Thinking tasks #2…what is a project?

The classic definition from the 1959 article in the Harvard Business Review would be something like this:

“An organization unit dedicated to the attainment of a goal – generally the successful completion of a developmental product on time, within budget, and in conformance with predetermined performance specifications” (P. Gaddis)

That has held pretty well for over 50 years! Time, budget, scope. So a project is a « one shot » operation. Routine operations are repetitive but project operations are unique.

Any thoughts on this?

Above, we have a rationalised view of a project.  But when the PBI (which is here in Turku) looked at and analysed the qualitative data collected from actors involved in hundreds of projects all over the world they came up with a different view!

A project is “a highly disorganised environment where management becomes a question of stumbling forward and success the outcome of a balancing act on the edge of chaos”  (M. Gustafsson, 1999)

Any thoughts on that?

In Gaddis’ definition, notice that he says « generally…a product ». He left the door open for other types of activities. So we could make a project cocktail mixer. A project can be to:

Design, Make, Adapt, Improve, Review, Refresh, Test, Introduce,  Commercialise, etc.

A

New, Radically new, Breakthrough, Cheaper, Better, Stronger, Faster, Lighter, Nicer, More powerful, More user friendly, More environmentally friendly, More ethical, etc.

Device, Component, Organisation, Product, System, Service, Process, etc.

Are there any verbs, adjectives or nouns you’d like to add to that mix?

What else is there? Ah yes. Projects are

a) Unique

b) more or less Complex

The complexity can be both technical and organisational.
You can have a simple complexity matrix like the one below (which is my first iPad drawing so please excuse the quality)

« A » is for the projects that are high technical complexity but low organisational complexity

« B » is for projects that are both technically and organisationally complex

« D » is projects that are technically simple but organisationally complex

« C » is for technically and organisationally simple projects.

Can you relate to that?

I’ll give you an example of a personal project. My saxophonist friend Phil and I wanted to record (in May 2014) two songs for his CD album. For me, a very, very amateur jazz pianist but a very close friend of Phil’s since 1970, it was an « A » project.  Technically hard (2 to 3 hours a day practice for 2 months) but easy in terms of relationships because we’re such good friends.

Getting my 86 year old mother in law to text on her mobile phone is a « B » project. I cannot get the right approach pedaogically (she is too impatient and irritable) and I can’t make the explanations simple enough for her to acquire.

Now you think about a few projects you have led or worked on and situate them on the matrix. Try and find at least two quadrants!  You could draw it on a paper (or your tablet if you’re more skilled than me) and have it ready for team discussion on Monday!

That’s enough for today!