Before any project starts, write a one-page charter answering six core questions.

A 7-milestone Gantt on one page — visible, instantly grokkable.

Imagine the project failed entirely a year from now; list 7 plausible reasons before starting.

After each phase: what happened? What did we expect? Why the gap? How do we learn?

A living table of every project risk: probability, impact, owner, action.

For each task estimate: optimistic, most-likely, pessimistic — then compute expected.

Identify when the project becomes uncancelable — decide before, not after.

Classify every commitment: fixed (must), negotiable (should), optional (could).

Before launch, write a "press release" as if it succeeded — making the win tangible.