Sunday, March 11, 2012

Doing projects: the motivation

Mats Engwall has written on the motivation for doing projects. He gives these reasons:
  • As integrating mechanisms enabling cross-functional integration
  • As contractual arrangements between markets and hierarchies
  • As time-limited teams working towards stipulated deadlines
  • As temporary organizations with distinctive characteristics as compared to the permanent organization
  • As effective tools in organizing product development
  • As the natural work form in … [high tech] companies, and
  • As the core units of analysis for understanding the production of high cost, complex products and systems …”
All good reasons, to be sure, but theses are business mechanics.

How about something more compelling? How about: Projects are instruments of strategy; projects are the means to lift all beneficiaries to a better place?

And, you might ask: What is strategy that projects are instruments thereof? Strategy is the plan for the path to the future:
Strategy is about doing similar activities in a different way that achieves goals more effectively; or doing different things than those that are customary to achieve goals.
Michael Porter