Comparing Deliverables Between Agile, Scrum & Others In Project Management

Project deliverables play a very important role in completing your project on time and within budget.

It minimizes friction and helps guide your team members properly. It will be difficult if even the manager is unsure of the next step.

Hence, planning and understanding what a deliverable is in project management will greatly increase your efficiency and help you create positive changes in your team!

What is a project deliverable in project management?

A project deliverable can be both tangible or intangible.

It can be a physical product or something that cannot be touched. As long as it is done within the scope of the project, it is considered a deliverable.

Usually, project deliverables should be discussed and agreed on at the start of the project. Resources can be allocated and team members can refer to the documents throughout the project.

Defining internal and external project deliverables

One of the common ways to categorize deliverables is to separate them into internal project deliverables and external project deliverables.

How do you separate them?

Internal project deliverables are sent to your own team members within the company's departments. Common examples of this internal work include the product's initial design, progress reports or time management reports.

For external project deliverables, it will be submitted to stakeholders outside of the company. You or your team member will have to share the results to clients and stakeholders. Some common examples are initial designs, initial ideation and more.

Are product deliverables the same as process deliverables?

Within project deliverables, they can be further split into process deliverables and product deliverables.

Process deliverables can be given from the start till the end of the project. They are crucial outputs that help the project move forward without directly fulfilling a project requirement.

Examples of process deliverables could be Gantt charts, checklists, bug reports or initial designs that are to be approved.

Product deliverables are final outputs that meet the requirements set by the clients. This is the part where investors and clients will be keen on. It's where the fruits of everyone's labour are reaped!

Examples or product deliverables could be a ready-to-launch mobile app, a website or a full social media marketing strategy.

Don't confuse project deliverables with milestones!

A common confusion for new project managers is being unable to differentiate between milestones and project deliverables.

Milestones are actually checkpoints in the course of the project. Imagine them as little flags that you can put anytime and anywhere during the project.

Do note that milestones do not have deadlines. They are simply little ways to keep track of a project's progress to ensure that it goes in the right direction.

Having milestones can help project managers break down complex deliverables into smaller, digestible parts.

Lastly, milestones are not related to your clients. They are for your team members to know about. You may choose to share your milestones in your client report, but it is usually not necessary to do so.

Examples of project deliverables

Each team's project deliverable varies. Everyone has a different role and a different part to play within the project.

1. Product team

Within the project team, there's usually product managers, designers, UI/UX designers and data analysts.

Examples of their project deliverables can include:

• Product direction presentation
• UI wireframe
• Consumer journey
• Customer retention data and report

2. Creative team

This is where the writers, editors, copywriters, designers, photographers and more are found. Here, team members have the opportunity to let their creative juices flow and create spectacular outcomes!

Examples of their project deliverables can include:

• Blog articles
• Website wireframe with content
• Email outlines/newsletters
• Online and offline promotional materials

3. Professional services

This team consists of accountants, IT specialists, lawyers, consultants and more.

Examples of their project deliverables can include:

• Financial reports
• Blueprint designs
• Contract forms
• Internal data systems

4. Marketing team

In today's world, marketing is more than just coming up with advertisements or ideas. SEOs, copywriters, brand strategists can be found here. They research and discover the trending keywords with high search volume.

Examples of their project deliverables can include:

• Keyword research report
• Sales copy
• Brand strategy
• Social media creatives

5. Agencies

Some companies would prefer to outsource part of work to agencies. Agency teams may include account managers, social media strategists, content creators and developers.

Examples of their project deliverables can include:

• Media plan
• Social media content
• Social media creatives
• Coded websites or WordPress themes

When should your project deliverables be agreed upon?

It is always wiser to decide on the project deliverables in the early stages of planning. This is usually done within the project management plan.

Project deliverables are closely linked with the objectives, and this will affect the progress and resource allocation for the project.

Inaccurately defined deliverables may lead to project failure.

Hence, it is important to establish clear project deliverables that are accurate and measurable to ensure that the project progresses smoothly.

What is Agile Methodology in project management?

How do you apply Agile Methodology to the project that you're working on? What are the benefits of using Agile Methodology?

By definition, the Agile Methodology is a way to manage a project by dividing it into separate phases. Each stage will require the stakeholders to be involved and for lots of feedbacks to be given. This ensure continuous improvement and for the project not to detail from the original goal.

What are Agile and Scrum deliverables?

In general, there are two different types of deliverables. These deliverables offer high levels of flexibility, collaboration and high quality results.

Deliverables include:

• Your product vision statement
• Product roadmap (what are the requirements to achieve your project mission and vision)
• Product backlog (a list with priorities clearly stated)
• Release plan (timetable)
• Sprint backlog
• Increment

The Agile methodology is a more popular choice as compared to the usual project management. Deliverables between the two management styles are clearly different.

With Scrum, the product can be better developed and delivered. Higher quality, efficiency and product ownership will be generated.

Scrum deliverables are built on three main foundations: transparency, adaptation and inspection. Scrum is very helpful when dealing with complex and fast-changing projects, or for new pioneers' products. It allows the team to gather feedback quickly and adapt to changes!

Scrum masters may also choose to do daily stand-ups where they ask the team on their progress. This will help if scrum masters can offer help quickly, but it might also generate stress for certain employees.