here’s the thread

Not only do I believe that answering these questions (in writing!) will help give you some clarity, seeing what others find valuable is a great way to figure out what makes you different.