SIMULATION SUMMARY

You are a senior project manager at Delphi Printers & Peripherals, a small electronics and
computer peripheral manufacturer based in Santa Clara, California. You have been tasked with
assembling and directing a product design team to develop a new and innovative consumer
printer. Delphi has intelligence suggesting that a competitor is launching a printer with similar
features and capabilities in 6 months, putting pressure on you and your team to develop a new
printer that can compete effectively against the competitor's offering.

MANAGING YOUR PROJECT

Before you start the project, and each week as it unfolds, you will have an opportunity to adjust
certain project parameters. Spend about 15 minutes now entering initial decisions for the
following areas.

1. Project Scope

You have flexibility as to what type of printer you wish to design. Below are four possible
products you might develop. Each builds on the previous, allowing you to adjust mid-course if
desired.

minimal 130 This model is less sophisticated than the competitor's, prints slowly, and has few high-end features.
tasks

wireless 170 The wireless printer would connect automatically to wi-fi or cellular networks. This is a key feature of
tasks the competitor's printer.

high-speed 185 Speed of printing is always a concern for end users. By designing more sophisticated rendering firmware
tasks and a faster mechanical subsystem, you could drastically increase printing speed beyond the
performance of the competitor's product.

multifunction 200 This printer's specs include a snap-in module for scanning and faxing. Among other things this would
tasks provide an easy way for consumers to make color copies of photos. This would be considerably more
sophisticated than the expected competitor's printer.

Senior management has conveyed to you their expectations about project scope based on 1)
their analysis of the competitive situation and 2) their market objectives for the new printer.

You may change your project scope in any round. You may also choose to end the project at any
time by clicking the End Project button. However, if you depart from the scope expectations of
senior management, you can expect your project performance to reflect this departure.

2. Project Schedule

Senior management has given you its objectives regarding schedule based on its analysis of the
competitive situation and required time for market launch of the new printer.
You may change your schedule (your target completion time) in any round. However, if you
exceed the completion target handed to you by senior management, you can expect your project
performance to be judged accordingly.

3. Project Resources

To staff your project, you must choose a number of project team members and an average staff
skill level. You may also choose to outsource some of the work in any round. More project team
members can do more work, but of course each additional team member also adds to project
costs. Teams with higher average skill levels are more productive, but they also cost more.
Outsourcing offers some staffing cost savings, but also incurs additional effort to coordinate work
done at remote locations. Note that adding resources during a project requires some startup
communication and coordination work, this may temporarily hinder the team's productivity. Also,
changing skill level during a project incurs temporary productivity penalties, due to the
changeover in personnel.

While you may choose how many individuals to put on the team, you will be rated on the total
cost of labor for this project.

TEAM PROCESS
You may make ongoing types of decsions regarding your team process.

Overtime

You may choose to allow overtime. Team members will work in excess of 40 hours/week as
required to complete the project. This is not guaranteed, however. If your team suffers from poor
morale, absenteeism, or tardiness, for example, the number of hours worked will decline.
Alternatively, if you "encourage" your team to work overtime, they will work more hours per week
than they would have otherwise. Finally, you may also prohibit overtime.

Meetings

As you assemble your staff, you may want to schedule meetings to help coordinate activities
among members or train new staff in the details of the project. You may choose among several
types of meetings:

One-on-One 2 hours/session You work directly with an individual on your team, helping to develop specific job skills. Such
Coaching skill-building will increase productivity and decrease problems over the long term.

Daily Standup 15 minutes, 5 A 15 minute meeting to start every day in which team members discuss their plans for the day
days a week along with successes and/or problems from the previous day. Aids in preventing mistakes and
subsequent rework due to mis-coordination.
Status 2 hours/meeting Full team meeting discussing current status of the project, ensuring everyone is informed.
Helps both with team coordination and with personal skill-development.

Meetings can have a positive effect on team productivity and skill level, but too many meetings
will reduce available task time and create stress.

You will also be rated on the average morale and stress of your team members.

Prototypes

You may decide whether you want to create product prototypes during your project -- and if so,
how many. Prototypes are rough, not fully-functional, mock-ups of the final product. It is extra
work to create prototypes, but they can help you discover things you might not know yet, (but will
eventually need to know) about the product, how customers will interact with it, and other aspects
of the product development effort.

Prototypes Maximum of Prototyping entails the creation of a prototype product and a testing/review period. Both internal
one per week resources and external reviewers vet the prototype. External reviewers are paid for feedback and the
feedback generated from the vetting process informs necessary product changes.

TASKS
A Note on "Tasks"

Product design efforts are measured in "Tasks", each of which typically takes about a person-day
to accomplish. For the purposes of this initiative, you may treat them as independent tasks that
can be assigned and completed by your team.

Not all tasks are completed successfully. Problems with coordination, lack of knowledge, or
ordinary carelessness can lead to mistakes on tasks which must be redone. Decisions you make
on organizing and running your team can have dramatic impact on productivity and reducing
rework requirements.

SCORING
Senior management at Delphi is looking closely at how you perform while managing this effort.
The specific breakdown will be listed under Project Objectives. You will be graded on these
areas:

 Project Scope: Did you deliver a competitive printer that met or exceeded senior
management's expectations?
 Project Schedule: Did you deliver on time to meet senior management's schedule
requirements? Was your schedule estimate consistent during the project?
  Project Resources: Did you complete the project within senior management's budget
objective?

In addition, you will receive points for maintaining a consistently high level of morale and a low
level of stress throughout the project.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES: SCENARIO C

Senior management expects you to release a new printer which will allow you to upstage the
competitor's expected new printer announcement. The target schedule is shortened to allow you
to ramp up manufacturing and marketing soon enough to pre-empt the competitor announcement
with an announcement of your own. The budget will support a cost structure that permits a printer
profit margin which is slightly better than that of the current printer. Your own analysis of the work
required and subsequent work breakdown structure has led you to conclude that these targets
are difficult but achievable. You’re concerned, however, that the market intelligence gathered
about your competitor’s plans might not be reliable. Management has committed to providing
stable access to resources during the project.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
1. Target Scope: High-Speed

You will be able to upstage the competitor's expected new product announcement. You will
receive 200 points for delivering a printer with the scope requested and up to 100 points for
delivering a printer with a more sophisticated scope.

2. Target Schedule: Week 17

This schedule will allow you to ramp up manufacturing and marketing soon enough to quickly
match the competitor new product announcement with one of your own. You will receive 200
points for meeting your schedule goals and up to 100 points for completing ahead of schedule.

3. Target Cost: $40,700

This will support a cost structure that will enable you to release the new printer product with a
profit margin higher than the competitor. You will receive 200 points for meeting your
budget/resources goals and up to 100 points for completing under budget.

You may also receive up to 100 points for team process by maintaining a consistent morale of
85% - 95%.