The Power of the Project Manifesto: How to Keep your Team Focused

It’s Monday morning at the office. Café latte in hand, you successfully kick off a new project to a room of fresh-faced, bright-eyed designers, writers, managers, etc. They eat it up and hit the ground running. Easy, right?

A few days later, it’s time for a project review. You go into it expecting nothing but smooth sailing — but you’re blindsided by heated debates and new requirements that seemingly come out of nowhere. It quickly becomes apparent that your stakeholders have interpreted the objectives differently, although you know you went over everything many times. How did this happen? How can you prevent it from happening again?

At Lightspeed, one small but crucial document helps us steer clear of situations like these: The Project Manifesto.

What is a manifesto?

A manifesto (concept or one-page doc) is a document drafted at the beginning of a project to help set boundaries and expectations.

The purpose of the project manifesto is to facilitate discussions around concepts without getting lost in the nitty gritty. This is where you want to extract critical information from stakeholders and identify disagreements — before work begins.

It’s a tool that can help protect you against unforeseen “new requirements” while keeping you on track as the project progresses.

How do you know you’ve got a good manifesto? If it helps the team stay focused, reduces the number of questions and simplifies communication — you’ve nailed it.

How to structure your project manifesto

1. Current situation & problem

Set the context. Describe where you are now and how the project will unfold according to existing workflows, adding the level of detail necessary to provide context to your problem at every step.

To describe the problem, you may also require a description of the current market, competitor analysis, legal requirements, consumer feedback, etc. However, it’s worth noting that the manifesto is a short document — don’t get too carried away with details.

Define the problem or opportunity, and explain not only why it must be solved but why it must be solved NOW. Quick details like these will guide thoughtful prioritization and resource allocation. Bonus: You’re providing project Coles Notes for stakeholders who might not have the opportunity to dive into the nitty-gritty of the project.

2. Your point of success

This step is very similar to the previous one, only now you’re going to define what success looks like. This is where you help your team visualize success as concretely as possible (how you’ll get there comes later). When all is said and done, where do you want to be? What’s your end game?

3. Guiding principles (optional)

Depending on the project, I highly recommend you draw up a list of guiding principles. Think legal constraints, ADA requirements, prerequisites from the creative studio, stakeholder must-haves, etc.

4. Goals, goals, goals

This is what we’re all here for, right? To achieve a goal. Give your team a decent outline of what needs to be done to cross the finish line. For example, maybe you need a complete rebrand, a few copy tweaks, or something else altogether.

5. Non-goals

The best way to keep everyone on the same page? List EVERYTHING you’re NOT here to do. For example, maybe you’re interested in a rebrand but absolutely do not want to touch typography.

Setting non-goals will help stakeholders better understand the boundaries and ask questions (if needed) before work begins. Remember: Non-goals are just as valuable as goals. They might include interesting ideas currently considered out of scope but could be helpful in future phases.

Pro tip: Refer to the manifesto at every stage of the project to ensure solutions are on point.

6. Specific solutions, if available (optional)

The manifesto is not intended to lay out specific solutions (these often rise to the top as the real work begins). However, if at this point you’ve managed to pinpoint plausible resolutions, they should definitely be indicated here.

The manifesto is ready. What’s next?

First, circulate the document among all stakeholders — and expect to get a lot of comments. You want those comments to come pouring in before work begins. Get everyone aligned on expectations, goals and scope, then make your edits.

Now it’s time to officially kick off the project.

Wait! Can I update my manifesto?

Let’s say you stumble on an important detail that forces you to rethink the scope of your project. Maybe your goal is eating up more time than expected, or new goals/non-goals have fallen into your lap. Should you update the manifesto or not?

Officially: The manifesto is an iron-clad document you and your team have drawn up and agreed on together. It should never be edited/updated.

Unofficially: If you’re in a situation that steers you away from the manifesto for the project’s success, you should definitely change it. And then stick to it.

If you do update your manifesto, reshare it with all stakeholders and make sure they agree with the changes. Continue to promote transparency and predictability for all participants.

Finally, never underestimate the power of this small but mighty document

When team alignment becomes complex and heavy, you now have something to point to and say, “This is what we agreed on.” Without this documentation, it becomes easy to assume decisions are made subjectively or without due process.

Before you kick off your next project, write up a manifesto. I promise you’ll never go back.