Project thinking vs Product thinking.
“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without
changing our thinking.” — Albert Einstein
The above quote said by one of the greatest thinkers born on this planet. Thinking is the ideology and psychology which you will believe in eventually and also preach.
One of the most famous examples of how thinking can put maximum weightage on the way a company produces its products is Steve Jobs design thinking which has still been in the core DNA of Apple.inc.
Humans being an intelligent species, thinking plays an influential role in our actions towards any task. By now I guess you should be able to realize our thinking is necessary and plays a significant role. Going ahead let us see how do big companies think.
Project thinking and Product thinking, What are these terms?
Project thinking
Project thinking is where you plan each thing. Even the minor requirement so that there is no disturbance in the flow. A project manager is always the one who runs the show in this type of approach with their
team.
In this strategy, the administrator’s opinion matters the most. Some of the required things to keep into consideration during the completion of a task in this approach are Time, Resources, Deadlines etc. Mostly it all comes to time because if you don’t efficiently use your resources which are in hand at the
correct time, then it will cause chaos.
Big market players who hit losses due to poor project management were Sony when they had just launched Sony Betamax, even apple had troubles when they launched Apple Lisa a product which didn’t stand to its mark.
American Airlines is an example of where project thinking and management has worked extensively. Now coming to Product thinking.
Product thinking.
Product thinking is more objective related approach which focuses on the delivery of the quality in the end merchandise. The effectiveness of the product is more stressed in this case.
The motive behind this approach is to only focus on the product development without keeping track of timeline and delivery of it. Here the deal breaker is your uniqueness, if your product isn’t unique enough then chances of it being overshadowed are very high.
The leader running things will have to be a quick decision-maker. As there is always innovation happening, making quick decisions becomes necessary. In product thinking it’s a race against your competitors. Getting a quality product out before your competitor matters at all cost.
Project thinking vs Product thinking. Which approach you should
take up and why?
Both approaches have their pros and cons. If you have a Goal and deadline for a job, I would suggest hands down take up the Project thinking approach. In project thinking, its easier to have calculative risks compared to product thinking. Project thinking brings budget limitations to the table thus giving room for pre-planning. Pre-planning helps to neatly catalogue work.
When you start a business at a small scale and quality is at the core product thinking comes into the picture. Where the product will always be more important for the consumer. Product thinking also teaches you to adapt to the situation thrown on you due to development by your competitors.
In conclusion, Both approaches are wonderful and unique in their way. You can use both Product thinking as well as Project thinking to rip the benefits. But remember balance is important and this will be the only
thing which will be a decider.