Keeping projects on track

What are the four deadliest words in journalism?
"First in a series..."

Getting a project published is riddled with logistical landmines. And getting it in the paper doesn't necessarily guarantee success. It's a tricky job. So much so that veteran journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Amanda Bennett has coined a few terms for the worst-case scenarios. Pick your poison:

• The Train Wreck. Your project's set to run Sunday. Two days before it runs, the managing editor reads it, goes ballistic and orders a complete rewrite.
  
• Vietnam. Your team heads into the project enthusiastically but soon winds up sucked into a swamp. The original idea is lost and the team spends more fruitless time reporting, hoping to find its way out. This "causes the most palpitations," Bennett says.
  
• Watergate. The original premise of the project doesn't pan out, but no one wants to admit it, so the project team - unconsciously or deliberately - resorts to what Bennett calls "dirty tricks" like resting the premise too much on unclear evidence or unproven assumptions.
  
• The School Yard Fight. A project is launched without the participation of the beat reporter who, in turn, spends the next six months being passive aggressive and trying every way to make the project fail.
  

Just about anyone who's worked on a project will recognize these scenarios, Bennett, editor of the Lexington Herald-Leader, recently told a group of reporters and editors during an Atlanta Journal-Constitution Cox Academy session titled "High-Impact Projects."

Bennett has sheparded her share of projects during stints at The Wall Street Journal and The Oregonian. A member of the Pulitzer Prize Board, she has two Pulitzers to her credit. One she shared for national reporting with her WSJ colleagues; the other was during her tenure as managing editor for projects at The Oregonian.

Ultimately, a good project "rests on the quality of the idea," Bennett says.

And asking the right questions before you get started: How strong is the idea? What are your chances of getting the key facts that will make the project work?

What's been done on the topic before? What am I trying to achieve?

What's the best way to tell the story: Narrative? Explanatory? Vignettes? "Gotcha"?

What skills do we need to get it done - a good digger, writer, organizer, computer expert, beat reporter?

So how do you know if you've got a good project idea?

"Figuring out the epicenter is an art not a science," Bennett admits. But a good proposal serves as a road map and can help you get and stay focused.

Here are Bennett's 10 commandments to piloting a project successfully:

• Think Big. Start Small. Do some reporting first. A few breakout stories wouldn't hurt either. Report your premise. Lay some groundwork. Do a proposal. Bennett says proposals are the road map to keeping your project on track.
  
• Have a thesis. There's a lot of debate about setting out with a target in mind, but Bennett swears by it. Without a well-thought-out thesis, your project's likely to miss its mark.
  
• Throw the javelin. Aim for the strongest possible story you possibly can. Don't reinvent the wheel. A mediocre thesis will never produce a great project.
  
• Check in regularly with yourself. How much progress are we making? Checklists are helpful at this stage.
  
• Be prepared to change your mind. If your thesis doesn't pan out, adjust it.
  
• If necessary, cut your losses. Even if the story doesn't turn out as big as you thought, it's still a story. Carve it down, get it into the paper and move on.
  
• Form your team early. Include copy editors, graphics artists, and photographers in early discussions. They can help you spot elements of the story that can better be better told visually.
  
• Keep everyone above you informed of your progress. It's easier to adjust as you go along than rewrite the whole thing.
  
• Write short. It will still probably wind up 20 percent too long.
  
• If it's important, interesting and informative put it in the project. Leave everything else out - including the information that was hard to get.