In this series, we're going to define what a project is, talk about the general approaches to project management and discuss the skills and tools necessary to manage them.
First, let's define what a project is?
A project is a unique endeavor that has a specific goal, a beginning and an end, and usually a budget.
Let's break the step down into its components:
- First, each project is unique: say you have the blueprints for house design (you might think that the work is the same every time you build that house but each construction project is just that: a project. Where you build the house or the weather can make a big difference in each construction project. A big snow could delay excavation, require careful concrete pouring, or modification to the roof structure to handle snow load; so each construction project is unique)
- Second, a project has a specific goal to accomplish; maybe the project is supposed to solve a problem like reducing cost in your company or take advantage of an opportunity like re-proposing your company's product to increase sales; the project has a specific goal.
- Third, a project has a beginning and an end; if a project seems to go on for ever, it could be doing just that, because you haven't define the goal clearly enough. The goal of the project is crucial for identifying when the project is done.
- Fourth, most projects have budget, most of the time you think about money when you hear the word "budget",but you're likely to face other constraints on project such as resources, or time.
Coming Up Next: Defining project management