Managing risk in development projects

Project late? Overspent? Crucial deadlines missed? Anyone who has ever been involved in a major product development will know that the project is fraught with risk. Projects frequently overrun their deadlines and budgets. Potentially valuable new products never reach the market because the company developing them simply runs out of time and money.

Leading European product development company, Cambridge Consultants Ltd (CCL) has developed a project management risk reduction checklist designed specifically to help companies keep their product development firmly on track. The report is backed by over 40 years’ experience of developing difficult technology-based products.

Simon Smith, one of the principal architects behind the report said, "Each year we are approached by companies whose projects are either stuck or going wrong and need help to get the development costs and timelines back under control. In any given year we have approximately a hundred development projects on the go and we are turning this expertise in project management to the benefit of other product developers."

Smith continued, "We often see the ‘ten-times rule’ in action. This means that any issue identified in the design stage of a project is ten times cheaper to fix than when it gets into the development stage, and a hundred times cheaper to fix than when it is progressing towards manufacturing. CCL’s approach to successful project management demands that we examine the critical issues at the very beginning of the project, minimising the risk of any nasty surprises, which frequently catch people out later in the programme."

The report is broken into three main sections: project initiation, project implementation, and project conclusion. Each section contains a generic checklist for developers to consider with the aim of reducing product development risk.

Note to editors:
Cambridge Consultants Limited (CCL) designs and develops innovative new products, processes and systems. CCL enables clients to turn business opportunities into commercial successes, whether launching first-to-market products, or expanding existing markets through the introduction of new technologies.
With a team of over 200 engineers and scientists, CCL is able to offer solutions across a diverse range of industries including healthcare, telecoms, industrial and consumer products, automotive and aerospace.
www.CambridgeConsultants.com