TWO HUNDRED FIFTY THINGS TO KNOW AT THE START OF A PROJECT
After Michael Sorkin
After Michael Sorkin
Why you’re doing this
How to give credit where it’s due
How to apologise
How much money you have
The names of your teammates’ children or partners
How your body feels when you’re hungry
How your body feels when you’re angry
When to revisit a conversation
Your hopes and fears
What skills you bring
The closest place to get snacks
What you still need to learn
A poem off by heart
Your vision
Your priorities for the week
Your priorities for the day
How your project will be governed
What you’ll give up to do it
The pronouns of those you’re working with
How your body feels when you’re standing in your integrity
How to ask for what you need
Why people want to work with you
Why they don’t
The number of a good therapist
What physical exercise works for you
A good number of icebreakers
How to measure success
When to move on
Why you’re the right person / people to do this
How to listen
Where your teammates want to be in 1, 2, 5 years
When to take a break
How white supremacy culture is showing up
What foods disagree with you
Your project’s sexual harassment policy
Not to wear waistbands that are uncomfortable
How the legacy of your childhood still impacts you
20–8–2 ergonomics
The number of a good coach
How many hours of sleep you need
Box breathing
Your favourite song to dance to
That you are more than any title
Who you will and won’t accept money from
When to take a nap
What harm your project might cause
To turn off every non-essential phone notification
Where the first aid kit is
How much technology actually costs
How the project’s salaries or day rates compare benchmarked against the sector average
What Glassdoor says
What your plans are for the weekend
How to celebrate
How to say thank you
When to say no
Where your passwords are kept
How to use a VPN
How to turn on 2-factor authentication
When to get administrative support
When religious holidays are
What affirmation bias is
When to step down
What will be lost if you don’t do it
A handful of reasonably priced event venues in your town
A handful of reasonably priced meeting rooms in your town
Roughly how much food and drink you need per person
Where your headphones are
The ‘touch up my appearance’ filter on Zoom, if you like that sort of thing
When your next holiday is
When to get a work phone
How your identity has impacted your life’s trajectory
The names of those coming up after you that might want your mentorship
How paid advertising works
To pay any interns
When to call bullshit
How to take responsibility
Who you’re accountable to
How people can support your project
Your neighbours
Sorrow
How to cook a meal in less than 20 minutes
Good dental hygiene
A good joke
Joy
A champion
What you don’t know
Not to write in caps lock
Your subject
Who’s missing from the table
Who you will invite to the table
Your mantra
The current climate change projections
Your fears
Who you would be if you achieved your goals
Your boundaries
How to give a media interview
The need for freaks
Who will profit
A good playlist
What makes you happy
The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn’t Have To Be Complicated, Helaine Olen
What your close friends are worrying about
What your partner/s want/s to talk to you about
To set calendar reminders for birthdays and anniversaries
Who to call in an emergency
The Five whys
How to keep a plant alive
The restorative power of moving your body
Your go-to karaoke song
How many post-it notes is enough post-it notes
Your nearest nature walk
To carry a reusable tote bag
Nuance
That other sectors are doing interesting things, and often earlier
How to ask an open-ended question
That not everyone is going to like you
That you’re going to be misunderstood
How much caffeine your body can take
When to call it a night
Who you can cry to
What you need from your partner/s
When your next health check-up is
That change is not linear
What a ‘yes’ feels like in your body
What a ‘no’ feels like
When to give it more time
The difference between an internal and external deadline
The number of a good lawyer
Your rights under arrest
When you’ve missed the window
Your best critics
That it’s ok to not be ok
How to facilitate a conversation
How much alcohol your body can take
How much sugar your body can take
When to update your funders / investors
What GDPR stands for
The importance of good hardware
Your favourite TV show to zone out to
What you’d do with a large unanticipated capital injection
How to read a profit and loss statement
The difference between budget and cash flow
How you plan to retain your best people
How you will make decisions
How you’ll know when you’re done
Who would love to support you
How you’ll tell them about it
Who you look up to
What you still want to learn
The number of a good facilitator
How it will impact the local environment
How it will impact the local community
How it will impact future generations
Not to be flattered
Not to accept all-male, all-white panels
What ‘professional’ means to you
Not to worry about looking professional
Whose voices you can amplify
How not to be a shill
To pay people on time
How much you are willing to travel
The gender pay gap of your project
The racial pay gap of your project
What task management system you’ll use
What gives you pleasure
What your project’s values are
How you measure your own value
How to keep the hoping machine running
What and who you are willing to commit to
Why UX design is important
The importance of a good mattress
The benefits of Vitamin D
That it’s better to go out again than hire the wrong person
When a check and balance becomes bureaucracy
That you are not a robot
The argument for why your project should not exist
Whether you agree
Someone who will tell you the truth
The truth, as much as you can
The Zoom password
The sight and smell of fresh flowers
Your succession plan
What it would mean to decolonise your project
What it would mean to decolonise your life
How to fix your boiler pressure
When you might meet in person
What communications channels you will use
Where your spare keys are
What day your rubbish is collected
That there are probably more than 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe
Why people give money
That meritocracy doesn’t exist
That the only constant is change
That you have to keep reading
How to be a follower
How to gather new ideas…
What would you add? Email me at hanna@wealign.net