What is a project? (groan)

When I hear this question at a seminar or conference, my heart usually sinks. Here we go with a lot of pedantic waffle. “ start, end, unique” etc. In a general sense (and seminars and conferences are nearly always “general”), the precise definition of a project doesn’t really matter. Most people attending such events have enough of an understanding otherwise they probably wouldn’t have signed up. However, start moving into the context of enterprise-wide project management and the use of a term such as “project” can make a lot of difference.

Buttrick’s first law of naming: Anything called “xyz project” might actually be a project. Anything called “Project abc” probably isn’t!  It is just that some people think its sounds cool and modern to write backwards.

But my project isn’t like that?
If your idea of a project is different from mine then we could get into a bit of a muddle if we tried to work together. At one end of the scale we have the “school project”. Is full scale “project management” the right procedure for your kids to use to manage that? Absolutely not! Closer to the work place, I expect you’ll find that there is a lot of work undertaken which people call “projects”, but which in reality are bits of projects.

What! You want me to write a Proposal and a Business Case/Project Definition, get a sponsor, set up control logs, provide progress reports, do a bit of stakeholder management etc etc ,when all I am doing is installing a new server. I always knew this project stuff was an administrative nightmare!

Often these are simple “initiatives”; for these, the use of full scale project management would be a huge, non-value added overhead. (This is often where Agile techniques are used or in many cases where routine operational processes are needed). If full scale project management seems like overkill for your “project”, then consider whether the work you are doing is a project at all. It might be a work package and so a simpler approach, using key project management techniques, such as planning, may be more appropriate.

Understanding the difference
The glossary in the Project Workout defines the terms. Both projects and work packages have a start and end etc. but there are TWO important differences:

• Projects are aimed at a achieving a stated business objective, as opposed to contributing to a lot of other stuff, which when put together enables an objective to be achieved.
• Projects have to have a staged lifecycle, which is used to manage risks. Project work is risky enough to warrant a senior management decision prior to starting each stage. The riskier the work, the more stages there are. I have seen 12 stage lifecycles for projects relating to key aircraft components, which if they failed would cause the aircraft to crash. Work packages can be approved as a single lump. Project lifecycles are not development processes, where the stages are based on technical content. See the Chapter 3 of the Project Workout for more on this.

So, when you find yourself thinking that that “project management” is too heavy, it may be that your work is better described as a work package, which has a simpler management approach.

Think about this

1. Just because a person who is called a “project manager or director” is doing the work, it doesn’t make that work a “project”.
2. Cost is a very poor indicator of the size or complexity of the work. One person’s work package may dwarf another person’s project in cost terms.
3. The “real work” happens in “work packages” managed by team managers who are skilled and competent in the work outputs being developed, not necessarily project management.
4. Team managers (all managers!) require a minimum level of project management skills, even though they may NOT be “project professionals”.

Where to find more in the Project Workout

Chapter 3 is where you will find out more about projects and the importance of project lifecycles.

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