When you first plan a project, it’s common to start by making a list of things you hope to accomplish. Project management deliverables are what you create to achieve project goals. They are physical (tangible or intangible) objects that are generated by the project to achieve your goals, such as a wireframe of a website or a concept presentation.
Project deliverables need to meet the following conditions: ▪ Helped achieve goals ▪ Consent by relevant people ▪ Achieved through meaningful work ▪ Within the scope and outlined from the outset
Without a clear goal, your team will be spinning around in circles with no idea when it will reach the finish line. In fact, changing project goals is one of the most common causes of project failure. A well-defined project ensures that your clients know exactly what to expect and that everyone is on the same page.
Deliverables with milestones and goals
Before we discuss key deliverables in project management, let’s discuss how they differ from milestones and goals and how they can help you achieve your goals.
You should define the project goals first, which is the easiest to define. What are your project goals and how do they align with your business goals? A project deliverable is something that is created to achieve a goal, and a milestone is a checkpoint along the way, a way to measure whether you are on track to reach your goals. Milestones track which deliverables have been completed in each phase, and then move on to the next phase. In other words, milestones keep you moving forward in your project, and deliverables are the tangible results you create. Both methods will help you achieve your goals.
Internal delivery versus external delivery
Some deliverables are only appropriate for your internal team, but they are important.
Internal deliverables are defined as tasks that do not affect consumers or customers. An external deliverable can be defined as the work done to meet the needs of a consumer or customer. These internal deliverables reinforce what was created throughout the process and help keep the team on the same page. Consider scope documents, timelines with internal sign-in or work breakdown structures that are intended primarily for you and not for external stakeholders. You may not give these to the client, but they are key to defining and completing the project. In addition, external deliverables are what you package and hand over to the customer at various stages of the process. For example, design documents, concept statements, and handwriting.
Define key deliverables in project management
Now that you know what a project milestone means, it is equally important to understand some of the capabilities of the project management deliverables. What needs to be considered when identifying deliverables? Here are the steps:
1. Create deliverables
The first step is to create a deliverable. To do this, consider the following questions: ▪ What do you want to achieve? ▪ How do you achieve this? ▪ What steps do you need to take?
The above questions will help you create a list of key deliverables. You need to break your goal down into steps. Also, look at these steps and make sure they are completed within a reasonable time frame.
Define an internal or external audience
The next step is to define your deliverables, as described above.
Deliverables can be divided into internal and external deliverables, so at this point, you need to specify an audience for each task.
3. Add requirements
All deliverables should have two parts: specific deliverables and acceptance criteria. Acceptance criteria are the list of requirements that a deliverable must meet in order to be considered complete. When a deliverable is reviewed, you check against this standard or list of requirements before moving on to the next round or handing it to the customer.
Define projects and processes
Break down subtasks under each deliverable. For example, in an employee training program, you might have the following tasks:
▪ Introducing existing training materials into the new system ▪ Training staff on how to use the new system “▪ Gather feedback on how the training programme is going”
5. Meet expectations
The deliverables should meet internal or external expectations. For example, if you are launching a new product video for customers to download, you will want to meet external expectations, in this case, customer expectations.
Measure the success or failure of deliverables
The final step is to check whether the deliverables are successful before they become part of the plan. Methods such as focus groups or A/B testing can be helpful for external users. Either hold a roundtable discussion within the company or conduct a survey of employees to discuss your proposed deliverables.
Manage the entire project flow
Now that you have an understanding of what project deliverables are and how they work with milestones, it’s time to start creating your project.
Using project management software is an efficient approach. A project management system like 8Manage PM automates team and project management to keep your team on the same page and simplify workflows by breaking down detailed tasks and visible viewboarder workflows to meet each deliverable.
The project management
By defining key deliverables and milestones up front, you can create a workable plan for the entire team. In 8Manage PM, project planning is closely linked to execution, and for each deliverable, a set of tasks must be completed to complete each deliverable. At the same time, 8Manage PM makes it easy to track the execution of deliverables and ensure that they meet acceptance criteria, and also identifies the time of the activity, who is responsible for the activity, and the resources required for the activity.
Being able to change quickly and produce what customers want requires powerful project management tools to keep things organized and up to date. With 8Manage PM, team members can collaborate on deliverables and quickly prepare the best output.