1. Can a deliverable be something that cannot be fulfilled through the completion of the project?
2. Should tasks be related to deliverables? For example, summary tasks a, b, and c contribute to deliverable 1, and summary tasks x, y, and z contribute to deliverable 2, etc.
3. Can you report on the status of a deliverable based on the status of tasks? Saving Changes...
Sort By:
Hans RobbersSenior Director| SalesforceVlissingen, Netherlands
HI
A deliverable is always related to a task. When the task or activity is completed the deliverable is completed. There are many tasks which are done as a part of a daily job in a department and are not associated to a project, e.g. salary payment is a monthly activity but not related to a project. The deliverable is the pay check and the money paid.
The answer to your first question is yes it is possible to have deliverables without a project.
The answer to the 2nd question is slightly more dependent on your style of project management. There are project managers who claim it is possible that more tasks result into one deliverable however in my opinion a delvierable should always be related to one task and one person.
The reason for this is to be able to monitor progress it is important to know who is responsible for delivering. When you have multiple tasks or resources working on a deliverable often tasks are completed for 95%.
The solution is to define an activity which is encompass the total, e.g. develop project charter. Below this activity you break down the activity into individual tasks e.g. chapter 1 introduction. This will allow you to track the progress of the deliverables and the resources.
Typically a task in my projects are broken down to roughly 3 to 4 days of work.
I feel your 3rd question has been answered above and the answer in short is yes if you ensure a 1 to 1 relationship
hopes this helps
Hans Saving Changes...
Gilbert AndersonSoftware Director| Williams InternationalMadison, Al, United States
My understanding of question 1 is, can one of the project deliverables be something that cannot be produced during the course of the project? For example, a project's scope is to replan the shop floor to accommodate a new generation of lathe machines. Can one of the deliverables be the training manual for the machines? My answer would be no unless this deliverable was made a part of the project with the associated increases in budget and project duration.
Of course, if my undertanding is flawed, the GIGO principle applies. Saving Changes...
1. Yes, when the project is part of a program, and the program is not yet complete. An example (in Software projects) would the completion of non-critical documentation related to a project.
2. Although every task should be related to a deliverable, there need not be a 1-1 mapping between task and deliverables. In a software project, a summary task may relate to a single software component and might have sub-tasks related covering a part of multiple deliverables (Ex: A summary task of a single component might have tasks such as Development, testing, documentation pertaining to that single component alone. But they will form a part of the overall deliverables, such as design document, unit testing, etc for the complete project)
3, Yes. But again, for the reasons mentioned above, the status of individual tasks should be appropriately adjusted into the overall status report.
Saving Changes...
Michael WellesManaging Director| EdWel Project and Risk Management TrainingChicago, Il, United States
I like to use the terms intermediate and end deliverables. An end deliverable is the project's final product/solution.
