What is a project?

There are numerous definitions of what is a project. For our purposes, the following definition has been chosen:

A number of project members execute, under the guidance of a project manager, a well-defined task, within a specified time and with given resources. The resources can be people, machines, money or premises. The project must have measurable goals.

The project manager is responsible for ensuring that the project is executed and finalized according to agreed directives.

One of the advantages of projects is that the activities can be executed in parallel. Therefore a task can be finalized within a shorter time than if all the activities had been undertaken in a sequence. Another advantage of working on a project is that it creates more commitment, since the work is carried out in one or more groups. By being part of a project group, the individual project members will get an understanding of their contribution to the completed project, which will increase motivation.

Mostly a specific project exists only once. It is born from an idea, and then planned, executed and finalized.

Since a project has a limited budget, it is composed of people with complementary knowledge. In a company, this means that the project members come from different departments. For each project, a unique project organization is created.

Page responsible: Mattias Krysander
Last updated: 2016-11-24