Module 4 of 12 · Async + Virtual · Two parts
Pursuit, Contracting & Project Startup
Module 4 comes in two parts: 4a — Pursuit & Contracting, then 4b — Project Startup. Open each part’s overview and keep its quick reference handy.
Module 4 throughline — You earn the right to lead a project by understanding the project you've stepped into — well enough to explain why every decision was made, take a view on whether it still holds, and say what winning will require.Module Videos
The module videos — Part 1 and Part 2. Watch these first; they set up both 4a and 4b.
AvailableOpen →Part A · 4a · Pursuit & Contracting
Module Overview
The 4a illustrated walkthrough — the polite-scope trap, SAFER, and sentence craft.
AvailableOpen →Quick Reference
The Scoping Playbook — SAFER cards, red-flag words, and sentence patterns to keep open while you write.
AvailableOpen →Contract Process Field Guide
The step-by-step contracting workflow — intake, tracks, the six priority provisions, and signers.
AvailableOpen →Part B · 4b · Project Startup
Module Overview
The 4b illustrated walkthrough — stepping in, the Project Ownership Review, and discovery.
AvailableOpen →Quick Reference
The Ownership Playbook — Go/No-Go, the Project Ownership Review, and the discovery questions.
AvailableOpen →What you’ll be able to do
- ✓Write scope you’re willing to own — specific, finite, and clear about what’s in and out — using the SAFER discipline.
- ✓Read the project you've stepped into and build a Project Ownership Review — why it was pursued, what was promised and assumed, what it must earn, and what you'd confirm before you trust it.
- ✓Evaluate a decision you've stepped into — form a view on whether it still holds — and bring it to your Principal rather than overruling it alone.
- ✓Confirm what the documents assume and discover what only the people can tell you — then defend your understanding in the readiness ceremony.
Tools & resources
Tools & resources you’ll use
- Project Ownership Review
- Gap-Analysis Template
- Readiness Ceremony Card
- Discovery Question Set
Listed items are the governance and operational tools tied to this section. Items marked “Participant generated” are built during the work.
The Archetype Lens
Owning the project is where ambiguity gets expensive — for three different reasons.
The Coordinator processes scope after the fact, the People Pleaser won’t enforce the contract, and the Obsessed Designer advances work under ambiguity. Same absorbed cost, three roads.
Competent Coordinator
Logs and documents instead of intervening — trusts the meeting cadence over the timely call.
Obsessed Designer
Optimizes for the design — treats budget, client ops, and team load as someone else’s problem.
People Pleaser
Leads with relationship — says yes, softens bad news, absorbs cost to dodge the hard conversation.
Accountable Owner
Owns the intersections — reads signals early, stops work, presents options, protects the outcome.
A client requests work that is arguably out of scope.
Says yes to protect goodwill, and never prices it.
Pauses, prices it, and presents the client a choice through an amendment — the contract is a tool, not a weapon.
Meet the four archetypes in depth →