Goal Alignment

One of the most critical aspects of getting a project off on the right footing is to ensure that everyone is aligned on goals. This helps for a few reasons: by it's nature it sets everyone on the right footing to be focused on outcomes and not outputs, it allows everyone to express their hopes of what they (and possibly their business group) would like to see come of the project, and it allows for a discussion that forces everyone to agree on what is the best overall outcome for the project at-hand.