Once this occurs, it means that the overall process has been shortened from design to product implementation. Identify slack in the activities not on the project critical path.

The different slack activities that are not on the projects critical path include: circuit, battery, display, camera and user interface designs. The slack in this part of the structure is 1. At the same time, other areas that would fall into categories that are not on the critical path include: hardware research and prototype testing. The slack for these areas are: 9 and 6. When you put these different elements together, this highlights, how there could be a possible slack that will range from 1 to 9 days. This is important, because it is underscoring possible delays and challenges that could be faced when producing / designing the phone.

Your boss would like you to suggest changes that could be made to the project that would significantly shorten it. What would you suggest?

Possible changes that could be made to shorten the project include increasing the overall amount of collaboration among staff and team members. Under this kind of approach the company could have a small team work on the design and manufacture of this phone. Where, each team would work on specific aspects of the project, but would have their work subject to peer review. This approach of keeping the teams small and improving collaboration will reduce the underlying amounts of secrecy surrounding the device. As possible leaks about specifications or product information could occur. However, beyond this point, this approach could improve collaboration and the design of the product by ensuring that a number of different viewpoints are taken into account. This will improve the kind of product that is being manufactured, as the increased collaboration will help to create more applications and features that are most in demand from consumers.

A good example of this can be seen by looking no further than the design process that Google uses for any of their different products. As the company will use a similar approach that was described above, to address the underlying challenges in product design and manufacturing. This is important, because the popularity of Google Android Smartphone, has allowed the company to introduce a rival product. Evidence of this can be seen with the number of available applications, as they have increased...

(Rao, 2010) This is significant, because it shows how this approach could streamline the process and improve the overall quality of phone that is being produced. When you put these different elements together, this means that the phone will perform better than competitors and it offers more applications. This will help to improve how vendors are selected and how contracts will be negotiated. As the phone will be in demand before it is introduced to the markets. At which point, Motorola can introduce lucrative agreements for them. Another option is it to allow developers to create free applications for the phone. This is similar that what Google is doing with the Android and it could be helpful increasing the popularity of the device. (Shore, 2010)
Clearly, Motorola has an opportunity to design a phone that can challenge the dominance of the I Phone. As the functional product strategy could be used to address the underlying issues. This worked successful for the company with the design and manufacture with Razor. That being said, this approach could produce the desired results, with the strategy limiting the number of people working on the project and streamlining decision making. Yet, if more people could introduce their ideas and test the product, this would help to increase the number of applications and features that are in demand. Once this takes place, it means that Motorola has a product that can challenge Apple and other major players.

Bibliography

I Phone 4 Technical Specifications. (2010). Apple. Retrieved from: http://www.apple.com/iPhone/specs.html

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Product Management. (n.d.). McGraw Hill. Retrieved from: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/007340330x/416102/jacobs_ch02.pdf

Rao, L. (2010). Google. Tech Crunch. Retrieved from: http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/15/google-android-market-now-serving-38000-apps-nexus-one-is-a-profitable-business/

Reardon, M. (2008). Motorola's Cell Phone Dominance. CNET. Retrieved from: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10119169-94.html

Shore, B. (2010). Google. Global Project Strategy. Retrieved from: http://globalprojectstrategy.com/lessons/sucess.php?id=7