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When is a project not a project?

This has to be one of the most common questions I get asked. When is a piece of work just that, a piece of work? When is it a project?

PRINCE2 defines a project as “a management environment created for the purpose of delivering several business products according to a specified business case”.  Very helpful I’m sure you’ll agree!  But there are some important points in here.  First of all, a project must be actually producing something, “but, normal work produces stuff, what’s difference?” ah, bear with me; I’m working up to a point here.

 

Secondly there is a “management environment”, a bunch of people doing something in an organised way, again, “what’s the difference?”  Well, finally, there has to be a business reason, or “business case” for this work.  It is here I think that the differentiation lies.  A Business case implies investment, and investment that is out of the ordinary.  A business that is investing money into something is doing something that businesses do regularly; taking a risk.  This to me is the differentiator.  It doesn’t matter how expensive a piece of work is, or how long it takes, if it is risky, it should be looked after by someone and therefore is a project.

 

Take building a new IT system, what happens if it goes wrong?  Well, you could lose money, waste time and cause harm to your other systems, big risk = project.  What about changing the tapes in your back up systems, well, it’s done every day, so the process is defined, and if it goes wrong worst case is that you overwrite yesterdays backup with todays, or you don’t get todays backup.  Depending on your industry, low risk, therefore, not a project.  Different circumstances, industries and businesses will mean different levels of risk, but the same message applies.

 

If it’s risky, get someone big and clever to look after it – a project manager!