Technology overview and applications

¶ … establishing product vision and product scope? Are there repeated patterns of behavior that cause these barriers?

One of the barriers to creating a coherent product vision and product scope is the perceived limit of time in the corporate lifecycle. By generating and implementing new product ideas faster than its competition, a firm is likely to increase its current market share or even establish a new market. "The question, then, is not whether a company should innovate, but how to reduce innovation cycle time." (Lukas, 39) However, a project manager cannot set unrealistic time goals. The solution is to have a project plan already in place to reduce the time devoted to planning, that is part of the institutional framework, a plan that includes a project vision generating process, as well as helps define every project's scope.

One of the reasons some projects become unwieldy is that they are begun with a vision lacking in sufficient insight as to consumer needs. One must take into consideration consumer demand and personal knowledge, lest a team create a product vision that is either insufficiently practical or overlaps with products on the market. An overly extensive product development cycle with too broad a scope can also run the risk of creating an obsolete end product because it takes too much time to produce. (Lukas et.al, 40-41) Thus projects must be specific, produce results on a strict timetable, but not be held to an initially unrealistic set of time constraints.

One possible remedy to come of these conflicting demands is to create a formal arm of a development company that specifically deals with creating new products. Such a formal and systematic new product development process is used by 60% of currently successful software companies. (Lukas, 43)

Thus the primary barriers to defining an effective project vision and scope are insufficient organizational structures devoted to creating such product visions, defining new project time tables of development, and defining the needs of the market in relation to new products in general. If no such structures exist then it is likely failures of new development vision and scope will reoccur. Although a company may cautious in taking developmental risks, repeated patterns of conservative behavior and a lack of willingness of companies to identify new product "winners" early in the development process and to advance them in the company will ultimately result in a financial and creative loss for the organization. (Lukas, 43)

Work Cited

Lukas, Bryan, Tomas Hult, & Martin Frolick. "Reducing Time Cycle of the New Product." CTR in the New Development Process. Pp.39-53. Retrieved 20 Jan 2004 at http://www.people.memphis.edu/~cscm/ctr2/RedCTinNewProdDev.pdf

Eliciting requirements from users can be a complex task. Conduct a web search on "requirements elicitation." Classify the techniques used for "requirements elicitation.

According to engineering analysts, M. Christel and K. Kang, there are many problems associated with requirements engineering, including problems in defining the system scope, problems in fostering understanding among the different communities affected by the development of a given system, and problems in dealing with the volatile nature of requirements. This lack of definition in system requirements ultimately can lead to the cancellation of system developments, at worst, and, at best, the development of a unsatisfactory system that is overly costly to the client. By improving requirements elicitation, the requirements engineering process can be improved.

Enhanced system requirements processes should include better fact-finding about the organization before the project is undertaken and a commitment to more efficient gathering of the system's specific requirements within the organization, as well as better evaluation and rationalization of the overall plan. Prioritization of goals along a specific timetable and for the overall needs of the project once it is completed is also key during requirements elicitation. The project must also be integrated with the current system; another reason to clearly understand the starting situation and the projected ideal future after the project is completed.