Page 17 - DMGT521_PROJECT_MANAGEMENT

Project Management

Notes 1.8.3 Design Phase

The list of requirements that is developed in the definition phase can be used to make design
choices. In the design phase, one or more designs are developed, with which the project result
can apparently be achieved. Depending on the subject of the project, the products of the design
phase can include dioramas, sketches, flow charts, site trees, HTML screen designs, prototypes,
photo impressions and UML schemas. The project supervisors use these designs to choose the
definitive design that will be produced in the project. This is followed by the development
phase. As in the definition phase, once the design has been chosen, it cannot be changed in a later
stage of the project.

Figure 1.3: Global Design for the DANS Architecture Archive

In a young, very informal company, the design department was run by an artist. The term
design department was not accurate in this case; it was more a group of designers who were
working together. In addition, everyone was much too busy, including the head of the department.
One project involved producing a number of designs, which were quite important to the success
of the project. A young designer on the project team created the designs. Although the head of
the design department had ultimate responsibility for the designs, he never attended the meetings
of the project team when the designs were to be discussed. The project leader always invited
him, and sent him e-mails containing his young colleagues sketches, but the e-mails remained
unanswered. The project leader and the young designer erroneously assumed that the department
head had approved the designs. The implementation phase began. When the project was nearly
finished, the result was presented to the department head, who became furious and demanded
that it be completely redone. The budget, however, was almost exhausted.

1.8.4 Development Phase

During the development phase, everything that will be needed to implement the project is
arranged. Potential suppliers or subcontractors are brought in, a schedule is made, materials
and tools are ordered, and instructions are given to the personnel and so forth. The development
phase is complete when implementation is ready to start. All matters must be clear for the
parties that will carry out the implementation.
In some projects, particularly smaller ones, a formal development phase is probably not necessary.
The important point is that it must be clear what must be done in the implementation phase, by
whom and when.

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