Identifying What Needs to be Done in a Project

Source: Mi nd Tools (www. mi ndtool s. com/pages/arti cl e/gap- anal ysi s. htm)

This simple tool helps you identify the gap between your
current situation and the future state that you want
to reach, along with the tasks that you need to complete
to close this gap.




To conduct a Gap Analysis for your project, follow these
three steps:



Note: Gap Analysis is useful at the beginning of a
project when developing a business model, and it's
essential when you're identifying the tasks that you
need to complete to deliver your project.
First, identify the objectives that you need to achieve.
This gives you your future state - the "place" where you
want to be once you've completed your project.

Example:


Future State
Increase
Diversity
Week
attendance to
500 per day.
Current
Situation
Next Actions/
Proposals
For each of your objectives, analyze your current situation.
To do this, consider the following questions:

Who has the knowledge that you need? Who will you need
to speak with to get a good picture of your current
situation?
Is the information in people's heads, or is it documented
somewhere?
What's the best way to get this information? By using
brainstorming workshops? Through one-to-one
interviews? By reviewing documents? By observing project
activities such as design workshops? Or in some other way?

Future State
Increase
Diversity
Week
attendance to
500 per day.
Current
Situation
Approximately
75 students are
present at any
single time.
Next Actions/
Proposals
Once you know your future state and your current
situation, you can think about what you need to do to
bridge the gap and reach your project's objectives.

Future State
Increase Diversity Week
attendance to 500 per
day.
Current Situation
Approximately 75
students are present at
any single time.
Next Actions/
Proposals
Develop an effective
advertising and
marketing plan to reach
out to ALL students on
campus.
Develop a system to get
continuous feedback
from students to know
whether they have the
information for
Diversity Week.
More culturally
representative; Middle-
East, Asian, etc.
Pitch your Gap Analysis to provide an appropriate
amount of detail. If you present too much detail,
people will be overwhelmed, but if you don't give
enough detail, you won't tell them what they need to
know to sign the project off.
When you analyze your future situation and current
state, use metrics where information can be quantified
(such as "costs of the product."), and general
statements when metrics aren't available (such as
"creativity is valued within the organization.")

Also remember that your assessment of the current
situation and the desired future state can be both
quantitative and qualitative.

For instance:


Current Situation Future State
Quantitative Total costs are $1,000. Total costs will be $1,500.
Qualitative
Team members work in
isolation.
Team members will work
collaboratively.
Gap Analysis compares your current situation with the
future state that you want to achieve once your project is
complete. By conducting a Gap Analysis, you can identify
what you need to do to "bridge the gap" and make your
project a success. You can use Gap Analysis at any stage of a
project to analyze your progress, but it's most useful at the
beginning.
To carry out a Gap Analysis, first identify your project's
objectives - this is your "future state." Then analyze your
current situation, making sure that you gather information
from the right sources.
Finally, identify how you'll bridge the gap between your
current situation and the desired future state.


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