Question 1 (Read the case and answer the questions below the case) PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE The mobile phone development The challenge of new product development A mobile phone company has just promoted a project manager to head up a new product development project. Developing a mobile phone is a challenging project. Time-to-market is short, the product is technically complicated and there are multiple stakeholders within the phone company. Marketing have strong ideas about new product design, and they have some initial specifications based on their market research. The project is likely to be signed off very shortly, and the finance department are insisting that to be profitable it has to be delivered very quickly, although development funds are tight. The design team consists of electronics engineers to design the circuitry, software engineers to develop the functionality, interface and features that the customers see and mechanical engineers to create the unit itself. Additionally, manufacturing engineers need to be involved as soon as possible to ensure that the design is going to be suitable for high-volume manufacture. Suppliers need to be on board quickly so that they can ensure availability of material when volume production starts. Lead times for some parts can be several months, but often there are design changes throughout the project as the detailed design stabilises. You know there will be technical difficulties with the design, and several prototypes need to be planned in so that the phone can be tested during the design phase. You have been asked to advise and help the new project manager on the best way of planning this project, and what factors he needs to take into consideration. Points for discussion 1 Use the work covered in Chapters 4 and 5 to provide an analysis of the stakeholders and the project strategy. 2 Given your answer to (1), how would this affect the nature of the overview plan that should be presented? 3 What are your recommendations to the project manager to ensure that the project is completed as required