DELIVERY CADENCE

Delivery cadence refers to the timing and frequency of project deliverables. Projects can have a single delivery, multiple deliveries, or periodic deliveries.

• Single delivery. Projects that have a single delivery deliver at the end of the project. For example, a process reengineering project may not have any deliveries until near the end of the project when the new process is rolled out.
• Multiple deliveries. Some projects have multiple deliveries. A project may have multiple components that are delivered at different times throughout the project. A project to develop a new drug may have multiple deliveries, such as preclinical submissions, Phase 1 trial results, Phase 2 trial results, Phase 3 trial results, registration, and then launch. In this example, the deliveries are sequential. Some projects have deliveries that are developed separately rather than sequentially, such as a project to update building security. Deliveries may include physical barriers to entry, new badges, new key code pads, and so forth. Each of these is a separate delivery, but they do not need to come in a specific order. All of the deliveries are concluded before the project is considered to be completed.
• Periodic deliveries. Periodic deliveries are like multiple deliveries, but they are on a fixed delivery schedule, such as monthly or bimonthly. A new software application may have internal deliveries every two weeks, and then periodically release the deliveries into the market.

Another delivery option is called continuous delivery. Continuous delivery is the practice of delivering feature increments immediately to customers, often through the use of small batches of work and automation technology. Continuous delivery can be used for digital products. From the product management perspective, the emphasis is on delivering benefits and value throughout the product life cycle. Similar to a project, there are aspects that are development oriented. However, similar to a program, there can be many development cycles as well as maintenance activities. This type of undertaking works better with project teams that are stable and remain intact. Because the project teams are focused on one product, they can apply learning about the product, the stakeholders, and the market. This allows the team to respond to market trends and stay focused on value delivery. This practice is included in several approaches such as DevOps, #noprojects and Continuous Digital, for example.