In: Operations Management
This unit discusses creating activity durations. In some industries, subject matter experts may guess the time it will take to complete an activity. In other industries, the estimated duration will be calculated based on a formula. Name an industry that would likely use subject matter experts to estimate the activity durations. Name an industry where the estimated duration will likely be calculated based on a formula. Explain your reasoning, and provide examples supporting your thoughts.
Please limit to 200 words.
Take the example of any projects in the Automobile industry. The nature of the projects, activities, and deliverables are well-experienced beforehand. So, it may be easy for the respective departments to have standard estimates of working time per activity. For example, the introduction of a new car model is just like the introduction of the previous model and all the related activities are somewhat standardized. So, the department leads will rather use standard formulae.
On the other hand, industries where the projects and more evolving in nature will rely more or the subject matter experts' knowledge. Take the case of the film industry. Each movie will have its specific requirement and the related activities will take varying estimates of duration. For example, the producer of an upcoming Avenger movie may not know the time to complete the special effects due to its sheer uniqueness and hence take the expertise of the subject matter expert to estimate the same.