STEP 3: Project Proposal

Reasons for a Project Proposal

A Project proposal is absolutely important before you can start any actions. If your idea needs development work and new components, a proposal is essential. In this proposal, your goal is to get the approval of your managing directors or your Board of Directors by explaining some important points of your project.

Main facts?

Depending on the company you work for, a project proposal can contain different information and facts. But usually a few points are essential like:

• Project Name (give your idea a name, it does not necessarily be a perfect product name)
• Explain in a short summary , what the application is and which problem your project solves.
• Which customers are in need if your idea?
• What is the innovation?
• Any new patents?

Here at MOBA, we always ensure, that the idea and also the realization of the idea fits to our MOBA Strategy and ideally to our Product Family.

Therefore most of us are in close contact to all other colleagues to make sure, to not forget anything.

Of course, there are some more points to add:

• Competitive Situation
• Estimated time and costs of the project

You can only estimate the time of the project if you can rely on past experience; otherwise ask your colleagues again for their advice. Also the costs are hard to calculate, because you never know, if anything works as well as you have it in mind. Costs can occur in form of additional development costs, test equipment, different 3D-models and tool costs, etc.

The cost calculation is one of the most complicated points in your project proposal!

But these skills are exactly, what makes you a good project- or product-manager. You have to calculate the risks and stay realistic throughout your whole project!

And after development work is done?

Now you have to predict the second hard part of your proposal. You have to explain, what happens to your product after the development is done.

• What about sales numbers?
• What about customers?
• Prices?
• Sales channels?
• Turnovers for the next 3 or 5 years?
• Any test customers available?

All these questions are important, because you maybe have a development between 1 and 3, up to 5 years. Several people are working on your project for days, weeks and months in order to get it ready for the first prototypes and later on for serial product status. Your company will have high development costs during that time, so it is important to forecast sales numbers, prices and turnovers to your best knowledge.

All caught up?

Did you forget anything? Everything double-checked? Should you hand over it now or should you wait one more day? Maybe you forgot something?

It is always exciting to finally hand out your project proposal because you eager to learn what the acceptance will be. All your thoughts and ideas sounded perfect to you, but how do others react?

I personally check such proposals several times, implement some new things and delete others. It works the same way like in Steps 1 & 2. The more often I read it, the more often I can optimize it.

But you have to be careful. As soon as you start to change points back into your start formulation, you probably changed it too often.

To avoid that, I save different versions of my proposal. If I would only update one version, it would be hard to pick the best formulation again.

If you feel ready, sign it, fill in the date and pass it on to your Managing Directors…

Follow me on my journey and find out what the next steps are...