PMLC Model

(Records the Project Management Life Cycle model selected for PackyTrace and the reasoning behind it. The selected model is unchanged after the consumer-first pivot: only the goal statement and supporting evidence are updated. The pivot is itself the strongest evidence that the choice was correct.)

Decision summary

Field Value
Selected model Adaptive
Status Confirmed, unchanged after the pivot
Alternatives considered Linear, Incremental, Iterative, Extreme
Next review Three-month validation checkpoint

1. Definition

PMLC stands for Project Management Life Cycle: the approach chosen for how the project is run, the overall shape of how work flows from start to finish.

Different projects need different approaches. Building a bridge, where everything must be planned before a single beam is laid, needs a very different approach from developing a product nobody has built before, where the team discovers what works as it goes. Five common models exist, from most rigid to most flexible: Linear, Incremental, Iterative, Adaptive, Extreme.

2. Model selection

The Adaptive model was selected at the start of the project, and the first months have validated that choice. Early feedback, from consumers and from our Tetra Pak advisor, showed that the original value proposition ("DPP as a marketing asset for brands") was not felt strongly enough by the people who would have to use it. Under a Linear plan, that discovery would have arrived after months of building. Under Adaptive, it arrived early, cheaply, and reshaped the backlog instead of killing the project.

Model Fit for PackyTrace Outcome
Linear Requirements and solution must be fully known up front. Ours are not. Rejected
Incremental Same rigidity as Linear, delivered in stages. Still assumes a fixed plan. Rejected
Iterative Allows refinement, but assumes the solution is largely understood. Rejected
Adaptive Goal is clear, solution is partially known, change is expected and frequent. Selected
Extreme For projects where even the goal is unknown. Our goal is defined. Rejected

3. Rationale

The Adaptive model fits PackyTrace on four points:

  • Clear goal, now sharper. Help a defined consumer group (20–30) buy food that fits their goals, stay adherent, and waste less, with brands paying for anonymized insights downstream. The destination is known, so Extreme does not apply.
  • Partially known solution. Open questions remain: which "fit for me" guidance actually changes behavior at the shelf, what makes us durably different from Yuka, and whether brands will pay for the insights. The coming months are built around answering them.
  • Change is expected and already experienced. The value proposition was pivoted and gamification cut from the MVP after one advisory meeting and early validation. In the Adaptive model this is not the project losing its way: it is the model working as intended.
  • No room to build the wrong thing. A part-time team, a budget of 500 euro or less, and a six-month horizon mean validation before construction remains the core protection.

4. Delivery structure

  1. Short, fixed weekly sprints. Each starts by choosing the most valuable tasks and ends with something usable plus a review. A wrong guess costs one week, not two months.
  2. A living, prioritized backlog, re-ordered after every cycle based on what was learned. (Applied: gamification items removed from MVP scope; consumer-interview and RAMI tasks moved to the top.)
  3. Smallest valuable version first: the thinnest end-to-end experience, scan to personalized fit plus expiry tracking, with one simple brand view. Then expand.
  4. Real feedback every cycle. The "client" is twofold: target consumers (20–30) first, brands second. Every cycle, progress goes in front of at least one of them.
  5. Validate before building. Consumer interviews and the RAMI differentiation analysis come before new feature work.
  6. Scope changes are welcome: adaptation is progress.

5. Operating cadence

Cadence Activity
Weekly Sprint planning, work review, task reassignment and re-prioritization.
During the week Lightweight issue reporting through the team chat.
Monthly Higher-level review against the success criteria.
Fixed milestone Startup Day pitch on June 24, 2026. Preparation (pitch practice with Davide, Tetra Pak slide review) is scheduled into the cycles before it.
Three-month checkpoint Decide, on validation evidence, whether to move from discovery into full product building, or adapt direction again.

6. Governing principle

This structure lets a small, part-time team move carefully and avoid the single biggest risk it faces: investing limited time and money into building something before knowing it is worth building.