Create a Project Portfolio
Make a public list of the organisation's running projects. We call this the project portfolio. For large enterprises, focus on corporate projects; for autonomous divisions, focus on business unit projects.
Establish Key Roles
Get acceptance of the Project Manager and Executive project roles. Reference materials like the CHAOS Manifesto can be used to demonstrate the necessity of an Executive role — the research clearly shows that executive management support is the number one project success factor.
Identify the Portfolio Owner
Find the person with decision-making authority over what projects are added, removed or prioritised — typically the CEO, COO or business unit leader.
Define the Management Process
Establish a formal process for managing the project list with a portfolio board that includes executives and the portfolio owner.
Introduce the Project Mandate
Use the prioritised project list to require "a project request in the shape of a draft Project Mandate" from anyone requesting new projects. This creates a formal trigger for the Starting Up process.