Initiating project idea is one of the hardest part of project development because you are trying to figure out what is the over all goal for this project will be. During this stage you would need to think about your population, timelines and deadlines and organizing teams. If you go about starting a project without all the preperation, there may be some more bumps that may cause delays to the project. During my senior design, we were required to conduct research on a transdermal device in order to develop our own method to of delivering drugs transdermally. During our research we found different methods of delivering the drugs such as electrophoresis, microneedles, etc. We also created deadlines and split responsibilities amongst ourselves and were able to complete our project and meet our deadlines.
It is during this phase of the project that a team is assembled. Initiation is the first phase of project management life cycle, which involves project definition, project constrains and problem statement. The Project Initiation Phase is the most crucial phase in the Project Life Cycle, as it's the phase in which you define your scope and hire your team.
While everyone has said that initiating the project idea is the hardest part (and rightfully so because it determines if the project will exist at all or not), Verification is also something to consider because execution is different than making plans and doing research. Planning a project out to the smallest detail is impossible because it would have to take into account of any small inconveniences that may occur. Validation is a difficult part because it requires executing the idea, as well as making sure it works in accordance to FDA's, the client's, and the company's standards. It also requires all outputs to be verified too; verification is the bulk of the project, which makes it as important as the project initializing.
Initiating a project is the hardest step because it is the time where the answer to the questions is the vaguest and nebulous. It is here that the very non-specific question of why must be asked. Why should we do this project? There are philosophical reasons, such as the new device will help x amount of people in y years, or that it will allow the company to make a strategic move in some direction. But the answer is usually much easier to understand, it comes down to how much money will the company make if the project is completed. That question is quite hard to answer because the members of the project team now have to predict how the market will be shaped at the expected launch date of the new product. This risk can be mitigated with thorough market research, but it is still a hard question to answer. This leads to hard decisions having to be made with regards to the resources allocated to the project at each point and to each department that will be working on the project. These types of decisions are highly complex and there isn’t a correct answer, which makes this stage one of the hardest to get through.
Initiating a project is the hardest part because you have to have an idea and a product that others can see as a product. It might work in your head but can you communicate it well enough so others can picture it. It is also very complicated because you need to be able to sell a product without actually having one. You need to do massive research especially market and business research to make sure this product is needed. If you do not have enough research on the product being needed why would the company want to waste resources to make it. You need to sell the product so well before its even designed and funny enough by the time the product is designed it will probably be completely different then what you showed the company when first initiating the project.
Initiating projects is getting buy-in from others by balancing research and taking a strong lead in my experience. In contrast to what others have said in this thread, initiating a project isn't necessarily the very beginning of one. Many times, you'll be on an already existing account or project that requires something new. For example, I'm often asked to join projects post-production to ensure our systems are integrated onto our product floor and functional. Often, I find I need to update systems to increase safety or functionality. But, even though this is what I'm assigned, it's still my responsibility as the project manager to initiate changes and get them approved on my own. For example, we had a machine where operators were meant to manually load product. There was a risk that their fingers or hands could be injure in the process, so after some research I proposed adding a light curtain in-house for preventative measures. To get buy-in, I wrote up memos for my managers that included important regulation information, budgets, and details on how I would go about creating the curtain itself. The information alone isn't enough though because often the people you're pitching these changes to don't know much about them firsthand. This lack of knowledge may make the people you need to sway more apprehensive. For that reason, you need to take a strong lead. When you get questions, you have to be confident and be unafraid to make them say their fears out loud. You need to project confidence to build trust and support. In many other instances, you may even need to hold meetings and say "this is what we're going to do, and this is how", in order to get things done efficiently. Its difficult to do, but saves everyone time and energy in the end.
Beginning or starting anything; be it project, chores, work etc. is always a struggle but when you pass the huddle of starting, then you have a smooth sailing and becomes much easier to go through the process.
Initiating a project will always be the hardest part of any project development because you have to find a way to pen down all your thoughts and the way you picture the project has to be brought to reality for everyone to understand, relate to it, have similar mindset and of cause should be to a well readable form for everyone to practically see the ideal which is not always easy for everyone to get initiator's idea or perfect picture.
When Initiating a project, you have to consider the business side of it and if there is a market out there for the project. the market research will determine if the project you are initiating has a market base or audience and if so, how large is the audience or market base. This will help to determine if the project is worth considering as a business.
Therefore, for someone with a project idea that thinks is worth wild need to first be able to channel their project idea in a way everyone sees the big picture and understand it the way he has it and be able to relate to it. then consider the market base, how much audience will your project cover, what the long term benefits will be then make sure the business is something that will grow over time as the market base grows.
In all, to sell you project ideas, you should be able to successfully cross the huddle of initiating and make sure your ideas can be pen down into a readable form and properly understood. secondly you market and business now plays a role on if the project will be a successful sell out now and years to come.
From my experience, the first step of a project is the hardest because it is the most open-ended. By this I mean that the amount of options that you must choose from is the greatest and among those choices it is often not initially obvious which one is the best. The other parts to design control are all simpler because they are decided by the project idea.
Business and market research play an important role in initiating a project idea because they are used to judge all prospective ideas against the criteria the business thinks are important. For example, market research would tell who and how many people would have a need for a certain product and would tell if an idea is favorable or if is there is a new idea that had not been considered.
If a person wanted to make their project idea to be funded, they would need to demonstrate a need at the company or in the market and how their idea would fulfill that need.
Initiating a project idea is the hardest part of the project development because the person might find a good idea but has no population to market the product to, or have a perfect idea, and the population but it is impossible, or the person does not have the skillset to make it a product. With proper market research, we can decide our population and target our customers; this step will help in developing the product to fit the need of the customers and make a business plan. A crucial step in market research is customer interviews where we can get feedback from customers about the idea, features do they wish to add, and the price that they think is affordable to them. To make a strong pitch for a product, the most important thing is to have a strong business plan and a detailed business profit with a timeline. Another important aspect to get fund for a project is choosing the board who believe and work on the project this factor gives confidence to investors to fund a project.
Coming up with an idea for a project is often times the most challenging part of project development as this step usually requires the most creativity and critical thinking. Initiating a project requires first narrowing down your project ideas and choosing which option you believe is best, whether that be a decision made by yourself or with members of your project team. The most important thing to consider when selecting a project is finding gaps in the marketplace in order to set your project apart from previous projects and to make your project more appealing to potential businesses and companies that may be interested in funding the project. Furthermore, what makes starting a new project so difficult more often times than not is the uncertainty that goes with the beginning stages of developing a project as anything can change at any time, and your project may end up achieving a completely different goal than what you originally expected.
I agree that Initiating a project idea is the hardest thing in the whole project because the rest of the project depends on it. For my pint of view, thinking about project idea can be divided into two periods. First, studying the market by knowing the demand and the competitor products. Then, brainstorm ideas that can add value to the existing product or thinking about a new project that may meet the market demand. All others phases of project are created to achieve the goal of the project idea.
Initiating a project idea is the hardest part of project development because this is the part where a rough outline of everything is required. You need to provide an outline of what the device does, when the device will be finished and everything in between. You also need to present strong proof that the device or product will be viable. This is where the business and market research come in. You need to ensure that this device will not be rendered useless in 6 months and to do this you need to see what is happening in the market and how things are changing to support your device for years to come. The way for people with project ideas can convince their company or someone to fund the product is to, not only make sure you have a great idea and people who also think so, but make sure you have tons of support for your product. Itll solidify the idea that your product isn't just good because you think so but also because the market and business support that idea.
