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Unique

Projects produce a product, service, or result that can be considered unique. You may be thinking that you run multiple similar IT projects all the time-an install on Monday, patches on Tuesday, a data center upgrade here, and a help desk revamp there. It all seems like there isn't anything unique about it. Trust me, there is! We'll review different stakeholders and team roles in Chapter 3, Project Roles and Responsibilities, but until then I would imagine that you are working on multiple projects with different people who have different wants and needs.

Upgrading to the next version of an operating system is a project because even though it's one Windows system over another, different departments may be scheduled differently in a roll-out and therefore there are different unique stakeholders with a unique result: from the old operating system to a new operating system. It may seem that there is nothing unique about your organization's projects and your day-to-day work. But if you think of it this way, everything is based on a specific scope of work, differing schedules, possible risk events, budgeting for materials and equipment, managing a team of people, and so on.

There is always a reason why an organization takes on a project. Sometimes it's due to a customer request, a demand in the market, updates to meet regulatory compliance, or even for the social welfare of a group or groups. The ability to manage stakeholder needs and produce the result for which the project is being undertaken is what projects and project management is all about.

You may get questions asking about the definition of a project. Just remember, temporary and unique.

Another term describing projects is progressive elaboration. This is a fancy term for planning for what you know today and updating it as you learn more information. Elaborating in a progressive manner. All projects evolve this way; even if you know what the result is supposed to be, you may not have all of the information needed to plan everything out in the beginning.

If you are planning a vacation, you may know your destination, how many days you will stay, and your budget. What you can't predict are risk events, such as bad weather. You also may not know what restaurant you will choose on day four of your vacation. You have a known scope of work, schedule, and budget, but you'll have to wait until you arrive to see the other aspects clearly.