The first priority for a PM inheriting a project midstream is to access and review the existing project artifacts—the documented “source of truth” that shows what was approved, what has changed, current status, and remaining work. CompTIA Project+ emphasizes maintaining project documentation and artifacts, and it explicitly includes “Review existing artifacts” as a key activity as a PM gets oriented to the project context.
By reviewing artifacts (charter, scope baseline/WBS or backlog, schedule, budget, risk register, issue log, change control log, stakeholder list, communication plan, testing/quality plans, and current reports), the PM can quickly understand: current phase, constraints, commitments, open risks/issues, and what decisions have already been made. That enables accurate next actions and prevents contradictory communication or rework.
A brainstorming session (B) is not the best “first” step without understanding current constraints and decisions. A kickoff meeting (C) is typically for initiation; mid-project, the PM may run a transition meeting later, but only after reviewing the facts. Establishing communication channels (D) is important, but you can’t communicate effectively until you know the baseline status and existing governance approach—information found in the artifacts.
