Question

1. Dave Martin is the R&D Vice President of a company in the internet industry.

Dave wanted everybody in the company to understand his value. For this reason, he was looking to start a new product that would change the landscape. After much R&D, he came up with an idea for a new product.

Dave has known you for a long time and trusted your capabilities, skills, and integrity as a senior project manager. He appointed you as the manager of the product development project. He presented to you the idea of the new product and the required specifications. It was a complicated product and because it was planned to be a breakthrough in the industry, Dave wanted to make sure that none of your company’s competitors would know anything about the project and the new product. Therefore, Dave told you that you have to develop all the components of the product without using any partnership or subcontractors. Based on Dave’s directions you prepared a project plan as you learned in the project management course at LSU. Because of the complexity of the project you found out that the project would use a lot of resources and will last a long time. Dave approved all of your requests. He told you that you must complete the project on time, within the approved budget, and that all of the required specifications must be addressed.

Because of the complexity of the project and its uniqueness, you needed the best resources (labor, materials, and machinery). When you approached the different line managers and asked for the resources, you faced their resistance. They told you that because of other commitments, they could not provide you with as many resources as you asked for.

You approached Dave and presented to him the difficulties you faced and asked for his help. Dave was a very strong manager in the company. Since it was his product and he wanted to develop it by all means, he forced the different line managers to address your needs.

You were very happy. You knew that you had the full support of the sponsor of the project and that the sponsor could do whatever he wanted in the company.  You also knew that should the project be successful, you would be promoted and rewarded.

Dave promised you and your team members a big bonus should the project be completed within the budget and time limits, and all the required specifications were addressed.  You and your team worked very hard including days, nights and weekends in order to make sure the project would be completed without exceeding the approved budget and schedule, and all the required specifications were addressed.

Your efforts paid off. You completed the project on January 15, 2020, two months before the due date, you did not utilize all the approved budget, and you did address all the required specifications. You were very happy and you saw that everybody in the company respected you.

As they do every year, the board of directors of the company had a meeting in early February 2020 to evaluate the different projects that were completed in the previous year (2019).  It was a tradition in the company that every year, the best project was announced in mid-February, and its sponsor and project manager were rewarded with a big bonus.

Then the important day of announcing the best project arrived.  In spite of all of the expectations, your project was not the “winning” one. You were disappointed, but you thought that it was not “the end of the world.” You knew that you finished the project on time, within the budget limits, and addressed all the specifications. Your status as a good and reliable project manager was not damaged.

But then came the really bad news.  The board of directors announced that your project was a failure.

Please explain how the project could be a failure in light of, and in spite of all the information presented above.

Important Guidelines:

1. All the information that was presented in the question is accurate. Do not try to say that maybe the project did not address all the 3 objectives of schedule, budget, and specifications.
2. Do not try to claim that the board of directors was wrong and in light of the information presented in the question, the project was not a failure.  The board of directors was right. The project was a failure.
3. Focus your answer on the request to explain how the project could be a failure in light and in spite of all the information presented in the question. You will not get any credit for anything that is not directly related to this request even if it is right in and of itself.

Answer 1

The reasons why the product might not have been a successful one was:

1. There was no help sought from outside of the organization: There were no alliances and partnerships formed with the people from outside of the organization and hence there can be a possibility of missing out on the best of the resources which may be available external.
2. Not dedicated support: The other line managers helped you because they were asked by a senior person and were not willing to help because of prior commitments. They would have just provided the things asked for and not given advice and suggestions which are key things required when a product is being developed.
3. High costs and requirements: As the resources were all internally used there can be better suggestions and availability of resources at a cheaper cost. Hence, these can be the reasons for the failure of the project.
4. Not ready for the product: There is also a slight chance that the management was not ready for a product of this kind. There was no initial research about the requirement of the product and hence there is a probability of the product being a failure.

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