How Adequate is Your Delivery Platform?

We have learned from nature that the ability to “deliver” largely depends on the capability of the womb. Most animals can only deliver according to the type, the capacity, and the cycle of their respective wombs. For instance, most birds can only lay eggs, whereas the pregnancy cycle and “batch size” for common animals are suggested as follows: rabbits, 31 days and up to 5 cubs; dogs, 64 days and up to 7 or even 12 puppies; elephants, 22 months and a single cub; doves, 2 weeks and two eggs; and mother-Kangaroo only keeps one Joey in her pouch. Different patterns and different outputs; hence, different “wombs” (delivery factories) are needed for different portfolios of projects.  

We have also observed from the animal kingdom that a “defective” womb would impair delivery by negatively affecting its cycle (e.g., causing miscarriage or prolonged pregnancy) or even its output (e.g., resulting in stillborn or pseudo pregnancy). Any of the above predicaments may have serious consequences on the welfare and the state of mind of the mother animal and can even last quite a long time after the unfortunate failed delivery.  

The same womb-delivery dynamics apply to project management since the ability to deliver projects largely depends on the capabilities in place, just as ordinarily applies to manufacturing (i.e., factory). However, Project management mainly differs from manufacturing (viz. operations) as follows:  

• Projects deliver a single, novel “outcome” as opposed to a high volume or line production  
• Projects deliver highly varied “outcomes” as opposed to low variety, mass production.

What then should constitute the Project Delivery Platform? In other words, what elements should be put together to create a “factory” or “womb” for projects? We should try and answer this question while keeping in mind the three ...