Critical Management of Product Development & Project Management Techniques - Essay Example

CRITICAL MANAGEMENT OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & PROJECT MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES Contents Introduction 3 Compare & Contrast the key Features of Agile Methodology V Traditional Approach 3 Importance of Effective & Efficient Project Management Practice throughout Project Lifecycle & Impact of Poor Performance on Stakeholder Groups 6 Project Plan for Extended Lifecycle for New Product Development & Launch 9 Risk Management and Contingency Planning in relation to project. Key Issues & Concerns and how plan can deal with it. 11 Bibliography 13 Introduction This paper examines important elements of project management and applies it to a scenario relating to the launch of a new headset for a firm that is a market leader in a competitive industry. It has a short time-to-market a technically complex product. There are numerous internal stakeholder drifts and issues. This paper examines the details of the scenario and gives information about the product and provides important details on the options available. Compare & Contrast the key Features of Agile Methodology V Traditional Approach From the facts of the scenario, the product at hand has many features and elements that ought to be put into consideration. There are technical, marketing, design, finance, sales and other features that brings together many stakeholders who need to work to produce the best product in a competitive market. Traditional methods of project management involve the collection of information in a formal data collection system and from there, the project commences with the assumption that nothing will change (Tsui, 2013). On the other hand, agile methodologies involve the collection of data in an informal system at the beginning with the view that the requirements for the project could change over time (Rico, et al., 2012). The nature of this project is such that it required and demands a lot of interests and desires. It is not practical for all the components and requirements to be put together in the early stages of the project. Hence, there is the need for an agile method to be employed. This is because the agile method will allow all considerations, demands and expectations to be included over a considerable period of time (Cervone, 2011). This can be done through a good scope management system that will define the framework within which the project can be conducted (Israr, et al., 2010). Therefore, agile methodologies can ensure that there could be a good forum through which all the demands and all the expectations of the different stakeholders in the company will be carried out (Iivari & Iivari, 2011). Traditional methods are going to create a rigid framework and system through which some needs might not be done and there cannot be any form of communication or discussion that will have the depth that will be as comprehensive as it was (Leau, et al., 2012). This will include taking information from customers, iterative development, self-organizing teams and adaptation to change (Laanti, et al., 2011). This will promote good communication and the update of information and there will be more work that will be covered in order to ensure that the product is holistically of a high quality (Highsmith, 2009). However, one could assert that an iterative system is bound to demand a lot of time and effort since there will be a lot of going back and forth (Brown, 2011). There is evidence from the case that the time to put the product on the market is short. However, judging by the fact that there are many competing claims by stakeholders and it is imperative for there to be a system through which these demands can be heard quickly and done. An iterative system steeped in proper project management systems will ensure that all issues are heard quickly and a definitive timeline is drawn. This will enable project management techniques to be integrated in order to achieve results in a quick and effective manner. This way, deadlines could be formulated and targets could be set. This will allow the project to be completed with the inclusion of all the demands and requirements of stakeholders. Importance of Effective & Efficient Project Management Practice throughout Project Lifecycle & Impact of Poor Performance on Stakeholder Groups As identified above, effective project management techniques and tools will ensure that all stakeholder need can be managed appropriately in order to launch the product at the appropriate time and to the appropriate specifications. “Project management is a set of principles, methods and techniques that people use to effectively plan and control project works.” (Richman, 2012, p. 4). Project management include the coordination of a project, establishment of teamwork and managing or minimising conflicts (Harrison & Lock, 2014). Therefore, this product development can benefit from project management through the appropriate breakdown of work in order to ensure that all stakeholders are fairly represented and all relevant phases of the project are outlined. Another definition of project management is that it enables a project to be conducted in a way and manner that makes the best use of the scarce resources of an organisation including: 1. Time; 2. Budget; 3. Resources (Wysocki, 2014; Drouin, et al., 2013) This implies that project management can be used to ensure that the constraints that exist now can best be managed and the project can proceed in the best way possible. Failure to do so and utilise important project management principles and ideas will mean that the project will be conducted in a hasty manner and this will culminate in a situation whereby the certain stakeholders will not be represented due to poor coordination and representation. Secondly, time will not be used for the best ends. Finally, the budget and resources will not be used for the best purpose and by the time the project is supposed to be presented, the product will not meet the competition levels. Effective and efficient project management techniques goes through four main phases and this will ensure that resources and other constraints are arranged, programmed and utilised in the best manner and fashion possible: 1. Project integration management; 2. Project scope management; 3. Project time management; 4. Project cost management (Schwalbe, 2009) Each of these four stages are important in the face of present circumstances and they must be utilised and carried out in such a way and manner that the organisation of the project will be titled towards the optimisation of project resources in order to meet high standards for a good product that will be turned into the market to enable the firm to maintain competitive advantage. The project integration phase will include the establishment of a product project plan and the formation of the team. Therefore, based on the circumstances at hand, the concerns and expectations must be defined and the authorities of the company must commission a project and this will include spelling out in general terms, the deliverable expected – ie the product to be designed and the plan for achieving this end. The project integration phase will be in general terms. The project scope management section will involve defining specific ends and targets that the project team ought to achieve. This will include amongst other things, the scope which are definite objectives for the product development and its marketing and sales plans and expectations. The scope will lead to the creation of a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and this will define the works to be done at different points of the project and how it will be done. Terminologies will also be defined at the project scope management phase. Project time management will include activity lists and milestones that ought to be met at different points. Activity requirements, network diagrams and project schedule can be created at this stage. Finally, the cost management section will include the definition of costs and project cost baselines for the project. Project Plan for Extended Lifecycle for New Product Development & Launch Figure 1: Project Plan of Extended Product Development Cycle The image above presents an extract of the project plan. The product design and period of going to the market is to last between January and March 2015. Within the 3-month period, a series of 12 activities will be conducted and this is outlined in the image above with the critical path shown in red. Risk Management and Contingency Planning in relation to project. Key Issues & Concerns and how plan can deal with it. A risk is an unexpected or undesirable event that might affect the achievement of project plans and project objectives (Kendrick, 2011). This includes the issues and matters that might make it impossible for the pointers outlined in the project plan outlined in Figure 1 above. Risk management and contingency planning involve techniques that are used by a project team to detect risks and to provide an appropriate plan to either mitigate or eliminate the risk (Gido & Clements, 2012). This is done by trying to deduce the risks and grading them in order to define a plan for dealing with these risks (Kerzner, 2014). Therefore, in this project, there are numerous risks that could potentially prevent the project from meeting its objectives and desires. Royer identifies that there are classical risks in project management and this includes: 1. Scope and change management risks; 2. Operational risks; 3. Financial risks; 4. Project management risks; 5. Strategic risks; 6. Technology risks (Royer, 2013) The scope of the project could be wrong. This is because the organisation in question operates in a very competitive environment. Therefore, the authorisation of the project could exclude some important variables that could potentially change the future. For instance, if this project is to be completed at the advent of the smart phone revolution, there is a risk that the project will have a scope that will concentrate on things that do not really include the main and most important issues. Operational risks include major problems that could occur in the development of the product. This could include some critical stages of the WBS being done wrongly. Also, there could be a situation where the project team will lose funding to develop an appropriately competitive product. Project management risks relate to coordination issues and resource management matters. Finally, strategic risks include linking the product to the main vision and strategy of the firm. There could be contingency plans that will include actions the team will take when a specified risk occurs (Schwalbe, 2013). A fallback position could be taken that could include a completely different alternative to this project if it fails extensively (Schwalbe, 2013). Therefore, contingency planning for this project will ensure that in events that there are issues with the project, something could be done to ensure that this product will still be put on the market. The essence of risk management is to make allowances for adjustments and to identify a way of ensuring that the fundamental end of the project is met. This implies that in cases where it is simply too idealistic for the project to meet all its objectives, something could be done quickly to ensure that the project is put out. This could include various actions to eliminate issues with the project team, especially in cases where individual stages of the project fail. In this situation, the risk management plan for each of the stages will be invoked. However, in cases where the entire project fails, there is the need for a contingency plan, or a Plan B to be created and utilised. Bibliography Brown, D., 2011. Agile User Experience Design: A Practitioner’s Guide to Making It Work. New York: Newnes Press. Cervone, H. F., 2011. Understanding agile project management methods using Scrum. OCLC Systems & Services: International digital library perspectives, 27(1), pp. 18 - 22. Drouin, N., Muller, R. & Sankaran, S., 2013. Novel Approaches to Organizational Project Management Research. 4th ed. Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School. Gido, J. & Clements, J., 2012. Successful Project Management. 2nd ed. Mason, OH: Cengage. Harrison, F. L. & Lock, D., 2014. Advanced Project Management: A Structured Approach. 3rd\ ed. Surrey: Gower Publishing. Highsmith, J., 2009. Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products. London: Pearson Education. 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