Ulisse HohenadelProject Lead Mechanics| Roche Diabetes Care GmbHWeinheim, Germany
Hello community, I wonder if there is anyone who has experience with projects if phasing out products and services? Would you approach it the same way as starting a new product development? Saving Changes...
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Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Generally speaking the answer is yes. It demands a new project/program by itself. Just to put it in the framework of PMI take a look to business analysis guides where you can find what you need, on regard a standard, about it. Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Ulisse,
it certainly is a project, but is widely different from new product development. Differences I see are the business case (not expecting revenue growth but cost reduction), the stakeholders (existing users, support staff), and regulations.
I would dive into circular economy, diverstitures and waste regulations (in extreme nuclear waste, and also eternal costs.
As an example I have seen a company now disbanding their numerous data centers and moving data and servers into a new type of cloud DCs. Disbanding DCs is a nice example of phasing out a product. Saving Changes...
At the high level, the planning approach might be similar, but the scope and approach will be very different. It might be trickier to identify all key stakeholders, especially if the product or service has been in use across a large geographic region or over a long duration.
There might also be more resistance from certain stakeholders as taking something away is usually not welcomed even if the product or service was past its useful life.
It would also be helpful to review the value stream(s) which the product or service currently fits in to ensure impacts are proactively identified and addressed.
