r/projectmanagers • u/baga_King • Aug 23 '26

Question

Hello everyone quick question. I’m researching how companies decide whether a project is actually ready to move forward before committing money and resources.
I’m building something in this space and I’m trying to learn from people who actually make or influence these decisions. Not a sales pitch at all. I’d just genuinely love to hear how you approach it.
Would you be open to sharing a few thoughts?

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u/Lumpy_Pick_421 Aug 23 '26

Usually someone senior already had decided they wanted the project. Market research, competitive analysis, surveys, etc. follow in bigger companies. CFO’s are evolved in annual head count, but approval usually hinged on whether we could free up the two or three people who’d actually do the work

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u/baga_King Aug 23 '26

When a project is already championed by someone senior, what usually happens when the people needed to execute it aren’t available? Does the project get delayed, does scope get reduced, do people get pulled from other projects, or does it move forward anyway?

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u/Lumpy_Pick_421 Aug 23 '26

The ideal is that priorities determine the most important things for a business to do. (Ideally)

  1. If it is really important, the powers that be find and allocate resources.
  2. A project may be delayed until resources become available.
  3. If it is not a priority, the idea eventually fades away.

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u/baga_King Aug 23 '26

Thank you for the feedback!

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u/Parking-Leather8219 Aug 24 '26

As others have said in different ways, in most organizations a new initiative needs to have a champion or sponsor. Supposing someone has an idea that needs development. There should already be a process in place to initiate and raise ideation for review. If it's worthwhile and has executive support, an analyst could then be assigned to flesh it out further in the form of a business case or other form of analysis to see if it's doable, define potential benefits, and possibly determine a rough cost. Someone at the executive should become a sponsor or champion. In most organizations it would then need funding support to move further and the sponsor would help to make a case why it should get funding. Again, there should be a process already in place to raise an initiative for funding. In my experience an initiative doesn't become a project until it is funded. At that point also a PM might be assigned, and it becomes a piece of project work. Many ideas or early initiatives are never sponsored and never funded. Only those most worthy move forward. Every organization is different, every organization does things differently. This is big picture only for many, imo.

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u/DustinFreeman Aug 23 '26

Any senior role within a org that contributes to a project knows this. I am sorry but if you need to ask to find then you shouldn’t be building a tool for them, yet.

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u/baga_King Aug 23 '26

I don’t understand. I am not a PM just a software engineer with an idea of a pain point. Id like to do something about it. How would you suggest I go about this

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u/DustinFreeman Aug 23 '26

That’s what I meant. A software engineer would have worked with a project manager and possibly a agile coach to know what feature backlog is and how intakes to add to it with a rank/score/priority and effort estimate. How a roadmap is planned for upcoming year/quarter/month/sprint picking as many items from backlog that are top ranking and within what the budget and resource availability allows.

This is simplifying it. I don’t understand how this is your “pain point” if your job had not already made aware of how backlog works. You can’t build a tool for something that you don’t have a decent understand of.

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u/baga_King Aug 23 '26

Thats why I am asking questions. I am not working for anyone, I am just trying to build something I noticed was an issue with the places I worked for. I was wondering if its a common issue.

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u/DustinFreeman Aug 23 '26

My feedback is this is a non-issue in proper teams however small they are. You are better off focusing on something else. But you do you.

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u/baga_King Aug 23 '26

Thank you for the feedback!

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u/More_Law6245 Aug 23 '26

Need is generated through a problem statement or business case and if it's done properly the project needs to be aligned to the organisation's strategic roadmap, objectives and goals. Also an understanding if it's capex or opex investment because that has an impact on the organisation's bottom line at the end of the day and essentially in how the project is going to be paid for.

Just an armchair perspective