Home » What Is a Business Project?

What Is a Business Project?

Featured Partners: Project Management Software

business-projectWhat Really Is a Business Project?

I know it sounds strange, but a few days ago, one of my small business clients actually asked me, “What is a business project?” I found myself wondering how to answer that. After all, we’re all being bombarded with advice about projects. The media is constantly filled with news of one project or another that fails. But they usually talk about major construction or municipal infrastructure projects. And then they try to justify business people learning about project management because of the construction failures.

But they never seem to explain what is a business project.

So in this article, I’m going to try to explain what is a business project and why it is unique from other types of projects. And while I’m at it, I’ll explain where they are the same. First of all, let’s clarify what a project is and then we’ll talk about the specific version.

A project is a set of tasks. In business planning speak that’s just another way of saying it’s a process or system. However, unlike most business systems one of its key characteristics is that it has a specific beginning and end. Most business systems are permanent. Or at least have some level of permanency to them. A project, on the other hand, is conceived as a temporary endeavor.

The second key characteristic of a project is that of uniqueness. The product is always unique. The specific set of tasks that make up the project, are almost always unique. The tasks may follow a pattern. The tasks may be individually common. However, the arrangement of tasks and something in the tasks will be unique to this project.

So projects can include such things as building an office building. Or building a house. Or building a bridge. But they can also include such things as designing a rocket ship or a satellite. Or it might include the development of a new drug. Or a new product.

A business project is first of all, a project…

… and therefore, it shares the characteristics of uniqueness and a temporary nature. It also produces a unique product and it may use common tasks.

prepare-for-business-project

The difference lies in the purpose of a business project versus other projects. A business project is a project specifically intended to achieve a business objective. For example, an IS or IT project may have as its objective implementing a new general ledger system. Because it is intended to achieve a business objective (the new general ledger system) it is a business project. A business may decide it needs to reorganize itself. The process of reorganizing is a business project. Or a business may decide it needs to do some marketing. The design and implementation of the marketing campaign is a business project.

There are three basic types of business project. The first is the strategic project. This type of project is focused on achieving objectives determined during the business planning or strategic process. A second type is the operational project. These are projects which are initiated for business reasons other than achieving a strategic objective. For example, a general ledger may have become obsolete. So a business project is initiated in order to implement a new release of the general ledger. The third type is the repeating or operationalized project. These projects run so frequently that much of the regular project planning can be repeated.

Glen Ford is an accomplished project management consultant, trainer and writer. He has over 20 years experience as a project manager in such diverse projects as Construction, IT, Software Development, Marketing and Business Startup. He is a serial entrepreneur who quite literally learned to be an entrepreneur at his great-grandfather’s knee.

To learn more about Project Management, check out TechRepublic Academy.

Featured Partners: Project Management Software

If you’re interested in learning more about top rated project management software, the editors at Project-Management.com actively recommend the following:

1 Wrike

Visit website

Tackle complex projects with Wrike’s award-winning project management software. Break projects into simple steps, assign tasks to team members, and visualize progress with Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and calendars. Manage resource allocation and forecasting with software that’s easy to launch. Automation and AI features strip away time-consuming admin tasks so you can do the best work of your life. Streamline your practices, align your team, and ensure you hit deadlines and stay on budget.

Learn more about Wrike

2 monday.com

Visit website

monday.com Work OS is the project management software that helps you and your team plan, execute, and track projects and workflows in one collaborative space. Manage everything from simple to complex projects more efficiently with the help of visual boards, 200+ ready-made templates, clever no-code automations, and easy integrations. In addition, custom dashboards simplify reporting, so you can evaluate your progress and make data-driven decisions.

Learn more about monday.com

3 Smartsheet

Visit website

Smartsheet is an online work execution platform empowering organizations of all sizes to plan, manage, automate, and report on work. Over 80,000 brands rely on Smartsheet for project and work management.

Learn more about Smartsheet


Share Article


Tags:

Project-Management.com Avatar

Get the Free Newsletter!

Subscribe to Project Management Insider for best practices, reviews and resources.

Featured Partners


Check out our library of 60+ pm books