According to your own experience in project management, what is the key difference between the Outcomes and Deliverables of a project (with examples please)?
Thank you in advance for your answer! Saving Changes...
Gottfried AraebChief: Business Strategy & Optimisation Officer| Namibian Ports AuthorityWalvis Bay, Erongo, Namibia
A project can have multiple deliverables, and those are within the project manager's scope of delivery. Outcomes, like highlighted in earlier responses, are business-case driven, and these use the deliverable(s) as input. Whereas the project team is responsible for the deliverable(s), the client is responsible for a positive outcome. Saving Changes...
Deliverable: Key stages of a project that are implemented
Outcomes: How the deliverable and project actually perform. You can be excellent at meeting deliverables but if what the project is delivering is useless it's not a good outcome Saving Changes...
As noted by tarun, since outcome can be positive or negative, is it not the responsibility of project management to ensure outcome is always positive. Is this not in scope of project?
The outcome has to be analyzed with respect to project significance. For instance, India government is building bullet train with objective and project significance of developing economic corridor between Ahmedabad and Mumbai. To this end, assume that Bullet train is constructed and delivered as deliverable of project and also accepted the by the Employer ( Government). Unfortunately, due to any reason, the outcome of economic corridor is not achieved. There could be numerous reason for industries for not setting up the industry in economic region and as a result the outcome is negative and it happened because of government invested a lot of money for developing infrastructure and ROI is not what to that expectation. That being the case, outcome is negative and objective & project significance is not achieved. Contrary of aforesaid, industries are developed across the corridor and it made objective & project significance to achieve. As a result, the outcome is positive. Saving Changes...
Hi, The "deliverable" is the "finished/completed product" of the project. And the derivated of the deliverable is the "intended outcome" - the resulting effect of the "finished product" in the context where it will work ("the resulted value"). The PMBOK 7th is more focused on the intended outcomes (delivered value).
I get the difference between outcome and deliverables but I am not sure I see the difference between the deliverables and the objective. Can someone help?
...
1 reply by Kiron Bondale
Dec 03, 2021 10:34 AM
Kiron Bondale
...
The objective or objectives are what we hope to achieve for the project and could be considered in the same light as outcomes. The deliverables are what the team produces which will hopefully enable the receiving organization to achieve the objective or objectives.
For example, if I have a leaky roof, my objective is to stop my roof from leaking. The deliverables might include the removal of the existing shingles, replacement of any damaged underlying plywood and installation of new shingles.
I get the difference between outcome and deliverables but I am not sure I see the difference between the deliverables and the objective. Can someone help?
The objective or objectives are what we hope to achieve for the project and could be considered in the same light as outcomes. The deliverables are what the team produces which will hopefully enable the receiving organization to achieve the objective or objectives.
For example, if I have a leaky roof, my objective is to stop my roof from leaking. The deliverables might include the removal of the existing shingles, replacement of any damaged underlying plywood and installation of new shingles.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Good discussion, adding a perspective:
- deliverables are the tangible output, or the result / product of the project - e.g. a SW delivered, a bridge built over river, the capability to do haircuts
- outcomes are what recipients / users can accomplish with the output, e.g creating new reports using the SW, cutting travel time by half using the bridge or applying for a barber job using your certified capability
- benefits are outcomes that are seen positively by some stakeholders, dis-benefits are seen negative by other stakeholders
For example the bridge as output creates a benefit for commuters as they save time every day but a dis-benefit for ferry owners.
Talking about benefits means to mention the stakeholders. Talking about outcomes or outputs is neutral.
Thomas
...
1 reply by Vagner Antonio da Silva
Nov 04, 2022 8:04 PM
Vagner Antonio da Silva
...
Well elaborated contribution, Mr. Walenta. Depending on the side you are related to the outcome(s) of a project is paramount to understand this process. Many stakeholders can benefit and many others, on the contrary, cannot. Thanks for sharing. All the best in your journey.
