What do deliverables look like?
Software development projects can be very large and lengthy. The goals and strategic roadmap can be complicated and vast. As such, it is important that there is a breaking down of these large structures into smaller, more manageable chunks that can allow software development teams to work efficiently on their project without getting overwhelmed or confused.
Deliverables in software projects help structure work throughout a project in such a way that all members of the team know what they should be working on at any given time to make the necessary progress.
Rather than wide, vague goals, deliverables are specific, clear tasks that mark progress throughout a project.
Examples of deliverables might look like…
- Requirements specification completed and shared
- Prototype design completed
- User guide produced
- App launched
- Data migrated
Rather than telling a development team to spend one week working on their area of the project to move progress along, a project manager or product owner would offer a deliverable such as “prototype design completed” so that these developers know exactly what they are working on and what the end result should look like. These deliverables might even be split into smaller sub-deliverables (or releases) in which smaller tasks are given to teams or individuals. This further helps to structure and plan effective work.
There are internal and external deliverables. The former are those that are dealt with within your own software development company and team, and the latter are those that are sent to a client or stakeholder. External deliverables might include finalised designs, the product itself, user guides, and progress reports.