Decision-making for successful product development

Powell, R.A.   Buede, D.M.   (2006). Decision-making for successful product development. Project Management Journal. 37(1), 22-41

http://www.pmi.org/Marketplace/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?GMProduct=00100905000&iss=1

Reprinted IEEE EMR Q4'08

 

Project outcomes are determined by the decisions project managers make. Because of this, it is critical to project success that project managers use a logical decision-making approach when resolving project challenges. This paper examines an integrated decision-making approach designed for use in product development industries, particularly for those activities involved in creating operational and development systems. In doing so, it lists the elements shaping systems engineering projects and analyzes these types of projects in relation to project success as well as the literature, case studies (military systems development projects), and interviews with eight subject-matter experts working on systems engineering projects. After identifying the key project decisions that these experts routinely make, it details a model that can help project managers make concurrent, rational, and explicit project decisions, a model called the systems engineering design and management framework (SEDMF), a model that integrates program management planning activities with project decision-making. It summarizes seven general rules shaping SEDMF's nine decision categories and compares the results generated from this research to the results generated from previous studies. It also lists SEDMF's four benefits.