For All The Right Reasons

Doing projects is hip. At least, that's the impression one might get given the number of projects and project managers around. It's not that surprising when you keep in mind that our ever changing world asks for activities with ever increasing complexity. We have to keep reinventing the way we do things. Invent it, and then throw it away, because of it's obsolescence; what works one time, has no use a second time. It's the environment where projects survive as the fittest.

Links of Interest
Project Management Code: Why Do You Do What You Do?

A project, by definition, is a temporary activity with a starting date, specific goals and conditions, defined responsibilities, a budget, a planning, a fixed end date and multiple parties involved. You know what you have to do, do it, once, and that's the end of it. That's a project. However, being hip has it's disadvantages. Our local housing office has a permanent project manager for financial controlling. This is a on going activity for the office, and the project manager does it as his full time, never ending job. What ever he's managing, it surely ain't a project.

There is no real harm in naming a tiger an elephant or vice versa. No one gets hurt by naming his job a project, even if it doesn't fit the definition by a mile. But don't be surprised if techniques for projects don't work on 'projects-just-by-name'. Don't be amazed when applying the techniques may seem like killing a bumble-bee with an machine gun. Don't get mad when other people don't know why you're doing an easy job the hard way, by making a project out if it.

Start a project, but only for the right reasons. Not for the heck if it. Not because of the cool acronym. Or the status.

For a project definition, look for the following aspects:

• Starting date
• Specific goals and conditions
• Defined responsibilities
• A budget
• A planning
• A fixed end date
• Parties involved

And then, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck. However, if it doesn't come close, raising the question of treating it like a project is the right thing to do. There may be an easier and much simpler solution.

Often (…) top management has no project; it merely has a problem and does not know how to, or does not want to, find a solution. So, it expects the players to find the way. Much social and industrial unrest can be caused by top management not having real projects, but only having the desire to get rid of a problem. (Managing Sensitive Projects)

If you don't find all the aspects named above at this moment in time, it is possible. Wait, and make the final judgement at the end of the intake. Working on one of the subjects, might cause one of the aspects to popup.