Which is a temporary work endeavor that creates a unique product service or result?

According to the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) 3rd edition, A project is defined as a “temporary endeavor with a beginning and an end and it must be used to create a unique product, service or result”.

Further, it is progressively elaborated. What this definition of a project means is that projects are those activities that cannot go on indefinitely and must have a defined purpose.

A project is an activity to meet the creation of a unique product or service and thus activities that are undertaken to accomplish routine activities cannot be considered projects. For instance, if your project is less than three months old and has fewer than 20 people working on it, you may not be working in what is called a project according to the definition of the term.

It has to be remembered that the term temporary does not apply to the result or service that is generated by the project.

The project may be finite but not the result. For instance, a project to build a monument would be of fixed duration whereas the result that is the monument may be for an indefinite period in time.

A project is an activity to create something unique. Of course, many of the office buildings that are built are similar in many respects but each individual facility is unique in its own way.

Finally, a project must be progressively elaborated. This means that the project progresses in steps and continues by increments. This also means that the definition of the project is refined at each step and ultimately the purpose of the progress is enunciated.

This means that a project is first defined initially and then as the project progresses, the definition is revisited and more clarity is added to the scope of the project as well as the underlying assumptions about the project.

What are the basic phases of a project and their purposes?

The phases of a project make up the project life cycle. It is convenient for the project managers to divide the project into phases for control and tracking purposes. Each milestone at each stage is then elaborated and tracked for completion.

The basic phases of a project are dependent on the kind of project that is being carried out. For instance, a software project may have requirement, design, build, test, implementation phases whereas a project to build a metro or a building may have different names for each phase.

Thus, the naming of the phases of a project depends on the kind of deliverables that is sought at each phase. For the purpose of definition, the phases may be divided into initial charter, scope statement, plan, baseline, progress, acceptance, approval and handover. This classification is according to the PMBOK. Thus, the phases of a project are closely correlated with that of the project cycle.

The purpose of each phase of the project is a set of deliverables that are agreed upon before the project starts. For instance, in a software project, the requirement phase needs to generate the requirement documents, the design phase the design document etc. The build phase in a project delivers the completed code whereas the test phase is about the completed testing for the deliverables.

Each phase of the project is associated with a certain milestone and the set of deliverables that each phase is expected to deliver is then tracked for compliance and closure.

The Project Life Cycle consists of the initiating, executing, controlling and closing processes of the framework as described in the PMBOK. Each of these processes is necessary to ensure that the project stays on track and is completed according to the specifications.

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A project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service or result. A project is temporary in that it has a defined beginning and end in time, and therefore defined scope and resources. And a project is unique in that it is not a routine operation, but a specific set of operations designed to accomplish a singular goal. So a project team often includes people who don’t usually work together – sometimes from different organisations and across multiple geographies. A project is deemed to be a success if it achieves the objectives according to their acceptance criteria, within an agreed timescale and budget.

Project management is the discipline of planning, organising and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. The primary challenge of project management is to achieve all of the goals of the project charter while adhering to three project constraints – defined as time, cost and scope.

Traditional versus Agile project methodologies

In the traditional waterfall methodology, the project is developed phase by phase. The phased approach breaks down and manages the work through a series of distinct steps to be completed, and is often referred to as "traditional" or "waterfall".  Typical development phases of an engineering project consist of:

• initiation
• planning and design
• construction and testing
• monitoring and controlling
• completion or closing

PRINCE2 and Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), developed by the Project Management Institute (PMI), are the most common traditional project methodologies.

Agile project methodologies are iterative and incremental. An iterative process is one that makes progress through successive refinement. Agile software development describes a set of values and principles for software development under which requirements and solutions evolve through the collaborative effort of self-organising cross-functional teams. It advocates adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery, and continuous improvement; it also encourages rapid and flexible response to change.

Project management knowledge draws on 10 areas:

1. Integration management
2. Scope management
3. Time management
4. Cost management
5. Quality management
6. Procurement management
7. Human resources management
8. Communications management
9. Risk management
10. Stakeholder management

A project audit provides an opportunity to uncover the issues, concerns and challenges encountered in the execution of a project. This audit is performed during the project realisation, providing an interim view of what has gone well and what needs to be improved with the project to successfully complete it. If done at the close of a project, a project audit can be used to develop success criteria for future projects by providing a review. (see Audit engagement)

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