Two types of projects

Different types of projects demand different skills to be used by project managers. There are two types of “projects” at a high level. The Operations project and the Consulting project. The operations project tends to be a project more in name than in deed as it typically doesn’t have an end date, many clients I have had like to call these “programs” as well but from a project methodology mind set neither completely fits. If you are going into the world of project management you need to be able to identify the difference between these two early in your engagement with stake holders as different things will be important to them.

1. Operations Project – Typically has PM with a PMP and understands the documentation. Focus needs to be on keeping both stake holders and employees happy along with updating all documentation. Accept and include all scope creep because it will make the people happy to know they are going to get new deliverables in the project. Typically the project has no firm end date and continues for ever until stakeholders shift gears and decide to do something else. Success for this type of project is typically getting funded to continue the project the following year.

2. Consulting Project – Typically has PM with a PMP or some other sort of certification. The Consulting project is always working with a timeline which has a start and end date and a budget. The consulting project also demands the completion of all the documentation, but scope gets finalized prior to beginning execution. The consulting project focuses on delivering scope items and not allowing constant scope creep. Success for this type of project is typically delivering on time and under budget.

The lesson is figure out what type of “project” you are really running. Does it have an actual start and end date or is it something the stakeholders want to keep going forever? There is a huge difference and the mind set with how you approach it will be significantly different.