Gusto's GusTools Playbook

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Project Plan

Summary

Project Overview

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What’s the 1-2 sentence summary of this project or initiative?

💡 Tip: Think of this as the tl;dr of the project. If you only had 30 seconds to summarize the project, what would you say?

Scope

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A breakdown of the tasks and actions that fall under the purview of this project/initiative. This is also a good time to identify if there are specific areas or initiatives that are out-of-scope.

💡 Tip: This section should answer the question, "What are we doing?"

Objective

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Identify the business case for this project (i.e. the value or benefit this project provides). Explain why this matters matters in terms of short- or long-term context (e.g. Gusto’s vision, company strategy and plan, or specific current dynamics).

💡 Tip: A strong objective statement answers the questions, "Why are we doing this?” Think about the key strategy implications of this project. This is usually some combination of (i) increasing revenue (ii) reducing costs (iii) reducing risk (iv) reducing effort/increasing efficiency.

Goals & Key Results

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This should describe the ideal outcome for the project and how you will determine whether the problem has been solved.

💡 Tip: This should answer the question: “What does success look like?" Preferably SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timely). Include qualitative measures and quantitative metrics you will observe to gauge impact and efficacy. Also include any explicit non-goals.

KPI

Current State

Expected Result

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Project Core Team

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The people required to accomplish our goals.

💡 Tip: Include core team members who will be critical to the success of the project. The below are example functions but feel free to include whatever teams/capabilities your specific project will require.

Function

Details

Member(s)

Committed

Project Lead

What are the responsibilities? Is this a lead, support, or advisory role?

Finance

Product Capabilities

GTM Capabilities

People & Process Capabilities

Sales & CX

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Roles

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RAPID Decision Making Framework (

link⁠

) to align on how decisions will get made during the course of the project.

💡 Tip: This should change infrequently through the execution of the project. Refer back to this when issues/concerns arise to ensure consistency and accountability throughout.

Label

Member(s)

Recommend

Approve

Perform

Input

Decide

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