Skip to main content
Search Icon
Quick Links
  • Adobe Completes Workfront Acquisition
  • Workfront + Adobe
  • Why Workfront is different
  • Leap Virtual Conference
  • Interactive Product Tour
  • Work Management Guide
Language Select Icon
US (English) UK (English) Dutch German Swedish
Login
Workfront ProofHQ
Contact Sales
Language Select Icon
US (English) UK (English) Dutch German Swedish
Workfront - An Adobe Company logo
Search Icon
Quick Links
  • Adobe Completes Workfront Acquisition
  • Workfront + Adobe
  • Why Workfront is different
  • Leap Virtual Conference
  • Interactive Product Tour
  • Work Management Guide
  • Why Workfront
  • Solutions
  • Platform
  • Plans
  • Resources
Why Workfront
Overview

Why We Are Different

Customers

Partners

Services

Solutions
By Department

Marketing

IT

Product Development

Professional Services

Agency

By Use Case

Project Management

Resource Management

Digital Collaboration

Portfolio Planning

Strategic Planning

Platform
By Product

Workfront

  • Goals

  • Scenario Planner

  • Fusion

Adobe Experience Cloud

Tours & Demos

Interactive Product Tour

Scenario Planner Demo

Workfront Goals

Plans
Resources
Learn

Resource Center

Work Management Guide

Blog

Events

Customers

Workfront One

Training

Innovation Lab

Workfront System Status

Login
Workfront ProofHQ
Contact Sales

Overview

Why We Are Different

See what makes us stand out from the competition and why top brands trust us.

Customers

Learn how Workfront customers benefit from our work management solution.

Partners

Consult our extensive global partner network of digital transformation experts.

Services

Get comprehensive support, training, and a tailored implementation of Workfront.

Recommended Content

Workfront Overview

With Workfront, enterprise work management can help your company, departments plan, predict, collaborate, evolve, and deliver their best work.

Learn more
Why workfront product screen.
Learn more

By Department

Marketing

Align marketing strategy to execution and launch campaigns faster.

IT

Transform the enterprise and deliver impact with data-driven decisions.

Product Development

Manage processes and automate work to launch winning products.

Professional Services

Manage client needs and deliver services faster.

Agency

Streamline workflows, manage resources, and deliver results.

Explore all solutions

By Use Case

Project Management

Plan projects, track progress, and deliver work that achieves results.

Resource Management

View capacity, make assignments, and prove your impact.

Digital Collaboration

Centralize communication, project planning, and work execution.

Portfolio Planning

Decide which projects to prioritize or pause, and identify those at risk.

Strategic Planning

Define business direction and outline a path for achieving your goals.

Explore all use cases

Recommended Content

Mighty Guide: 7 Experts on Flawless Campaign Execution

Read this Mighty Guide for advice from seven marketing experts on how to execute flawless campaigns under pressure.

Learn more
grey background with mighty guide logo
Learn more

By Product

Workfront

Manage the entire lifecycle of work in a single, centralized solution.

  • Goals

    Align strategic goals to work, monitor progress, and drive amazing results.

  • Scenario Planner

    Plan continuously, compare scenarios, and determine the best path forward.

  • Fusion

    Integrate your favorite applications and automate work in one platform.

Adobe Experience Cloud

Digital experience solutions

Explore the platform

Tours & Demos

Interactive Product Tour

Get a hands-on look at managing all your work in Workfront.

Scenario Planner Demo

Experience how Scenario Planner simplifies the continuous planning process.

Workfront Goals

Align strategic goals to work, monitor progress, and drive amazing results.

Explore all tours & demos

Recommended Content

Forrester Total Economic Impact of Workfront Study

Forrester interviewed Workfront customers in marketing, IT program management, product development, and the strategic programs office, concluding that Workfront can provide companies with a 285% ROI over three years with a payback period of less than three months.

Learn more
Forrester report
Learn more

Learn

Resource Center

View webinars, reports, and studies to learn about the Workfront solution.

Work Management Guide

Learn everything you need to know about enterprise work management.

Blog

Prepare for the future of work with insights from work management leaders.

Events

Join Workfront at one of these events.

Customers

Workfront One

Get product updates, connect with other users, and request product support.

Training

Become a Workfront expert with our library of training resources.

Innovation Lab

Submit and vote on product ideas.

Workfront System Status

Check on Workfront status, scheduled maintenance, and incidents.

Recommended Content

Level Up: How to Plan, Measure & Execute Strategic Growth Initiatives

Ready to learn how to take advantage of new solutions to level up your strategic alignment in 2021? Join LeapPoint’s leadership, Workfront experts and special guests from Penn State University as they share best practices, tools and ideas to level-up your strategic alignment and execution for 2021.

Learn more
Work Boldly
Learn more
project management 101
May 7, 2018

The 5 Ws (and 1 H) that should be asked of every project!

Occasionally, I'll find myself partway into a project before I step back and consider what the real goals are and what I'm really trying to accomplish. However, when I think about my work in connection with the fundamentals of project management, I am always more successful.  This post is a great reminder about project management basics and reminds us to keep in mind the questions we should ask when taking on a new project.  


When your project starts to get complicated it's time go to back to the fundamentals. With all the methods, practices, principles, tool and techniques out there at the disposal of the project manager, you can often forget the fundamental principles of project management.

What are the 5 Ws?

The Five Ws, Five Ws and one H, or the Six Ws are questions whose answers are considered basic in information-gathering. They include Who, What, When Where, and Why. The 5 Ws are often mentioned in journalism (cf. news style), research, and police investigations. They constitute a formula for getting the complete story on a subject. According to the principle of the Five Ws, a report can only be considered complete if it answers these questions starting with an interrogative word:[3]

  • Who is it about?
  • What happened?
  • When did it take place?
  • Where did it take place?
  • Why did it happen?

Some authors add a sixth question, "how", to the list, though "how" can also be covered by "what", "where", or "when":[3]

  • How did it happen

Each question should have a factual answer — facts necessary to include for a report to be considered complete.[4] Importantly, none of these questions can be answered with a simple "yes" or "no".

It's the kind of inquiry that is taught to children when they're about to embark on a writing assignment and much like children, we must demonstrate the same kind of dogged persistence and determination that they often exhibit when they are trying to learn something new.

The 5 Ws Example in Project Management

So without further ado, think about answering these 5 Ws before you start any project:

  1. Why - though it seems so obvious, I've often been part of projects where the why question was never asked! I think sometimes you get so used to being assigned projects with little to no evaluation let alone business case justification, that the fundamental question of "Why are we doing this project" does not get asked. Really delving into this question will allow you to get at the drivers and benefits that the project is to deliver which will allow you to deliver a project your customer and stakeholders' satisfaction.
  2. What – this is really the first question you ask when you're trying to gather requirements for your project to define the scope. It gets no simpler than "What do we do?"
  3. Who – who are your stakeholders, team, customer that will work on, sponsor and ultimately benefit from when your project is completed?
  4. When – sometimes this question gets asked before all the question we discussed above get answered. You need to know why, what and who will be part of your project before you can adequately answer when it will get completed.
  5. Where – then after all is said and done, where will your project be done? Where will it be delivered? With today's global and dispersed environments, this question is not as simple as it may seem!

Now that all your core questions have been answered can you answer the question of "how" you will complete your project. This is really where the methods, practices, tools and techniques get deployed... but not until you have answered in detail the 5 Ws first!


```

Workfront's State of Work Report

```

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

Get Workfront blog updates straight to your inbox.

Why Workfront
  • Plans
Solutions
  • Marketing
  • IT
  • Agencies
  • Professional Services
  • Product Development
Products
  • Product Tours
  • Workfront
  • Workfront Fusion
  • Integrations
Resource Center
  • The New World of Work
  • Blog
  • Work Management Guides
  • News & Press
  • Events
Support
  • System Status
  • Help
  • Workfront One
  • Innovation Lab
  • Training
About Us
  • Leadership
  • Careers
  • Partners
  • News & Press
  • Locations
  • Security
Adobe logo
  • Careers
  • Privacy Notice
  • Security
  • Terms of Service
  • Cookie Policy
  • Resources Index
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
Instagram
Contact Us
Copyright © 2021 Workfront, Inc. All Rights Reserved.