Meaning/Definition of Project & Project Management, Classification of Projects

A project is an activity to meet the creation of a unique product or service and thus activities that are undertaken to accomplish routine activities cannot be considered projects. For instance, if your project is less than three months old and has fewer than 20 people working on it, you may not be working in what is called a project according to the definition of the term.

It has to be remembered that the term temporary does not apply to the result or service that is generated by the project. The project may be finite but not the result. For instance, a project to build a monument would be of fixed duration whereas the result that is the monument may be for an indefinite period in time.

A project is an activity to create something unique. Of course, many of the office buildings that are built are similar in many respects but each individual facility is unique in its own way.

Finally, a project must be progressively elaborated. This means that the project progresses in steps and continues by increments. This also means that the definition of the project is refined at each step and ultimately the purpose of the progress is enunciated. This means that a project is first defined initially and then as the project progresses, the definition is revisited and more clarity is added to the scope of the project as well as the underlying assumptions about the project.

Project management is the process of leading the work of a team to achieve all project goals within the given constraints. This information is usually described in project documentation, created at the beginning of the development process. The primary constraints are scope, time, and budget. The secondary challenge is to optimize the allocation of necessary inputs and apply them to meet pre-defined objectives.

The objective of project management is to produce a complete project which complies with the client’s objectives. In many cases the objective of project management is also to shape or reform the client’s brief to feasibly address the client’s objectives. Once the client’s objectives are clearly established, they should influence all decisions made by other people involved in the project for example project managers, designers, contractors and sub-contractors. Ill-defined or too tightly prescribed project management objectives are detrimental to decision making.

A project is a temporary endeavor designed to produce a unique product, service, or result with a defined beginning and end (usually time-constrained, and often constrained by funding or staffing) undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value. The temporary nature of projects stands in contrast with business as usual (or operations), which are repetitive, permanent, or semi-permanent functional activities to produce products or services. In practice, the management of such distinct production approaches requires the development of distinct technical skills and management strategies.

Project management Types

Project management methods can be applied to any project. It is often tailored to a specific type of projects based on project size, nature, industry or sector. For example, the construction industry, which focuses on the delivery of things like buildings, roads, and bridges, has developed its own specialized form of project management that it refers to as construction project management and in which project managers can become trained and certified. The information technology industry has also evolved to develop its own form of project management that is referred to as IT project management and which specializes in the delivery of technical assets and services that are required to pass through various lifecycle phases such as planning, design, development, testing, and deployment. Biotechnology project management focuses on the intricacies of biotechnology research and development. Localization project management includes application of many standard project management practices to translation works even though many consider this type of management to be a very different discipline. There is public project management that covers all public works by the government which can be carried out by the government agencies or contracted out to contractors. Another classification of project management is based on the hard (physical) or soft (non-physical) type.

Common among all the project management types is that they focus on three important goals: time, quality, and budget. Successful projects are completed on schedule, within budget, and according to previously agreed quality standards i.e. meeting the Iron Triangle or Triple Constraint in order for projects to be considered a success or failure.

For each type of project management, project managers develop and utilize repeatable templates that are specific to the industry they’re dealing with. This allows project plans to become very thorough and highly repeatable, with the specific intent to increase quality, lower delivery costs, and lower time to deliver project results.

Approaches of project management

A 2017 study suggested that the success of any project depends on how well four key aspects are aligned with the contextual dynamics affecting the project, these are referred to as the four P’s:

• Aim & Expectations: What are the aims & Expectations of the project.
• Plan: The planning and forecasting activities.
• Process: The overall approach to all activities and project governance.
• People: Including dynamics of how they collaborate and communicate.
• Power: Lines of authority, decision-makers, organograms, policies for implementation and the like.

Classification of Projects

According to the source of capital:

• Public: Financing comes from Governmental institutions.
• Private: Financing comes from businesses or private incentives.
• Mixed: Financing comes from a mixed source of both public and private funding.

According to complexity:

• Easy: A project is classified as easy when the relationships between tasks are basic and detailed planning or organisations are not required. A small work team and a few external stakeholders and collaborators are common in this case. The tasks of the projects can be undertaken by a small team.
• Complicated: The project network is broad and complicated. There are many task interdependencies. With these projects, simplification where possible is everything. The task of executing this type of project requires proper planning. Cloud-based apps such as Sinnaps will immensely help to simplify complicated projects by automatically calculating the project’s best work path and updating any changes introduced through its use of different types of project management tools. Here, the importance of project management and how an effective tool could help you.

According to Project content:

• IT: Any project that has to do with software development, IT system, etc. The types of project management information systems vary across the board, but in today’s world are very common.
• Construction: These are projects that have anything to do with the construction of civil or architectural work. Predictive methods are used along with agile techniques which will be explained later on. Furthermore, construction is an engineering project and the process of planning its execution must be painstakingly done to achieve the desired outcome.
• Business: These projects are involved with the development of a business idea, management of a work team, cost management, etc., and they usually follow a commercial strategy.
• Service or product production: These are projects that involve the development of an innovative product or service, design of a new product, etc. They are often used in the R & D department.

According to those involved:

• Internal: When a whole company itself is involved in the project’s development.
• Matriarchal: When there is a combination of departments involved.
• Departmental: When a certain department or area of an organisation is involved.
• External: When a company outsources external project manager or teams to execute the project. This is common in digital transformations, process improvements and strategy changes, for example.

According to its objective:

• Production: Oriented at the production of a product or service taking into consideration a certain determined objective to be met by an organization.
• Social: Oriented at the improvement of the quality of life of people. This can be in the form of rendering corporate social responsibility (CSR) to the people.
• Educational: Oriented at the education of others. This is always done to make them better.
• Community: Oriented at people too, however with their involvement.
• Research: Oriented at innovation and the gaining of knowledge to enhance the operational efficiency of an organization.

Types:

Agile Project Management

The computer software industry was one of the first to use this methodology. With the basis originating in the 12 core principles of the Agile Manifesto, agile project management is an iterative process focused on the continuous monitoring and improvement of deliverables. At its core, high-quality deliverables are a result of providing customer value, team interactions, and adapting to current business circumstances.

Agile project management does not follow a sequential stage-by-stage approach. Instead, phases of the project are completed in parallel to each other by various team members in an organization. This approach can find and rectify errors without having to restart the entire procedure.

Waterfall Project Management

This is similar to traditional project management but includes the caveat that each task needs to be completed before the next one starts. Steps are linear and progress flows in one direction like a waterfall. Because of this, attention to task sequences and timelines are very important in this type of project management. Often, the size of the team working on the project will grow as smaller tasks are completed and larger tasks begin.

Lean Project Management

This methodology is all about avoiding waste, both of time and of resources. The principles of this methodology were gleaned from Japanese manufacturing practices. The main idea behind them is to create more value for customers with fewer resources.

There are many more methodologies and types of project management than listed here, but these are some of the most common. The type used depends on the preference of the project manager or the company whose project is being managed.