Sometimes simple concepts are tough to articulate. According to PMBOK:
"A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result."
Depending on what you do for living, you cannot call everything a project. For example, let's say Mike reviews contracts for living all day every day for 10 years. Is that work considered a project? All of these contracts could be part of hundreds of other projects but is Mike's work specifically considered a project? Check if what he does is:
- Unique - Different from other deliverables. It can be a product, service, result a combination of each.
- Temporary - Has defined scope, schedule and resources that will no longer be available once project ends.
- Drives Change - A project has an objective to move an organization from Current State to Future State in order to achieve a specific objective e.g. brand recognition, market share, public benefit etc.
Tip from BK: For the PMP exam, assume that you are the PM on an extremely large and complex project with a combination of resources, teams, locations, branches and segments.
