Commission a break-even study for the laser printer.
Very little in the way of concrete savings was identified, although there
was consensus that time could be compressed to the market launch date, but
at additional costs.
Lauren met with the marketing (Connor), production (Kim), and design
(Gage) managers, who yielded some ideas for cutting costs, but nothing
significant enough to have a large impact. Gage remarked, “I wouldn’t want
to be the one to deliver the message to top management that their cost
estimate is $1,250,000 off! Good luck, Lauren.”
1. At this point, what would you do if you were the project manager?
2. Was top management acting correctly in developing an estimate?
3. What estimating techniques should be used for a mission-critical project
such as this?
