Project management isn’t just about staying organized—it’s about ensuring every part of the process runs smoothly. It helps different teams work together and prioritizes adaptability. With being a good project manager, this also means sometimes telling the customer things they don’t want to hear. Their design is flawed, the costs outweigh the benefits, or simply that their idea isn’t unique. You can’t just be a people pleaser. Having the skills to be a great project manager leads to great products – ones that arrive on time, meet customer expectations, and help businesses grow.
The Role of Project Management in Product Development
70% of organizations have had a project failure in the last 12 months. However, many failures could have been avoided with better project management. Project management lays out goals and tracks progress through the product development process. Project managers are involved at all stages of the project life cycle, keeping efforts organized, efficient, and on budget.
Ideation, Concept, and Planning
The first step in product development is ideation. Ideation involves brainstorming ideas and concepts for a product. During this stage, the project manager establishes goals for the product development process.
As concepts are developed, so are prototypes. As digital and physical testing begins, designers continue brainstorming ways to improve the product’s functionality and eliminate potential problems.
At this stage, the project manager will also create a project plan. The plan outlines the cost, schedule, scope, quality, and communications that the project will follow. The plan is not unchanging—in the event of unforeseen circumstances like supply chain delays or sudden price increases of components, it would be adjusted—but it does provide the framework needed to achieve a successful product launch.
Throughout the process, the project manager constantly communicates with stakeholders. When the originator of a product idea works with a partner to further design, develop, and manufacture a product, project managers keep them informed and ensure that all parties are aligned.
Design and Development
As the product is further developed and refined, the project manager’s job is to ensure collaboration among different teams, from designers to engineers to the supply chain. Project management tools, which will be discussed later, track progress and verify that steps are completed on time. In this stage, following the project plan to prevent scope creep and correctly manage resources is vital.
Testing and Quality Assurance
Conducting a stage of the product development cycle does not make it a thing of the past for a project. As designs are tested, developers identify areas for improvement. In addition to testing for basic functionality, products are tested to ensure they conform to customer standards and regulatory requirements. Requirements vary, products must be designed following the regulations of the countries and industries where they will be released.
Launch and Delivery
Once testing is complete and the product is ready to go to market, it’s time to tell the world about it. Identifying your target market and knowing the best ways to reach them is vital. An incredible product can fail to find market success if the people who would benefit from it don’t know it exists.
At the same time, no matter how much planning goes into a launch, last-minute changes and risks can still emerge. There could be unexpected functionality or industry-related issues, from supply chain delays to shifts in market trends or competitor activity. External factors like economic changes or unexpected world events can impact launch timing and strategy.
Ultimately, a successful launch isn’t just about preventing issues—it’s about responding to them effectively. The ability to adjust to last-minute changes while staying focused on the project’s overall goal can be the difference between a product that struggles and one that is successful.
Key Areas of Project Management
Project management aligns teams and resources to streamline the product development process. Adaptability is a vital feature of strong project management and is seen across areas such as:
- People resources manage schedules and workload, accounting for foreseen and unforeseen employee out-of-office circumstances.
- Parts/components resources ensure supplier reliability and plan for potential shortages to keep development on schedule.
- Design requirements foster coordination between engineers, designers, and stakeholders to ensure requirements are consistently followed throughout development.
- Supply chain management must have reliable suppliers, mitigate delays, and adapt to disruptions to ensure smooth production and delivery.
- Quality assurance/regulatory compliance includes quality checks, testing, and compliance with regulations to avoid recalls, legal issues, or reputational damage.
Tools and Best Practices for Effective Project Management
Project management always seeks to keep projects efficient, cost-effective, and adaptable. However, there are various methodologies companies use to achieve these goals.
- Waterfall: The waterfall methodology takes a linear approach to project management. Each product development phase leads into the next, ensuring no tasks are left undone.
- Kanban: The Kanban method originated on bulletin boards and whiteboards and involves shifting items from column to column as tasks are worked on and completed. There are now many digital Kanban programs.
- Scrum: Many teams incorporate agility into their project management methods, but scrum is built on it. The two main features of the scrum methods are the scrum and sprint. Scrums are daily meetings where team members share their progress and leaders plan each day’s goals. Sprints are periods, typically of a couple of weeks, where team members focus on completing backlog tasks. New tasks are added to the log for the next sprint, ensuring that current tasks are completed efficiently and all areas are addressed.
- Agile: Not truly a method in itself, the agile method is applied to other methods to bolster speed and flexibility. The scrum method, where tasks are broken into sprints, is based mainly on the agile framework. Other methods, such as Kanban, with its constant workflow, have agile features as well.
There are many digital project management tools available. Jira is a project management tool that offers a range of agile methodologies. From the same company as Jira, Trello is Kanban-style and can integrate with other apps, including Salesforce and Outlook. Asana is another popular project management tool due to its organization and collaboration features.
Best practices for successful project management include clear documentation, regular check-ins, and an agile workflow. Documentation and check-ins ensure that projects stay on track and that nothing slips through the cracks. If something needs to be revised, documentation can also help when reviewing processes for areas of improvement. Adaptive workflows keep projects moving through disruptions and allow for constant improvement.
Benefits of Project Management in Product Development
A good project manager helps teams stay organized, prevents delays, and keeps work moving forward. They also create an environment where new ideas can develop by ensuring everyone understands their role and how their work contributes to the overall goal. By following an adaptable plan under the guidance of the project manager, the final product is ready for launch and meets expectations.
On the other end of the process, effective project management keeps projects within scope, time, and cost restraints and mitigates risks in manufacturing and post-launch. Ultimately, project management increases customer satisfaction by delivering high-quality products without delay.
Pivot International has global teams of project managers throughout the US, Europe, and Asia who have navigated our partners through the product development process. Along with our global supply chain network and manufacturing sites, we have the network to successfully bring projects from concept to market. To learn more about how our project managers can help bring your product to market, contact us today.
