What are the characteristics that differentiate projects from other types of work?

Stanley Epstein

Stanley Epstein

Economist, Banking Operations specialist and trainer. Instructor at Illumeo.

Published Apr 19, 2015

Much has been written over the years about project management. In actuality Project Management is a recognized discipline in its own right whose underlying education extends today right up to the tertiary level.

One can spend years studying the subject in all its many facets and still feel that one is still a novice. 

From experience I have learned over the years that there a number of key “project” characteristics. These characteristics are elements that make a project a project. To put it simplistically, if what your doing does not conform to all of the items in this short list, then it just isn’t a project!

These seven characteristics are;

1. A single definable purpose, end-item or result. This is usually specified in terms of cost, schedule and performance requirements.
2. Every project is unique. It requires the doing of something different, something that was not done previously. Even in what are often called “routine” projects such as home construction, the variables such as terrain, access, zoning laws, labour market, public services and local utilities make each project different. A project is a one-time, once-off activity, never to be repeated exactly the same way again.
3. Projects are temporary activities. A project is an ad hoc organization of staff, material, equipment and facilities that is put together to accomplish a goal. This goal is within a specific time-frame. Once the goal is achieved, the organization created for it is disbanded or sometimes it is reconstituted to begin work on a new goal (project).
4. Projects cut across organizational lines. Projects always cut across the regular organizational lines and structures within a firm. They do this because the project needs to draw from the skills and the talents of multiple professions and departments within the firm and sometimes even from other organizations. The complexity of advanced technology often leads to additional project difficulties, as they create task interdependencies that may introduce new and unique problems.
5. Projects involve unfamiliarity. Because a project differs from what was previously done, it also involves unfamiliarity. And oft time a project also encompasses new technology and, for the organization/firm undertaking the project, these bring into play significant elements of uncertainty and risk.
6. The organization usually has something at stake when undertaking a project. The unique project “activity” may call for special scrutiny or effort because failure would jeopardize the organization/firm or its goals.
7. A project is the process of working to achieve a goal. During the process, projects pass through several distinct phases, which form and are called the project life cycle. The tasks, people, organizations, and other resources will change as the project moves from one phase to the next. The organizational structure and the resource expenditures build with each succeeding phase; peak; and then decline as the project nears completion.