Objectives vs. Deliverables Essay Example
Objectives Vs. Deliverables
Do you know your objectives from your Deliverables?
We had a really interesting discussion recently with some senior managers from an organisation that has responsibility for managing some of the biggest construction projects in Europe. One manager said, something along the lines of “If you asked 20 managers involved in the XYZ Project what its objective was, you’d probably get 20 different answers”. Interestingly, most of those answers would actually be about deliverables, not objectives. They’d tell you they were building a “new, bigger, better ABC facility”. So often, when people think about the projects they are involved in, they muddle their deliverables and their objectives. If you think you know the difference, or just want to remind yourself about why it might be important, read on… Let’s start with some definitions. Projects produce DELIVERABLES (sometimes called Products, or Outputs). In other words, what pops out of the end of a project is a Deliverable. Project example Eurofighter/Typhoon New Wembley Stadium London Cross-Rail Deliverable An aeroplane A Stadium A railway line, in a tunnel
As you can see, Deliverables can usually be seen, touched, or moved about. If you can get your hands on it, it’s probably a Deliverable from some project. At a more organisational level, you might have a project to recruit some new people. The deliverables are the recruits. A project to produce an advert, delivers an advert.
© 2007 Ad Esse Consulting Ltd.
a posse ad esse [from possibility to actuality]
.
Objectives Vs. Deliverables
Now, the important thing is, Deliverables are only produced (or should only be produced) because there is a project that is trying to achieve some performance improvement for the organisation (often actually for a Sponsor, or key Stakeholder representing the organisation). That’s where Objectives fit in. An OBJECTIVE is a level of performance, or achievement. Objectives imply quantification of
Do you know your objectives from your Deliverables?
We had a really interesting discussion recently with some senior managers from an organisation that has responsibility for managing some of the biggest construction projects in Europe. One manager said, something along the lines of “If you asked 20 managers involved in the XYZ Project what its objective was, you’d probably get 20 different answers”. Interestingly, most of those answers would actually be about deliverables, not objectives. They’d tell you they were building a “new, bigger, better ABC facility”. So often, when people think about the projects they are involved in, they muddle their deliverables and their objectives. If you think you know the difference, or just want to remind yourself about why it might be important, read on… Let’s start with some definitions. Projects produce DELIVERABLES (sometimes called Products, or Outputs). In other words, what pops out of the end of a project is a Deliverable. Project example Eurofighter/Typhoon New Wembley Stadium London Cross-Rail Deliverable An aeroplane A Stadium A railway line, in a tunnel
As you can see, Deliverables can usually be seen, touched, or moved about. If you can get your hands on it, it’s probably a Deliverable from some project. At a more organisational level, you might have a project to recruit some new people. The deliverables are the recruits. A project to produce an advert, delivers an advert.
© 2007 Ad Esse Consulting Ltd.
a posse ad esse [from possibility to actuality]
.
Objectives Vs. Deliverables
Now, the important thing is, Deliverables are only produced (or should only be produced) because there is a project that is trying to achieve some performance improvement for the organisation (often actually for a Sponsor, or key Stakeholder representing the organisation). That’s where Objectives fit in. An OBJECTIVE is a level of performance, or achievement. Objectives imply quantification of