Why Is Everything in Business A Project?

Hello  again and welcome back,

Doesn’t it seem everything in business becomes a project?

By that I mean it seems way more complicated and difficult than it was when you thought of this great idea and began work.

But what exactly is a project?

The Project Management Institute (The US based coordinating organization for the international project management profession and issuer of the PMP (Project Management Professional) credential defines project as a: temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service.  PMI differentiates a Project from a Process, defined as ongoing work in general.

The problem most businesses encounter is that their projects become processes without end points.  This results in no clearly defined outcome and no ability to reassign resources to higher priority work. Excess cost, too much time and ultimately failure are the usual outcome.

In fact most projects, especially IT (85%-90%) fail to deliver the results anticipated.  This is a frightening statistic for many reasons.

1)  Scope evolves during the actual work phase because of lack of initial definition and stakeholder agreement

2)  Lack of understood technologies or

3) Excess time/cost to accomplish the work undertaken.

It is always best to plan in detail BEFORE beginning work.  ALL stakeholders MUST be involved in the planning phase and ALL stakeholders must commit to the plan BEFORE any effort is expended.

The next CRITICAL effort is to contain the scope of the project so CREEP (unchecked growth)  does not scuttle the project before it can be completed.

This is never easy, especially in a dynamic technology environment because most new “tech” seems more attractive to project stakeholders than the “old” tech in place when the project was undertaken.

This is then used to justify asking for “improvements” during the work phase.  This lack of discipline creates problems, most of which require changing work already completed, lengthening the work time and running up the costs beyond the anticipated amount.

Proper knowledge and management of the Scope of work in the project and disciplined Control of the time and costs during the work phase can reduce these issues and improve the chance for success.

We are credentialed instructors of Project Management who can assist with any phase of your projects. Your success is our objective. We acheive it through instructing your team in the methods we have found successful over time in industry.

Call us at 248-446-2626 for further information on how to improve your chances for successful projects.