successful project management - Commonwealth of Learning

Chapter 2
What is a Project?
Work over a fixed duration,
Designed to produce a facility,
Which produces a product or service
Learning Outcomes
After working through this chapter, you should be able to:
• explain the connection between project management, on the one hand, and
change management and risk management on the other;
• define the concept of project management and related concepts;
• demonstrate knowledge of areas in a distance education set up that are
sources of projects;
• illustrate the significance of (performance, cost, time and scope (PCTS) as
targets of a project to be accomplished; and
• identify the characteristics of a project manager as a leader.
Introduction
In the beginning, the word ‘Project’ was associated primarily with engineering, in
particular with developments at the forefront of technology. The next place it cropped
up was in Information Technology where Software Programming required
sophisticated project methodology. Today, though, a project mentality is essential in
our topsy turvey world of the new millennium. The organisations that will remain
healthy are the ones that have an effective and widely understood approach to
managing projects as a way of implementing change.
Projects and Change
According to Eric Verzuh (2005:1):
we live in a world where change-and the rate of change-is constantly
increasing. In order to survive and prosper, organisations need to continually
modify their products and services. Projects are the means by which these
innovations are effected. Greater change = more innovations = more projects.
There is a close connection between a given project and change, and the following
must be borne in mind.
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