Project Appraisal
What is a project?
A project is the process of working on temporary activities to achieve a goal with a
single unique definable purpose, end-item or result. Projects cut across organizational
lines with something at stake, and involve unfamiliarity, uncertainty, and risk.
Project Characteristics
1. Projects have a clear and distinct piece of work.
2. Every project is slightly different and unique.
3. Projects are temporary activities.
4. Projects have a final delivery at the end.
5. Projects have a clear objective.
Many people will believe that projects just exist in the corporate world. But it is not true.
The reality is that thousands of everyday endeavours could pass as a project.
We will realise that you may be already applying project structures without even
knowing. I will look into such cases as organising weddings, buying a new phone or a
car and compare against some typical corporate projects like buying a laptop.
1. WHY PROJECTS HAVE A CLEAR AND DISTINCT PIECE OF WORK?
First, the project has a distinct work or activity that we are completing to achieve a
defined goal. Worth to mention that it is usually squeezed into cost, scope, time and
quality constraints, which we will pick up later in the post. The idea behind is that you do
not have an infinite resource (unfortunately); thus, you need to make some trade-offs.
Project work is quite different from day to day activities like brushing your teeth, eating
breakfast or watching YouTube. A business equivalent would have their daily operations
like processing transactions or building new parts. These are the day-to-day tasks that
you need to do to maintain current living standards or business operations (a.k.a.
Business As Usual or BAU).
In contrast, when we talk about projects, we talk about something new, like buying a
house or a car. If we consider the business environment, project activities would be
building a product that would increase sales or purchasing a new third party software
that would improve processes.
Ultimately, it is a new piece of work distinct from current business operations, which has
a specific outcome at the end.
,2. WHY EVERY PROJECT IS SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT AND UNIQUE?
Each project is unique; hence, you are doing something new that has not been done
before. Say, even such routine activities as buying a new iPhone could be a project in
today’s society. The point is that your circumstances, options, preferences are
changing, and each time it is no longer the same exercise.
Let’s explore a phone example a bit more. You might be a proud owner of iPhone 7,
which you acquired ages ago (like me); yet, the time has come to jump on the
opportunity to get your hands on a new iPhone 12. In both cases, you are buying a
phone and might even follow the same process. You would look for the best deal,
complete research on best handsets out there and create a list of the best options for
you. So far, nothing is new, right?!
Well, to start with there are many more phones to choose from in the market now. Plus,
you might have altered your preferences towards Android, or your salary has increased.
Thus, your circumstances, options and preferences have shifted. Suddenly, buying a
phone in 2021 is much different and unique compared to purchasing an iPhone 7. Thus,
just like that, you have a project on your hands.
Now, companies are facing a similar situation with their projects as well. Say it is time to
refresh corporate gear and acquire some new laptops for all employees. Data is
increasing, and they need additional RAMs and CPU to deal with it. Last time our
business did it was five years ago, which is ages in today’s standards.
Guess what, similar to you; a company may have a different budget, more choices in
the market, or even changing preferences towards using more cloud computing. Five
years later, the situation is quite different, and buying laptops or more broadly
computing power is a unique endeavour.
3. WHY PROJECTS ARE TEMPORARY ACTIVITIES?
When you are looking to accomplish a new goal, you will organise resources, like staff,
materials, equipment and facilities for a defined period. When the goal is achieved, the
resources will be disbanded, redistributed or repurposed for new projects. Therefore, a
project by definition can be only temporary.
Let’s consider how this applies to nearly everyday life, and I will use my recent
experience to organise a wedding. You will likely start 12 – 9 months before the big
event. Typically, you will create a plan, get one online or hire someone to do it for you.
My endeavour is looking more and more like a project—time to place all those
resources on the timeline.
I will need a venue, musicians, dancing lessons, cake, food and rings. I am sure I have
missed a few things :). The point, though, is that it will end with a huge crescendo and
,final goal, my wedding day! Unfortunately, after the main day, contractors will allocate
all those resources to new events and personal projects. Therefore, my wedding would
be a sweet but temporal event.
Businesses’ projects are no different, except for the getting married bit! They usually
have a problem to address or the opportunity to explore.
For example, the bricks and mortar bookstore is facing changing generation. Younger
people tend to buy books online, do not read them that much or listen to them through
Amazon Audible. Here we go, the business has been presented with both problem and
opportunity.
The bookstore decides to take definitive steps to create a website with books and video
content; plus, sell some books on Amazon. They will need developers or a
subcontractor to build them a site and underlining infrastructure. Yet, the services
required will not be indefinite. When the site is live, there will be only minimal technical
staff input required.
The project will start when they begin defining the problem or opportunity to explore. It
will also finish when the store addresses the issue with a shiny new website or Amazon
presence. The developers did there bits, and they would go and look for new projects or
opportunities, and just like that, the project is closed.
. DO PROJECTS HAVE A FINAL DELIVERY AT THE END?
Through a choreographed sequence of steps, every project will deliver a final result or
product at the end. The tool or changes in the operational process will address a
specific goal that business or individual set out initially. In our previous example, it was
the perfect wedding day. Let’s explore a few more examples.
Suppose you have decided to buy a new car. You do your researching, planning,
saving, budgeting, and, finally, the new sparkling vehicle sits at your driveway. In this
example, the goal might be that you need to drive kids to school, and you need to
embark on these steps to acquire a tool that would help you with your goal. Well, this is
your project’s delivery. Hopefully, It is an excellent car within your budget constraints
that will work for ages.
The business may have a project to deliver a new accounting system, which can
automate more tasks than ever. It might be that the current system is very manual and
prone to errors, or it just takes too much time. Therefore, business leaders create the
project around reducing the overhead of accounting processes. By choosing vendors,
getting the best offers and eventually implementing the system, you get a result, a
usable accounting system. Thus, the product of our endeavour is innovative software
that solves the specific business problem.
, 5. WHY PROJECTS HAVE A CLEAR OBJECTIVE?
Finally, the project always has one or numerous objectives. You would not start a
project just for fun. Well, actually, that could also be your objective. Goals might be
evident in your endeavour; For example, you need to work from home, keep your back
straight; thus, you need to buy a new office chair. In business, objectives will be more
defined and documented. Usually, you are dealing with large sums of money, and
eventually, you will need to be accountable for achieving set out goals.
One day, you have visited your local bar and had this genius idea. Why don’t I organise
a music event to increase the bar’s popularity and contribute to a local community? Just
like that, you have your primary objectives. The project will go through multiple steps
like agreeing on the band, getting the bar’s owner approval and sending invites. In the
end, you will have your fantastic event, which will hopefully achieve your two objectives
set out in the beginning.
Businesses’ projects are no different. They also have objectives, like increasing
efficiency in the sales process, finance department or attracting more clients. In our
bookstore example, they may decide to create a project to redesign a website to appeal
to a younger generation, encourage readership and attract more clients. The company
might have multiple business objectives, and one project would align with one or several
of them.
Project Failure
Each year, enterprise organizations around the world face astronomical project failure
rates, often wasting millions of dollars per failed project. The same enterprises agonize
over the causes of project failure, call in expensive consultants to assess and recover
failing projects, and often abandon what originally seemed like well-planned, well-
organized projects, destined for success.
There is no single method or organizational structure that can be used to manage
projects to success. Different organizations handle the functional projects differently.
Some have fragmented and decentralized groups with multiple titles indicating that they
are projects, while others might have large aggregations of project management
professionals in a centralized support organization.
Regardless of the physical arrangements of the functions, there is a common set of
related organizational needs when properly delegated to the appropriate groups that
can be used to save or manage projects. Besides a well defined charter, the list that
follows summarizes some of the major project management functions that are
necessary to achieve success in projects:
Recruit and maintain adequate technical and non-technical resource skills
Manage the allocation of scarce resources
Define and collect operational metrics to support project and stakeholders decision
making
Promote efficient and effective communications
What is a project?
A project is the process of working on temporary activities to achieve a goal with a
single unique definable purpose, end-item or result. Projects cut across organizational
lines with something at stake, and involve unfamiliarity, uncertainty, and risk.
Project Characteristics
1. Projects have a clear and distinct piece of work.
2. Every project is slightly different and unique.
3. Projects are temporary activities.
4. Projects have a final delivery at the end.
5. Projects have a clear objective.
Many people will believe that projects just exist in the corporate world. But it is not true.
The reality is that thousands of everyday endeavours could pass as a project.
We will realise that you may be already applying project structures without even
knowing. I will look into such cases as organising weddings, buying a new phone or a
car and compare against some typical corporate projects like buying a laptop.
1. WHY PROJECTS HAVE A CLEAR AND DISTINCT PIECE OF WORK?
First, the project has a distinct work or activity that we are completing to achieve a
defined goal. Worth to mention that it is usually squeezed into cost, scope, time and
quality constraints, which we will pick up later in the post. The idea behind is that you do
not have an infinite resource (unfortunately); thus, you need to make some trade-offs.
Project work is quite different from day to day activities like brushing your teeth, eating
breakfast or watching YouTube. A business equivalent would have their daily operations
like processing transactions or building new parts. These are the day-to-day tasks that
you need to do to maintain current living standards or business operations (a.k.a.
Business As Usual or BAU).
In contrast, when we talk about projects, we talk about something new, like buying a
house or a car. If we consider the business environment, project activities would be
building a product that would increase sales or purchasing a new third party software
that would improve processes.
Ultimately, it is a new piece of work distinct from current business operations, which has
a specific outcome at the end.
,2. WHY EVERY PROJECT IS SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT AND UNIQUE?
Each project is unique; hence, you are doing something new that has not been done
before. Say, even such routine activities as buying a new iPhone could be a project in
today’s society. The point is that your circumstances, options, preferences are
changing, and each time it is no longer the same exercise.
Let’s explore a phone example a bit more. You might be a proud owner of iPhone 7,
which you acquired ages ago (like me); yet, the time has come to jump on the
opportunity to get your hands on a new iPhone 12. In both cases, you are buying a
phone and might even follow the same process. You would look for the best deal,
complete research on best handsets out there and create a list of the best options for
you. So far, nothing is new, right?!
Well, to start with there are many more phones to choose from in the market now. Plus,
you might have altered your preferences towards Android, or your salary has increased.
Thus, your circumstances, options and preferences have shifted. Suddenly, buying a
phone in 2021 is much different and unique compared to purchasing an iPhone 7. Thus,
just like that, you have a project on your hands.
Now, companies are facing a similar situation with their projects as well. Say it is time to
refresh corporate gear and acquire some new laptops for all employees. Data is
increasing, and they need additional RAMs and CPU to deal with it. Last time our
business did it was five years ago, which is ages in today’s standards.
Guess what, similar to you; a company may have a different budget, more choices in
the market, or even changing preferences towards using more cloud computing. Five
years later, the situation is quite different, and buying laptops or more broadly
computing power is a unique endeavour.
3. WHY PROJECTS ARE TEMPORARY ACTIVITIES?
When you are looking to accomplish a new goal, you will organise resources, like staff,
materials, equipment and facilities for a defined period. When the goal is achieved, the
resources will be disbanded, redistributed or repurposed for new projects. Therefore, a
project by definition can be only temporary.
Let’s consider how this applies to nearly everyday life, and I will use my recent
experience to organise a wedding. You will likely start 12 – 9 months before the big
event. Typically, you will create a plan, get one online or hire someone to do it for you.
My endeavour is looking more and more like a project—time to place all those
resources on the timeline.
I will need a venue, musicians, dancing lessons, cake, food and rings. I am sure I have
missed a few things :). The point, though, is that it will end with a huge crescendo and
,final goal, my wedding day! Unfortunately, after the main day, contractors will allocate
all those resources to new events and personal projects. Therefore, my wedding would
be a sweet but temporal event.
Businesses’ projects are no different, except for the getting married bit! They usually
have a problem to address or the opportunity to explore.
For example, the bricks and mortar bookstore is facing changing generation. Younger
people tend to buy books online, do not read them that much or listen to them through
Amazon Audible. Here we go, the business has been presented with both problem and
opportunity.
The bookstore decides to take definitive steps to create a website with books and video
content; plus, sell some books on Amazon. They will need developers or a
subcontractor to build them a site and underlining infrastructure. Yet, the services
required will not be indefinite. When the site is live, there will be only minimal technical
staff input required.
The project will start when they begin defining the problem or opportunity to explore. It
will also finish when the store addresses the issue with a shiny new website or Amazon
presence. The developers did there bits, and they would go and look for new projects or
opportunities, and just like that, the project is closed.
. DO PROJECTS HAVE A FINAL DELIVERY AT THE END?
Through a choreographed sequence of steps, every project will deliver a final result or
product at the end. The tool or changes in the operational process will address a
specific goal that business or individual set out initially. In our previous example, it was
the perfect wedding day. Let’s explore a few more examples.
Suppose you have decided to buy a new car. You do your researching, planning,
saving, budgeting, and, finally, the new sparkling vehicle sits at your driveway. In this
example, the goal might be that you need to drive kids to school, and you need to
embark on these steps to acquire a tool that would help you with your goal. Well, this is
your project’s delivery. Hopefully, It is an excellent car within your budget constraints
that will work for ages.
The business may have a project to deliver a new accounting system, which can
automate more tasks than ever. It might be that the current system is very manual and
prone to errors, or it just takes too much time. Therefore, business leaders create the
project around reducing the overhead of accounting processes. By choosing vendors,
getting the best offers and eventually implementing the system, you get a result, a
usable accounting system. Thus, the product of our endeavour is innovative software
that solves the specific business problem.
, 5. WHY PROJECTS HAVE A CLEAR OBJECTIVE?
Finally, the project always has one or numerous objectives. You would not start a
project just for fun. Well, actually, that could also be your objective. Goals might be
evident in your endeavour; For example, you need to work from home, keep your back
straight; thus, you need to buy a new office chair. In business, objectives will be more
defined and documented. Usually, you are dealing with large sums of money, and
eventually, you will need to be accountable for achieving set out goals.
One day, you have visited your local bar and had this genius idea. Why don’t I organise
a music event to increase the bar’s popularity and contribute to a local community? Just
like that, you have your primary objectives. The project will go through multiple steps
like agreeing on the band, getting the bar’s owner approval and sending invites. In the
end, you will have your fantastic event, which will hopefully achieve your two objectives
set out in the beginning.
Businesses’ projects are no different. They also have objectives, like increasing
efficiency in the sales process, finance department or attracting more clients. In our
bookstore example, they may decide to create a project to redesign a website to appeal
to a younger generation, encourage readership and attract more clients. The company
might have multiple business objectives, and one project would align with one or several
of them.
Project Failure
Each year, enterprise organizations around the world face astronomical project failure
rates, often wasting millions of dollars per failed project. The same enterprises agonize
over the causes of project failure, call in expensive consultants to assess and recover
failing projects, and often abandon what originally seemed like well-planned, well-
organized projects, destined for success.
There is no single method or organizational structure that can be used to manage
projects to success. Different organizations handle the functional projects differently.
Some have fragmented and decentralized groups with multiple titles indicating that they
are projects, while others might have large aggregations of project management
professionals in a centralized support organization.
Regardless of the physical arrangements of the functions, there is a common set of
related organizational needs when properly delegated to the appropriate groups that
can be used to save or manage projects. Besides a well defined charter, the list that
follows summarizes some of the major project management functions that are
necessary to achieve success in projects:
Recruit and maintain adequate technical and non-technical resource skills
Manage the allocation of scarce resources
Define and collect operational metrics to support project and stakeholders decision
making
Promote efficient and effective communications
