What Is Not a Project? - project management

Information Outlook, Feb, 2002

Building the Successful Project

WHAT IS A PROJECT? NOT MUCH, WAS MY ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION when asked by a participant in a project management workshop. This person got it--most everything we do, whether Launching a space shuttle, developing a new product, introducing a new service, or responding to a request, is a project.

More often than not, a project manager has to influence without authority. (Since you're reading this article, we'll assume you are a project manager, whether or not you have that official title.) It's been said we use only 10 to 20 percent of our mental capacity; I posit that we also use only a small portion of our influence capacity, maybe only 10 percent. If you could double your influence capacity, improving your capabilities by 10 percent, imagine the impact!

More would get accomplished, there would be less stress, partners would cooperate instead of resisting, and work would be more fun. These are a few potential benefits. You can tame the naturally occurring chaos, not by making it go away, but by looking for patterns in human behavior and applying a systematic set of process steps that lead to higher probability of project success. Because you apply this approach to more activities and improve your overall return on investments, you find yourself asking the same question, "What is not a project?"

Let's also assume that you have to communicate with others as part of your livelihood. You may be inundated by questions or requests for status. By understanding how people use the information, such as to make decisions or take a different course of action, you provide the right information at the right time to answer stakeholder questions, thereby facilitating progress instead of impeding it.

So if most of the things you do are projects, doesn't it make sense to learn about project management? But your bosses got the job done when they were at this point in their careers without all this stuff, right? Yes, they often did it by brute force, by the seat of their pants, and by super-human effort of many people over long hours. They didn't know there's a better way.

While project management has been around since construction of the pyramids and buildings such as the Library of Congress, the profession of project management is relatively recent, arising over the last couple decades, especially in the 90's. Project management now applies to new product development as well as daily tasks. The Project Management Institute (www.pmi.org) has codified a disciplined body of knowledge. Advanced college degrees and certification in project management are now available, and more sharing happens via newsletters, journals, and conferences. In essence, your boss (or customer) may not have had the benefit of this explicit knowledge and may be expecting you to follow the old story. You now have a new story to follow.

A project is defined as a temporary endeavor to deliver a unique product or service. It can be characterized by:

* Newness of the task

* Detailed specifications

* Division into small steps

* A one time process with specific time limits

* An activity-based budget

* Competition with other projects/activities for resources

* Uncertainty about results and costs

A successful project is recognized through several evolving definitions:

Classic Definition

* On time

* Within budget

* Meets specifications

* Meets or exceeds customer expectations

Dynamic Definition

* Major project stakeholders agree that project is successful after it's completed

Business Definition

* Project outcome aligned with business strategy

* Enough cash flow to cover expenses, make a profit, pay back cost of capital, and create shareholder value

For all endeavors that meet the definition of a project, it makes sense to invoke the process of project management and be successful. With everything else you can continue to do what you did yesterday, follow the recipe, leave it to chance, or hope that somebody else knows what they're doing. Sure, sometimes it's fun to see what happens when you are creative and avoid structure. But when it's important that the outcome be done right or on time or within a budget, then you have a project and need project management.

I also want to focus on a few behavioral approaches that permeate all activities throughout every project.

A requirements document includes a goal or project objectives statement. It says what you will accomplish, by when, and for how much. If you get this statement cleared and validated by your sponsor and partners, your work becomes much easier. Many projects suffer the plague of vague goals, scare resources, and impossible deadlines. That should become the old story. Many teams I've facilitated through this step in the process are amazed by the power of clear, convincing, and compelling statements of purpose, vision, mission, and goals. People understand exactly what the project is about. Discussions then focus on how, not what, to do. This invokes their creative juices and leads to more productive projects. You are now embarking upon the new story.