Managing Development Projects with Discovery-Driven Planning

I am in agreement with Bret that the article on discovery-driven planning (DDP) is essential reading, not only because it sheds some light on the subject of managing innovation but also because it is an apt model for my particular venture's business. In general, it is probably one of the more useful project management tools for development/redevelopment/construction. Having studied some project management here at Heinz, and, having experienced the way that assumptions about any single redevelopment change over the life of the project, I know that DDP is the right approach. A few points in DDP stand out for me. First, the setting of deliverables is always important in construction, as it provides clarification as to what exactly will be done and what product will eventually be offered. A lot of times, development projects go forward under no operating assumptions other than a general statement like "we're going to build a technology park" or "we want to develop a strip mall to make X% return over Y years). In some instances, construction work is even "fast tracked" before architectural and engineering planning has been completed. This is the oposite of DDP because it doesn't involve any rigorous analysis of the underlying process but is more of a "build it and they will come" approach. This simply won't work for an innovative product in a competitive market like housing though, not to mention the fact that it is costlier and less attentive to details). The good thing about my venture, however, is that there is already a defined project area and scope and, using DDP, I can manage the project's progress from point A (vacant historic building) to point B (multi-use green building with historic designation, with an annual return yet to be determined) while using insights from the process to minimize costs and maximize returns. This leads to my second point which is, when you have a well-developed set of deliverables or operational requirements, you are much more capable of managing hurdles as they come along during a project. Flexibility is the key in construction, and I think this is especially true in my case because of the nature of green preservation work. The venture would start with a litany of operational requirements that function that are our deliverables to the target market (i.e. nice green housing, workspace, and neighborhood revitalization). The trick would be to manage any hurdles that come up that would challenge our ability to meet operational requirements, cost overruns obviously being the most important factor. This is where DDP is helpful because, as this is a somewhat nascent industry, there is presumably a lot we are going to learn about our suppliers, our capabilities, material costs, etc. during construction that will change our operating assumptions.