Good questions. As a biomedical engineer, I went through different projects. The planning and execution phase is challenging. However, a few steps can be taken in the planning and execution stage for competition balance, managing project scope, and managing risks.

1. Adequate background knowledge. Without a literature review and background knowledge, proper planning and execution is not feasible.

2. Consumer requirement. According to the needs, planning should be done.

3. A pilot study should be done before the full execution of the project. 

4. An alternative approach should be fixed before the initiation of the project.

In my opinion, these points should be considered. 

@torikul Agree with all the above but especially wanted to highlight your point about running pilot studies. As a working engineer, I have seen projects dismiss holding a pilot for the sake of 'saving time' only to discover several issues in the study design and have to repeat the study all over again. Not only did that waste time, but also money. For large and expensive studies, such as pre-clinical animal studies, clinical trials, healthy volunteer studies, etc., a pilot is absolutely critical to ensure success of the study and not cause unnecessary timeline delays and spending. While a project manager may think they are saving time in not running a pilot, that is usually not the case.

Project managers in biomedical engineering initiatives use specific strategies to navigate the challenges of competition, project scope, risks, stakeholder engagement, and requirements. They start by meticulously planning and collecting requirements before launching the project. This includes outlining project objectives, scope, deliverables, deadlines, and identifying key stakeholders. By doing so, they establish a clear and structured plan that aligns with stakeholder needs and prevents project scope from expanding uncontrollably. Project managers use techniques to control the scope of projects, making sure they stay within specified limits and avoid expanding uncontrollably. They do this by setting clear goals, specifying what should be delivered, creating processes for managing changes, and regularly checking and confirming requirements with project stakeholders. Identifying, evaluating, and reducing risks is especially important in biomedical engineering projects, which often face challenges related to regulations, technical issues, and safety. Project managers create plans for managing risks, which include strategies for finding, evaluating, prioritizing, and responding to risks throughout the project. This proactive method helps to reduce the impact of potential risks on the project success.

This is a great discussion because it shines light on the importance of the planning stage and how important it is for this to be detailed enough so the execution stage can go smoothly. As discussed in the lecture, there is some overlap between the planning and execution but the planning stage is really vital in setting the precedence for execution and tasks that need to be completed during execution. Some strategies PMs can use are using gantt charts to stay organized and confirm the order of tasks and how long it will take for them to be completed. In addition, as others have mentioned, having clear objectives and a well defined project scope also ensure that the project is moving along in an organized manner. The planning stage consists of proper research (both clinical and market), customer needs study, and proper initial risk management that will be key in identifying the protocol and steps for the execution stage. While they both blend together, they are high related and depend on one another for the project to be successful in the end.