Answers to Frequent Questions
Product Development Projects extend or revise product lines by introducing new concepts and functionality that benefit the
customer:
Product development is a part of product life cycle strategy.
Specific goals of the process range from modifying product features to introducing
new methods of service delivery, within the scope of the product development project.
What
is meant by Project Scope?
A clear and concise definition of scope is key
to the success of any project. Scope should describe what is to be
accomplished, from a quantitative perspective. Its purpose is to aid in
establishing realistic work plans, budgets, schedules and stakeholder expectations.
Should
identified work arise that falls outside the defined scope, the project manager
must either deem the work out of scope and defer it, or expand the scope of the
project to include the work. The latter choice would result in formal changes
to the project work plan, resource allocation, budget or schedule.
What is a Stakeholder?
Even at their inception projects create
relationships between individuals or groups with an interest in the outcomes,
including the project initiators and others who will benefit from (or be
affected by) some aspect of project delivery.
As such, stakeholder groups may comprise clients, end users, contractors,
consultants, labour unions, the line organisation, public authorities,
financial and insurance companies, controlling organisations, news media, and third
party suppliers. Stakeholder satisfaction is a primary indicator of project success.
How do you define a Project
Milestone?
Within
the project plan definition, there is a list and description of significant
project accomplishments that will serve as primary checkpoints for measuring
progress and cost. These are generally the points at which the completion of an
activity or group of activities causes the project to reach a milestone by
producing a highly visible or significant product or result (equipment
delivery, material delivery, review meeting, approval checkpoint). Not every
task completion date in the project will be a milestone but every milestone
should be tied to a result.
What is meant by a
Project Work Plan
This
is a detailed work breakdown structure (WBS) of all stages, tasks and
sub-tasks. It includes a Gantt chart which shows estimates of how long it will
take to complete each sub-task, task and stage, the resources required to
complete each task, the task dependencies and inter-relationships and any
special considerations that must be made.
Since scheduling is an iterative process, the project manager must continually
review the Project Work Plan and adjust it based upon ongoing activities and
progress achieved.
Where are your
credentials?
The details of my career and professional network are accessible online. Reference cases are available on request.
