Before a project starts to run, there are several items need to be confirmed.
The first one is that all parties need to agree on the goals of the project. There is a guideline for participants to follow in order not to get the project out of control, and it has to be written down to prove that the project gets agreement. A success project means that it meets stakeholder expectations.
The second one is controlled scope. Before a project begins, we have no idea how much it will cost or how much ingredients will be needed. We can only predict and make an estimate quantity statement, but our prediction may go wrong sometimes. To avoid project overruns,the project rules should be made carefully.
I have a personal experience would like to share. There was one time I got a chance to design an identity system for the customer. I have no experience working as a freelancer at that time, so there was no contract signing idea in my mind. The project didn't go well because the customer keep asking for revising. I was really upset because I spent all my time just to change little of this and change little of that. It was like they can do whatever they want because there is no rule and no limit. From this bad experience I have learned that a project should make certain guidelines for stakeholders to follow and be written down. The project will turn out more productive.
The third one is management support. This is what I mentioned earlier about project rules being written. This is to make sure that every stakeholder understand the project and agree to the guideline.
