For all other uses, see Project (disambiguation).

A project in business and science is a collaborative enterprise, frequently involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim.^[1]

Contents 1 Overview 2 Specific uses 2.1 School and university 2.2 Engineering project 2.3 Project management 3 Examples of notable projects 4 See also 5 References

[edit] Overview

The word project comes from the Latin word projectum from the Latin verb proicere, "to throw something forwards" which in turn comes from pro-, which denotes something that precedes the action of the next part of the word in time (paralleling the Greek πρό) and iacere, "to throw". The word "project" thus actually originally meant "something that comes before anything else happens".

When the English language initially adopted the word, it referred to a plan of something, not to the act of actually carrying this plan out. Something performed in accordance with a project became known as an "object".

This use of "project" changed in the 1950s^{[citation needed]} with the introduction of several techniques for project management. Use of the word "project" evolved slightly to cover both projects and objects. However, certain projects continue to include so-called objects object leaders

Contemporary^[update] Western business — characterized by a modern matrix organization and a cooperative culture — currently^[update] particularly favors project-based approaches. Authoritarian, bureaucratic organizations with rigid, hierarchical structures show less enthusiasm about project-based work, which may not operate as expected in their environment due to conflicts between different cultures.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Specific uses

[edit] School and university

At school and university, a project is a research assignment given to a student which generally requires a larger amount of effort and more independent work than is involved in a normal essay assignment. It requires students to undertake their own fact-finding and analysis, either from library/internet research or from gathering data empirically. The written report that comes from the project is usually in the form of a dissertation, which will contain sections on the project's inception, methods of inquiry, analysis, findings and conclusions.^[2]

[edit] Engineering project

The engineering project is a particular type of technological system, embedded in the context of technological systems in general^[3]. Engineering projects are, in many countries, specifically defined by legislation, which requires that such projects should be carried out by registered engineers and/or registered engineering companies. That is, companies with license to carry out such works as design and construction of buildings, power plants, industrial facilities, installation and erection of electrical grid networks, transportation infrastructure and the like.

The scope of the project is specified on a contract between the owner and the engineering and construction parties. As a rule, an engineering project is broken down into design and construction phases. The outputs of the design process are drawings, calculations, and all other design documentation necessary to carry out the next phase.

[edit] Project management

In project management a project consists of a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.^[4] Another definition is a management environment that is created for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to a specified business case^[5].

Project objectives define target status at the end of the project, reaching of which is considered necessary for the achievement of planned benefits. They can be formulated as S.M.A.R.T^[6]: Specific, Measurable (or at least evaluable) achievement, Achievable (recently Acceptable is used regularly as well), realistic (given the current state of organizational resources) and Time terminated (bounded). The evaluation (measurement) occurs at the project closure. However a continuous guard on the project progress should be kept by monitoring and evaluating. It is also worth noting that SMART is best applied for incremental type innovation projects^{[citation needed]}. For radical type projects it does not apply as well. Goals for such projects tend to be broad, qualitative, stretch/unrealistic and success driven.

[edit] Examples of notable projects

• Human Genome Project which mapped the human genome
• Manhattan Project, which developed the first nuclear weapon
• Polaris missile project: an ICBM control-system
• Project Apollo, which landed humans on the moon
• Soviet atomic bomb project
• Soviet manned lunar projects and programs

[edit] See also

Look up project in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Megaproject
• Project governance
• Project Management Institute (PMI)
• Project management software
• Project planning
• Cone of Uncertainty

[edit] References