How to Write Project Deliverables: A Comprehensive Guide
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Project deliverables are tangible, measurable outcomes or outputs that result from a project's execution. These critical components showcase the value of a project and serve as the basis for evaluating its success.
In this article, we will discuss how to create project deliverables and provide examples, ensuring your projects are clear, concise, and effective.
Understanding Project Deliverables
Project deliverables may have many names—project milestones, project results, project outcomes, output, and more.
Writing your project deliverables is crucial for successful project management and brings many benefits. Here's why defining project deliverables in project management is important:
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Better time management: when you know what project objectives you want to achieve, you can better plan your workflow.
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Improved team collaboration: when you keep all your team involved in the project and keep them on the same page by sharing project deliverables, it's easier for them to stay engaged and work productively.
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Effective project schedule: it's easier to plan workflow if you know your objectives and how you're going to achieve them.
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Good communication: when all team members, project stakeholders, and people involved in the project know what needs to be achieved, it's easier for smooth information flow and two-way feedback.
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Better risk management: when you know what needs to be achieved, you can easily avoid scope creep, mitigate risks, and prepare for possible obstacles.
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Higher profits: project deliverables allow you to better manage the project's budget, prioritize work, and, as a result, stay profitable.
Understanding project deliverables and defining them properly can make you a better project manager because you can make well-informed decisions, meet stakeholder expectations, and grow your business in a smart way.
What is a Deliverable?
To better understand the importance of project deliverables, let's look at what exactly deliverable is, and what role it plays in project management.
A deliverable is a tangible or intangible output that is produced as a result of a project, task, or process. Deliverables can be products, services, documents, or any other outcomes that contribute to the project's goals. Understanding what a deliverable is helps project managers and team members stay focused on achieving the desired outcomes.
What are Project Deliverables?
Project deliverables are the specific outputs or results that a project aims to produce. They are the building blocks of a project and help stakeholders understand what will be achieved upon the project's completion.
In general, project deliverable is the final objective that needs to be accomplished at the end of the project.
In project management, deliverables are the concrete, measurable outcomes that demonstrate a project's success. Deliverables are used to evaluate project performance, monitor progress, and ensure that the project's objectives are met. Deliverables in project management can range from technical documentation to physical products or digital assets.
Types of Project Deliverables in Project Management
To manage project deliverables effectively, it's good to know the distinction between their different types, their purpose, and when to use them. Here are the key deliverables you should know:
Tangible Deliverables and Intangible Deliverables
Tangible deliverables are physical or concrete items that are produced as part of a project. These can include reports, prototypes, equipment, or any other tangible products. The tangible deliverable provides specific evidence of progress and serve as measurable outputs that contribute to the successful completion of the project.
Intangible deliverables, on the other hand, are not physical in nature but represent specific outcomes or results achieved through the project. They often involve knowledge, expertise, or intellectual property. Examples of intangible deliverables include a training program, guidelines, policies, or organizational changes.
Internal Deliverables and External Deliverables
Internal deliverables are specific outputs or results that are produced and utilized within the project team or organization. They may include project plans, progress reports, team communication channels, or any other internal project-related documents. These deliverables facilitate effective project management and collaboration within the team.
However, external project deliverables are produced for independent stakeholders or clients. They are intended to meet the requirements and expectations of these external parties, for example, client reports, product prototypes for user testing, customer documentation, or any other project outcomes tailored for external use or consumption.
Process Deliverables and Product Deliverables
Process deliverables focus on defining and documenting project processes, methodologies, and procedures. These deliverables enable efficient project execution and ensure consistent and standardized approaches. Examples of process deliverables include project plans, risk management frameworks, quality assurance processes, or change control procedures.
Product deliverables are the tangible outcomes that are created or developed as part of the project and delivered to the client or end-users. They can be physical products, software applications, or services that meet the specified requirements and provide value to the intended recipients.
Project Milestones
Project milestone is a significant point in a project that marks the completion of a specific phase, stage, or important event. It serves as a checkpoint to assess progress and ensure that the project is on track.
Milestones can be represented by specific deliverables, such as a project plan, design document, or a completed prototype. They help monitor project progress, manage dependencies, and allow for effective communication with internal and external stakeholders.
Project Deliverables Examples
Project deliverables will vary depending on the type of work you do, team workflow, or project scope. Here are a few examples of project deliverables
1. Software development: in a software development project, deliverables might include a functional requirements document, a software prototype, and the final software application.
2. Marketing campaign: deliverables for a marketing campaign could include a marketing plan, promotional materials, and a post-campaign performance report.
3. Research project: here, deliverables might consist of a research proposal, a literature review, and a final research report.
4. Training program: comprehensive training curriculum, training materials, assessments, training sessions, documentation, facilities and resources, a training plan, certification process, needs analysis, and feedback and improvement plan.
5. Construction project: deliverables for construction might comprise constructed building or infrastructure according to the design plans, project completion documentation, including as-built drawings and specifications, safety and compliance certificates, or operation and maintenance manuals.
6. Organizational change project: here, managing project deliverables includes creating change management plan and strategy, communication materials for stakeholders, training programs and workshops, or evaluation reports on the impact of the change.
7. Product launch project: successfully launched product in the market will include the following—marketing and promotional materials, sales performance reports, customer feedback and satisfaction surveys.
These examples illustrate the diverse range of project deliverables across various industries. And it's important to customize them based on the specific requirements and project objectives.
How to Write Deliverables
Sometimes it may be challenging to define project deliverables when everything seems to be important for the final project output.
Here's how to define key project deliverables in five easy steps:
1. Define the Scope
Clearly outline the project's scope, including its objectives, goals, and constraints. This will help you identify the deliverables needed to achieve the project's goals.
Don't forget about additional elements that should be specified in your project charter—project scope statement, acceptance criteria, project requirements, project plan, all tasks, costs, people involved, etc.
2. Identify Internal or External Stakeholders
Identifying key stakeholders is an important step in project management for project success because you can then better identify internal or external deliverables.
Internal stakeholders are individuals or groups within the organization directly involved in or impacted by the project. External stakeholders, on the other hand, are individuals or entities outside the organization who have an interest in or are affected by the project.
2. Be Specific
Clearly define each deliverable, providing detailed descriptions, specifications, and requirements. Ensure that each deliverable is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
Remember that one project deliverable can be part of other project deliverables, so it's important to precise the requirements. It'll help avoid confusion and will set your priorities straight.
3. Categorize Deliverables
Organize your deliverables into categories, such as functional, technical, or administrative. This will help you manage and prioritize them more effectively.
It's easier to manage deliverables when they're separated into specific items. You can use a Work breakdown structure (WBS) method to categorize your work. It's a method recommended by the Project Management Institute.
WBS is a hierarchical decomposition of the project deliverables into smaller, more manageable components. It helps organize and structure the work required to complete the project.
Each component can be further broken down into smaller tasks and activities as needed. The WBS helps in defining the scope, estimating resources, and facilitating effective project planning and management.
4. Assign Responsibilities
Clearly identify the team members responsible for each deliverable, ensuring that everyone knows their role and can be held accountable for their work.
As a project manager, you should allocate resources according to the project charter and project requirements. Team members skills and experience should correspond to the difficulty of each task and its specification.
5. Establish Timelines
Define deadlines for each deliverable, helping to keep the project on track and ensuring that stakeholders have a clear understanding of when each deliverable will be completed.
Remember, project deliverables act as a contractual agreement between the project team and stakeholders. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that they accurately reflect the agreed-upon outcomes and are well-defined and realistic. It'll help to avoid any potential misunderstandings.
6. Review and Adjust
Following project's progress will help to avoid project scope creep and deliver your project deliverables on time.
Use project management software, such as TimeCamp Planner to manage project deliverables. Not only will it help you in defining deliverables but also ensuring everything is on the right track.
Tips for Managing Project Deliverables
Defining a good project deliverable isn't always easy. Especially, if you work on complex projects. However, there are certain steps you can take to ease this process.
Hare are a few useful tips for project deliverables to push the project forward:
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Use project management tools—the right tool can help you automate and streamline workflow, better allocate resources, and monitor overall project performance.
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Have a good project management plan—when you know what you want to achieve, how you plan on doing it, and what'll be involved, it's easier for managing project deliverables.
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Include important documentation—additional paers, files, and other type of documents are a good addition for clarity and transparency, and as a source of reference.
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Use the right productivity method—when you use the right technique (according to your personal, business, and team needs), you prioritize work effectively and can better define project deliverable.
What Apps to Use for Creating Project Deliverables?
On of the best solutions is to use a dedicated project management software. It has all the features that can help you better plan your work, communicate with your team, stakeholders, and keep everyone on the same page.
Here's what you can do with TimeCamp Planner, a robust scheduling and collaboration app, to improve process of creating project deliverables:
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User-friendly and intuitive interface makes it easy for eery project manager to administer work.
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You can easily convert part of your conversation into a task—a helpful feature for creating deliverables on-the-go.
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Different views for an entire project plan: Kanban, Gantt chart, task list, project timelines, or project calendars.
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Every task can be adjusted—you can set a due date, assign tasks to particular people, add tags, create a to-do list, description, files, checklists, comment on it, make it a recurring task, and watch overdue tasks.
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You can connect with your team via different communication channels (individual or group chat, comments and notes within a task, or make a video call).
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The feature of workspaces allows you to create many spaces so you can share each project milestone with the stakeholders.
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Monitor progress throughout all project phases with Progress Bar.
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You can connect it with TimeCamp time tracker to track time for an accurate schedule.
TimeCamp Planner gives you space to freely and smoothly organize tasks and projects. You can use it as central hub for all your project deliverables. You don’t have to switch between apps and tabs. Everything is in one place!
Mastering Project Deliverables for Successful Outcomes
Writing clear and concise project deliverables is essential for project success. By understanding what deliverables are, categorizing them, and defining them using SMART criteria, project managers can effectively communicate expectations, monitor progress, and ensure that project goals are met.
With these best practices in mind and good project management software, such as TimeCamp Planner, you'll be well-equipped to create effective project deliverables that drive successful outcomes.