A project by definition is a unique and temporary endeavor. It has a defined beginning and end. The main purpose of project is to create a specific product or service or to make changes to a specific product or service. Some examples of projects are;
Examples of Project
- Planning a large party or an event, that is a project. This is because, it was a specific party for a specific reason and It was held on a specific date and time. That means party was unique, temporary, and it had a defined beginning and end, and party created a specific product or service.
- Suppose your office is moved to some other place, then it will most likely be handled as a project.
- Consider a payroll system: If payroll system of your company is replaced with a new payroll system, then that’s a project.
- Changing in Human Resource Process: If your company human resource department decides to replace the processes they are currently using to recruit and interview and hire new employees, that too can be handled as a project.
Difference Between Projects & Operations
Now day to day operations, they’re not projects. Creating monthly financial reports is not a project. Cleaning your house, not a project. What about painting the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco, do you think that is a project? I’m not trying to trick you. You might call it a project because it’s such a large bridge and certainly painting it must require special effort and planning. Or you might say it’s not a project because there’s a maintenance team whose job it is to paint the bridge, and when they finish, they probably start painting the bridge all over again.
There maybe a case when someone you are working with is going to call something a project even if it does not fit our definition of a project. This is because maybe they want to seek special attention against this specific effort. So it depends on who it is, whether he/she declared effort as a project or not. Simplest example of this could be a computer refresh. Your organization decided that employees should have new computers after every four years. If replacing them is one by one then it is not gonna be a project, it is really an upgradation of equipment. But, if all of them are replaced with new ones at once, then the entire effort for specific task within specific time may be very likely treated as a project.
