In my previous article, I looked at some of the facts that you need to know about the project scope statement document.

 

In this article, I want to look at some of the techniques for alternative analysis for projects. Follow me as we are going to look at that in this article.

 

 

Alternative identification techniques are methods for generating as many alternative solutions and plans as possible during project planning.

 

 

The alternative techniques…

#1 Lateral thinking

This is a creative approach to problem-solving in which the team attempts to think about a problem in new ways and generate a fresh solution.

 

 

#2 Brainstorming

This is a general creativity technique for generating possible alternatives. brainstorming methods can be structured or unstructured in approach.

 

 

 

The goal is to generate as many ideas as possible from as many team members as possible.

 

 

#3 Delphi technique

This is a group technique that extracts and summarises anonymous expert group input to choose among various alternatives. often used to arrive at an estimate or forecast.

 

Project objectives…

Project objectives are the criteria used to measure whether a project is successful or not.

Objectives must be:

• Specific in terms of scope
• Quantifiable in terms of time, cost and quality
• Realistic and attainable
• Consistent in terms of time, cost and quality
• Inclusive of at least one objective.

 

Typical example…

The following objective was developed for a project devoted to the development of an educational product ” Arithmetic on a Stick”.

 

 

“Develop a handheld interactive math game for three to six-year-olds, that include four levels of instruction, practice, and remediation in early math skills based on national math standards, produced by June 1, 2019, for less than. $25Million.

 

 

Note how the objective has the characteristics of a quantifiable objective :

• The objective specifies the scope: handheld interactive math game for three to six-year-olds that includes four levels of instruction, practice, and remediation in early math skills.
• It is quantifiable in terms of time: by June 1  2009.
• It is quantifiable in terms of cost: less than $2.5Million
• Quality measurement is specifically based on the nature of the product

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