How to Start

The Master Checklist

The GMs Index is a master checklist for budgets, organization charts and strategic plans that will keep you from missing something.  The Center’s core idea is that using standard terminology lets departments communicate easily.

 

Save 1,000 Emails

Meetings don’t have to be unstructured free-for-alls.  The five steps below will save you from wasting time, frustrating your colleagues and making mistakes. Two hours of thinking will save a hundred hours of meetings and a thousand emails.

 

Five steps to prepare on your own

These steps will let you get departments focused, no matter what their style.  While there's risk in being out front on a decision, there’s also reward.

1. Define the decision in less than 100 words
2. Check the Sectors page for what's unique to your situation
3. Check the Decisions page for ideas on complex decisions
4. Click through The GMs Index for relevant practices and resources
5. Decide who should participate

 

Five questions to discuss with the team
(90 minutes)

The first meeting is not to decide, it’s to prepare everyone’s minds. While this meeting might feel unproductive, it’s how to get the most value from everyone’s perspectives and knowledge.  Bringing the decision into focus often makes the answer obvious.

1. Is the question right?
2. Are these the most relevant terms and practices?
3. Do we define these terms in the same way?
4. Where do we disagree with the resources?
5. What other facts do we need?

 

Some decisions are bigger than others

To make decisions, use start with the Question Map from The GMs Toolkit and perhaps the Cost/Benefit Analysis or other 1-page tools.  To implement the decision, use the 1-Page Project Planner and the Projects Summary.

Only members have access to the tools themselves.  Information