Are you offered an interesting or big project? If so, please answer these 6 project management questions first!

Learning from the project case of iPhone and Google Glass, various aspects have a big role in determining a project will be a big success or even a total failure.

In 2013, Google officially launched Google Glass. Unfortunately, just two years later, Google Glass was announced to stop production and closed all of their social media accounts with the excuse of going to do strategy research again. In comparison, there is the iPhone project from Apple that Steve Jobs accepted in 2004 after three years of waiting. During that time, Steve Jobs chose to develop iTunes first, consolidate the iPod, and further explore the concept of the smartphone. Boom! Now you can see how iPhone ruled the market.

From the two cases above, you can see there are many aspects and readiness that you must fulfill when planning to accept a project. If you are still confused, try to answer these 6 project management questions before taking a project!

1. Have there been any similar competitors before?

It is important to know the extent of the market for the project’s product or service that you want to take. Therefore, dig as deep as possible what problems of your target market and how your product or service can solve them. Moreover, the presence of competitors, especially those who are already big, must make you look for loopholes of creative ideas that they don’t have before. Note this, more times that you take to develop the ideas, it will take time at the end of that S curve. So, please don’t rush to take on a project.

2. Is this project in your area of expertise?

You also have to know whether the project being offered is on the track in your area of expertise, or it has far strayed. The reason is, more further away the realm of the project is from your expertise, the more time you will spend studying this new area. It will also affect the stability of the S curve if you also have other projects already running out there.

3. Do you already know the scope of the project and how will it be realized later?

Just found out that the clarity of the project description is less than 50%? That means you have to refrain from accepting it immediately. It would be better for you to choose to learn more about the project again up to 100%. This is important to make the flow of the project stable and effective.

4. How about the investment value?

Knowing the investment value of a project can make you find out the size and extent of the required resources. The resources, in this case, include the amount of financial value, workers, skills required, and so on.

5. Is this project something you are good at and want to do?

One thing that should be a reminder, a project is expensive and even the costs incurred can be higher than the initial planning. Not only in the realm of finance, but also in terms of resources and time. Therefore, that’s why it’s important to clarify to yourself, is this project something you are good at and want to do?

6. When is the deadline?

The deadline for a project to be completed should also be something that you consider carefully. As previously explained, the existence of big competitors who demand big innovation, knowledge in related areas, other projects that you also held, and the desire to run this project will affect the S Curve. So, make sure that you are ready to run and complete the project that you want to take according to the deadline.

So, have you found the answer to bid or not the project that was offered to you?

Find more insights about project management here with Tomps.id!