Talk:Project/Archives/2013

improvements vs projects
Sir/Madam, Organisations tend to stretch the Project definition in the direction suitable for their particular arguments in a particular situation. Maybe it's not worth while to have a strict definition, but yet again- it creates confusion when we do not agree on what a project is and what it isn't. Some are using the term 'Improvement' when they talk about small projects, but what is a small project? It's an interesting discussion to try to find more common definition. Do you have any suggestions?

Tor Murvold Ms Science Chief PM


 * How can you tell if it's a project? Well, if the outcome is something new (to you), and it requires a plan, people, time, and money to complete, then it's a project.  The work required to make an improvement is a project.   It doesn't matter if it's a 2-hour project (as seen in home improvement or hobbies) or a 2-year project.  Ancawonka 01:03, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

There's "projects" and then there's "projects"
In my totally "original research" experience, there are two definitions of "project" about, or two categories of definitions, and this article only covers one. The one covered can be called "finite extent, defined outcome" projects: the project to build this or that, for example. The other one is "unbounded evolution of persistent objects." I can only name examples of the latter type from the software development field: the Linux project, for example. In the latter definition, there's no definable termination--there are probably many finite/defined subgroups of work (that is, "projects" in the former sense), but they're called "releases." It seems like this article would be a great place to draw out this distinction. Can anyone provide citations for my latter usage? Jackrepenning (talk) 19:24, 23 March 2010 (UTC)

More OR - but the same thing happens in electronic product design projects, or probably any field where innovation is involved (even construction). The project can be iterative, or a bit more freeform, but can't be split easily into distinct design and build phases as the engineering project section suggests (although this remains an ideal). The functional requirements, and hence the design, may be unknown until the first units are manufactured (engineering samples for customers to try out). --Adx (talk) 23:41, 30 January 2013 (UTC)