Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook

2.

What Is a Project?

From Product Launches to Digital Transformations to Megaprojects

Everyone—students, business leaders, other individuals, and governments—uses the word project, yet it is largely misunderstood. There is confusion about what is and isn’t a project as well as the nature of what project management is. Since projects drive more and more of the value that organizations create, everyone—from coders to project managers to executives—needs to understand what projects are and share a common language about what project management does. Let’s start by defining some simple terms.

Definitions

Projects are limited in time; they have a start and an end. They require an investment in the form of capital resources (money, funds) and human ...