Choose a project that you are going to do or perhaps have just started. Answer the questions that follow to the best of your ability. If you need to confer with others to answer some of them, fine. Remember, the people who have to follow the plan should participate in preparing it.
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What are you trying to achieve with the project? What need does it satisfy for your customer? Who exactly is going to actually use the project deliverable(s) when it is finished? (That is, who is your real customer?) What will distinguish your deliverable from those already available to the customer?
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Write a problem statement on the basis of your answers to the first question. What is the gap between where you are now and where you want to be? What obstacles prevent easy movement to close the gap?
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Write a mission statement, answering the two basic questions:
What are we going to do?
For whom are we going to do it?
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Talk to your customer about these issues. Do not present your written statements to her. Instead, see whether you can get confirmation by asking open-ended questions. If you can’t, you may have to revise what you have written.
