Project Design: Turning Goals Into a Roadmap

Five recommendations for translating intent into a completed project

This article is part of the “Project Management in Emergency Management Playbook” for Academy Subscribers.

The way you design a project—establishing the phases and the sequence of steps you’ll move through from kickoff to closeout—is one of the most important parts of the kickoff phase. Project design is the “how” that brings project goals to life. It’s the framework that translates intentions into action.

The sequence you define at this stage determines whether the project can be completed within the budget and timeline that have been set. Design also shapes the stakeholder experience: whether meetings are purposeful, whether participants feel their input was valued, and whether they leave saying, “that was a great use of my time.” In this way, project design is about more than efficiency, it’s about building clarity, momentum, and credibility.