Chapter 1
Projects in Contemporary Organizations

THE DEFINITION OF A “PROJECT”:
The PMI has defined a project as “A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service”. There is a rich variety of projects to be found in our society.
In the broadest sense, a project is a specific, finite task to be accomplished. Whether large- or small-scale or whether long- or short-run is not particularly relevant. What is relevant is that the project be seen as a unit.
There are, however, some attributes that characterize projects:
Importance: The most crucial attribute of a project is that it must be important enough in the eyes of senior management to justify setting up a special organizational unit outside the routine structure of the organization. If the rest of the organization senses, or even suspects, that it is not really that important, the project is generally doomed to fail.
Performance: A project is usually a one-time activity with a well-defined set of desired end results. It can be divided into subtasks that must be accomplished in order to achieve the project goals. The project is complex enough that the subtasks require careful coordination and control in terms of timing, precedence, cost, and performance. Often, the project itself must be coordinated with other projects being carried out by the same parent organization.
Life Cycle with a Finite Due Date: Like organic entities, projects have life cycles. From a slow beginning they progress to a buildup of size, then peak, begin a decline, and finally must be terminated by some due date. Some projects end by being phased into the normal, ongoing operations of the parent organization.
Interdependencies: Projects often interact with other projects being carried out simultaneously by their parent organization. Typically, these interactions take the form of competition for scarce resources