Assess a troubled project I just inherited
A structured two-week health check plan, interview questions, and a findings template for taking over a struggling project.
The prompt
Help me assess a troubled project I have just taken over.
What I know so far: [GOAL, timeline, budget, team, sponsor]
Symptoms: [e.g. "missed two milestones", "sponsor has lost confidence", "team morale low", "no one agrees on scope"]
Documents available: [charter, plan, status reports, RAID log, budget tracker]
Why the previous manager left: [if known]
Time I have before I must report back: [e.g. 2 weeks]
Create a project health check that covers: scope and requirements clarity, schedule realism, budget and forecast, team capacity and morale, stakeholder alignment, governance and decision-making, vendor performance, technical or delivery risk, and quality.
Return:
1. A day-by-day plan for the assessment period: what to read, who to talk to, and in what order.
2. Interview questions for the sponsor, team members, key stakeholders, and vendors (5-7 each), designed to get honest answers.
3. Documents to check and red flags in each (e.g. a plan that has not been updated in a month, risks with no owners).
4. A findings template: area | rating (red/amber/green) | evidence | root cause | recommended action.
5. Quick wins to build trust in the first week without making big promises.
6. The report-back structure - including options to reset, recover, or recommend stopping the project.
Remind me to separate what I have verified from what I have been told.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Projects & Operations prompts
What to fill in
- GOAL, timeline, budget, team, sponsor
- charter, plan, status reports, RAID log, budget tracker
- if known
- e.g. 2 weeks
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the Few-Shot structure (Few-shot prompting). A few-shot prompt includes one or more worked examples of the input and the output you want, so the model can copy the pattern instead of guessing it.
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