Lesson 1: What is a Project?
What is a Project?
The word project is used very widely these days, and can refer to a startling array of things. I have even heard of a person who was referred to as A Project.
Ok, it was me. But that’s in the past.
So just what exactly is a project? Here are two excellent, and complimentary, definitions for us to review. The first is from the Project Management Institute's widely disseminated A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, which we will refer to throughout this course as the PMBOK (pronounced PEM-BOK):
A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service.
And the second, from writer and Project Manager James P. Lewis, whose excellent book The Project Manager's Desk Reference we will also rely on heavily throughout this course:
A project is a one-time, multitask job that has clearly defined starting and ending dates, a specific scope of work to be performed, a budget, and a specified level of performance to be achieved.As we can begin to sense, three key pop of these definitions:
- A project is temporary.
- A project is unique.
- A project is the result of a multi-task job that performs something specific (i.e. a goal). It is thus progressively elaborated.
References used in this section (these books are available for order via the Resources link above):
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, by the Project Management Institute. Chapter 1.
The Project Manager’s Desk Reference, by James P. Lewis. Chapter 1.
