Most of us are part of some or the other projects in our professional life. Some of us may not know the exact definition of a project. This brings up the question “what is a project in project management?”.
What Is A Project In Project Management?
What is a Project in Project Management?
PMI defines the project as follows:
Project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.
- The above project definition states that projects are always temporary in nature, which means that the project is always bound to a start date and an end date. Hence the project life span is always finite.
- Project always create a unique outcome. The unique outcome may be a product, service or result.
What Are the Key Characteristics of a Project?
The key characteristics of a project are
1. Projects are Temporary in Nature
Project is a Temporary Endeavor
A project is always assembled as a group with people, resources, competencies that is put together to achieve a goal. Once the goal is achieved, then this group is dismantled or sometimes they get re-assemble to attend to another goal.
2. Projects delivers a unique product, service or result
Project Produces Unique Product
Every project may have some repeatable activities. However, every project is different in way it constitutes a variable set of requirements and which produces a unique outcome.
3. Projects are progressively elaborated
Projects are Progressively Elaborated
When you start a project, you see there are many unknowns in the project. As you progress on the project, you learn lot of things, and fine tune or improvise your project artifacts. Hence projects are always progressively elaborated.
4. Projects Enable Business Value Creation
Projects Enable Business Value Creation
Business value is the net quantifiable benefit achieved from a project. So, the business value refers to the benefits that the project will provide to its stakeholders. The benefits may be tangible or intangible in nature. Tangible benefits include for instance, products, assets, utilities, etc.., while the intangible assets may include goodwill, brand creation, reputation, etc.
5. Project Initiation Context
Project Initiation Context
Projects always initiates for a purpose. The purpose could be to for instance
- Meet legal or regulatory requirements
- Fulfill stakeholder(s) requirements
- Implement the change in organizations
- Product or process or service improvements
What is a Project and What is not?
Unless projects, operations are continuous in nature and will not have a finite lifespan. It is often confusing to know “what is a project and what is not?”.
Projects always has a finite life time. On the other hand, operations are continuous processes to fulfill the organization needs.
Some of the examples of a project are:
- Developing a software product or application
- Merging or consolidating 2 organizations
- Change in a business process
- Construction of a home or office or any building
- Setting up H/W Infrastructure for an organization
Some of the examples of operations are:
- Running an assembly line in a car factory
- Maintenance support for customers
- Managing the H/w and Infra environment for customers
Summary
What is a Project in Project Management? A project is defined as a temporary endeavor that creates a unique product, service or result.
The key characteristics of a project are
- Temporary in nature,
- Creates unique product, service, or result.
- Progressively elaborated
- Creates business value to the stakeholders
- Usually initiated due to reasons such as legal or regulatory requirements, product/service needs or improvements, organizations changes or stakeholder needs.
On the other hand, operations are ongoing process which is continuous in nature. Running a car assembly line is an example of operations.
