Product Development Essay

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Assignment 0: Product Development Due: Session 1 - Monday, September 2nd / Session 2 - Tuesday, September 3rd EGRMGMT 560: Project Management The ACME Widget Company is interested in introducing a new product known as the Whizpod 3000. The ACME Widget Company uses a Stage-GateTM process developed by Cooper for structuring its new product development process. The Stage-GateTM is summarized using the process below. From Robert G. Cooper, Winning at New Products, Second Edition, Addison Wesley (1995) Managing the product development process is a specific application of project management for the purpose of developing a new product. The activities, probable costs, and probable duration for the product development effort are located in file “Product Development Activities.xls.” You need to develop a plan to submit to your manager. Some of the issues you must address are: 1. Based on the information available, what is the projected date for product launch? Include the Gantt chart to justify your launch date. (Assume for this analysis that stages cannot start until the prior gate, including all of the tasks associated with that gate, is completed.) 2. The control of budgets at your company is extremely rigid. It is nearly impossible (and damaging to your reputation) for you to request additional funds for a project once it is approved. The expectation is that projects will be completed under budget. You have developed some initial cost estimates for the project. What budget would recommend for this project? 3. The market dynamics are demanding shorter product development cycles. It is believed that products from your competitors will be introduced to the market before the launch date you proposed above. What changes would you make in the product development plan to reduce the product development time? What

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