We always recommend gathering at least your core team together to help define the project, but at this point, you have defined the skills and personnel you need, so you should be ready to create your project team. As with almost all IT projects, you should involve subject matter experts from outside the IT department so that you get a well-rounded view of life within the organization, not just within the IT department. Also keep in mind that with infrastructure issues, many areas are technically beyond the grasp of many employees within the organization (well, most everyone outside the IT department). Be patient, be prepared to explain things in nontechnical ways, and don t discuss technical details when it isn t absolutely necessary. You want to involve users and stakeholders in appropriate ways, but there will be a more limited role for them in this type of project than in most of the other kinds of IT security projects you might undertake.

An infrastructure security project spans the entire enterprise and is as deep as it is wide. To be successfully completed, the project requires an extensive set of first-rate skills. Be sure that your project team has all the skills delineated in your skills assessment. If it does not, your project is at risk because gaps in skills or skills that are not up to standards will create problems in quality or scheduling down the line. Be sure you have all the requisite skills; if you don t, be sure...