What is NOT a project?
After writing a post on “What is a Project?”, I see some interest with people trying to learn about what is not a project, non-project work etc. So, I’ve decided to put my thoughts into it.
To understand the difference between the two types of work, we need to understand how businesses, institutions organize work. All businesses need to get work done in order to delivery products or services, operate, make a profit (if that is one of its objectives), and compete with other competing organizations. Work is most efficiently done when they do the following:
Plan
Coordinate
Execute
Organization of Work
Organization of anything has to be done with a specific focus in mind. Otherwise the organization would not be coherent and would loose integrity. There are two ways in which businesses typically focuses this organization:
Operation-focussed
Change-focussed
There are pros and cons with both types of organization. But, the context makes all the difference. For certain type of work, it may be more efficient to organize the work in an operation-focussed manner, while for others it may be more efficient to organize the work in a change-focussed manner.
Examples
Sometimes it helps to take examples and examine a concept via it. Let’s to that here
Mining organization
Let’s take a mining organization as an example - ABC Precious Metals Inc. (let’s say). The company has 2 mines it operates and it has 7 prospects it is exploring. The 2 operating mines generate the revenue while the 7 prospects are only consuming cash. The company has organized work in such a way that the 2 mines fall under its operations, while the 7 prospects are being run as 7 independent projects. It helps keep its planning and execution of work clean, as well as its financials clean. Here’s a look at a few key parameters:
Each of the 2 mine operations - Focus on:
Revenue from sales
Operating expense
Profit margin
Each of the 7 exploration projects - Focus on:
Progress of exploration
Milestone hit
Budget burn
Reserves discovered
Return on investment
Organizational administration: In addition to the 2 operations and the 7 projects, the company also needs to have its administrative work done. That is also non-project work.
While this business is organized that way, but another mining company may only decide to own operating mines while still another one may completely focus on the other side of the spectrum and just have explorations going on.
Type of work
Thus non-project work typically focuses on operational work and administrative work at a very high level. This may include the following departments:
Sales
Marketing
Finance
Legal
Human Resources
Operations
Senior Management
The key point is that if your work is not reporting to a project (being managed by a project manager), it is likely non-project work. The good news in that case is that, while project have to have an end, in theory there is no end to your work.