What it means to me to know the mission is to have a clear understanding of how my work will be used by the end users to accomplish their goals.

Individuals across the team should be able to make this connection. The architect creating a systems view model should be able to describe how end users will use the various systems. Programmers should be able to describe what the user will be dealing with when an alert is displayed. Systems Administrators should be able to pinpoint what job will be harder for a user if a component goes down.

The more direct the tie to the end user across the team, the better the decision-making process will be and the better the chance of success.

The project team must build trust and credibility early by demonstrating understanding and good decision making directly related to the mission.

The worst scenario for the client, the company, and the mission is to have executed the contract flawlessly and have a result that the end users just don't find to be valuable.