What is a project? Definition of the project, its features and characteristics

The project approach to achieving the goals allows:

1) Combine significant goals for the company, the achievement of which is possible in the foreseeable future.

2) More efficiently plan the allocation of funds.

3) Coordinate the actions of managers and performers.

What is a project? Definition of a concept

The word "project" (projectus) is translated from Latin as "prominent, pushing forward, bulging." And if you reproduce this word in the Oxford lexicon, you get: "a well-planned start of a business, a personally created company or joint work necessary to achieve specific goals." If we approach the answer to this question in more detail, then the project is:

• a campaign (or a list of sequential actions) through which some problematic issues will be resolved or a brilliant idea will be implemented;

• one or several one-time tasks, without which the implementation of the project, determination and achievement of the main goals will be difficult;

• temporary order, which must be completed on time with the involvement of a certain amount of resources;

• business, the completion of which is tantamount to obtaining the desired result;

• limited time and resources, the totality of efforts or the implementation of measures necessary to approach the goal (all work is carried out by a special organization created for such tasks);

• a list of events due to time, the implementation of which will lead to the achievement of the only correct result; as a rule, such events are aimed at qualitative changes or the development of a new product (service);

• popularization and structuring of several ideas and setting goals for projects that are part of the main project, the joint implementation of various action plans (measures);

• designing sequential operations, the implementation of which will achieve certain results in the future;

• a detailed statement of the actions planned for a specific period and in specific conditions, the purpose of which is to change the situation in the future;

• an event requiring the preparation of a detailed plan and providing for a series of operations aimed at radically changing the existing situation;

• a dream, a movement, a mechanism by which it can be realized in the future, with the subsequent use of the concepts listed here for self-realization;

• research of a subject of interest in the present for the sake of drawing up a plan of action for the future.

By variety, projects can be personal (for example, developing a personal website) or developing, forcing the society to change (sometimes beyond recognition).

Features

A project, the definition of which has no analogues, is called an innovation or a novelty. And if in the near future there is no need to repeat the implementation of any points of the project (or will never need to be decided), it is called one-time.

If the final result must be obtained by a predetermined deadline, then the hallmark of this project is the time limit. And when the implementation of the project requires the participation of specialists from various fields, the definition of the project can "fit" in one word - interdisciplinarity.

The risks

Risks and difficulties in the development and management of the project arise mainly if such tasks have not been previously solved. The riskiness of the project directly depends on its scale and the equipment of the performers (the availability of the necessary equipment, materials and tools). Many risks, for example, are borne by an investment project, the determination of the sources of which is impossible without obtaining the necessary knowledge.

Investment Project Financing

Internal financing or self-financing is carried out at the expense of the enterprise - the founder of the project and provides for the expenditure of personal funds of shareholders. Also, the possibility of using the company's net profit, as well as damper deductions, is not excluded, and the formation of capital is strictly targeted. This type of financing is possible only if the project is small.

Externally funded project definition:

1) External financing can be carried out at the expense of the state, financial and non-financial enterprises, the population, foreign investors and additional funds at the disposal of the founders.

2) Stocks and shares.

3) Investment bank loans and bond loans.

Limiting factors

Any project consists of three limiting factors:

• Deadlines. In order to correctly calculate the duration of a project, technical tasks are divided into structural blocks, then the “uplift” of the volume of work is evaluated and the results obtained are compared with the experience of successful developers.
• Resources. For example, a human resource: managing employees, defining project work using their talents and abilities.
• Result. The components of this paragraph are: financial solvency, skillful marketing, economic efficiency, professionalism of the project manager and executors.

Design programs

Considering the work of an organization, one can almost always note two key options for its activities that exist at a time:

• the so-called "fluidity" and periodically repeated operations or transactions;

• projects.

The main differences between these two types of activities are the cyclical nature of the repeating processes and their subordination to a specific schedule of actions aimed at achieving a unique result.

For example, in automobile manufacturing, workshop conveyors, bookkeeping and correspondence processing are repetitive operations. Repeated transactions are characterized by a rather significant degree of certainty and require a systematic approach, the purpose of which is to increase the production efficiency of existing facilities and equipment.

The definition of a project focused on the implementation of any internal or external changes consists, for example, in the creation of the latest modifications, readjustment of conveyors or in the introduction of new automatic systems. External changes may relate to marketing campaigns, expanding the organization's field of activity, changing market relations. In particular, the following options can be noted:

• coordination development projects (enterprise reorganization, innovation, and so on);

• business development projects (research and development, production of the latest products, the formation of progressive trends, access to previously unknown markets);

• infrastructure formation (maintenance) projects (scheduled repair, equipment replacement, and so on);

• commercial plans implemented within the framework of the contract (production and delivery of original or unpresentable products, development, provision of original services).

This list can be continued if we supplement it with examples from various industrial spheres, which have significant differences in the scale of work, deadlines, number of employees and significance of the results.

Focus on getting results

The goal of any project is to obtain a specific result, that is, achieving the goal. A specific goal is the driving force behind the project.

Defining a project involves performing interdependent tasks. Projects aimed at achieving the goal are endowed with a deep inner meaning necessary for their implementation. The primary feature of project management is accuracy in the definition and formulation of goals, starting from the top level and ending with a detailed formulation of less significant goals.

In addition, the project can be regarded as a step-by-step achievement of extremely clearly formulated simple tasks, and its progress as the achievement of more significant tasks. The project is considered completed only after the final goal is achieved.

What is a project portfolio

Portfolio (Portfolio) - a collection of projects (programs), combined with one goal: to make management more comfortable and successful. Projects collected in a portfolio may not be interconnected, may not be united by a common goal and may exist independently of each other.