What is a Project?

A project is a piece of work that is designed to bring about an agreed upon beneficial change within a fixed timeframe using specified resources. Projects usually require the coordinated activity of a number of people to achieve that outcome, and often incorporate an element of risk.

What makes a task a project?

Projects are the way in which human creativity is most effectively harnessed to achieve tangible, lasting results. In the past they may have been called something different, but building a pyramid, painting a ceiling, or founding a nation all required vision, planning, and coordinated effort—the essential features of what we now call a project. In practical terms, just about any initiative or piece of work that is too large or unfamiliar to be completed successfully without some measure of preparation and planning can, and usually should, be approached as a project.

Defining a project

At its simplest level, a project is a “one-time” scope of work defined by three parameters—time, cost, and quality. In other words, it is the means by which a particular result is delivered using specified resources within a set timeframe.

For most projects, one of these three parameters is “fixed” (i.e., should not or cannot change), but there is flexibility in at least one of the other two. Where the quality of the product is fixed (bringing a new drug to market, for example), costs have a tendency to rise and deadlines to slip if work is more extensive or complex than was first envisioned. Where the deadline is fixed (as for a tender deadline or a business conference), people either throw more resources at the project to make sure that it is ready on time, or they cull desirable but nonessential features in order to deliver the essential elements of quality within the timeframe available.

Achieving change

Some projects are highly visible—large and prestigious building projects, for example—while for others, no one except those directly involved has any understanding of, or interest in, what they will deliver.

Whatever the size and nature of a project, the principal goal is always to bring about a change that is viewed as beneficial by the person or people sponsoring it.

Setting the standard

When Tim Smit pitched the idea of creating a science-based visitor attraction showcasing 100,000 plants from around the world in an abandoned clay pit in Southwest England, few would have expected the Eden Project to have become the icon it is today. Despite the technological challenges of creating the world’s largest greenhouses—two giant transparent domes—the main construction phase was complete by March 2001. Since then, it has been visited by more than 10 million people, at a rate of over one million a year, and has brought over $1.6 billion (£850 m) to the local economy. Just as important to Smit, Eden is now a significant contributor to the global debate on sustainable development and environmental issues. As with any high-profile project, commentators offer a variety of explanations for its success: technology made the original design and spectacular scale possible, but Smit’s vision, inspirational leadership, and refusal to compromise on quality were undoubtedly central.