Toward a Meaningful Definition of Project Management: Stops On a Journey Forward

Mark Mullaly is president of Interthink Consulting Incorporated, an organizational development and change firm specializing in the creation of effective organizational project management solutions. Since 1990, it has worked with companies throughout North America to develop, enhance and implement effective project management tools, processes, structures and capabilities. Mark was most recently co-lead investigator of the Value of Project Management research project sponsored by PMI. You can read more of his writing at markmullaly.com.

 

My last column discussing the definition of project management generated a lot of discussion, some positive and some negative. While a few correspondents felt it raised some interesting questions, others were clearly frustrated that the column didn't actually get a definition by the end of it. To them, I apologize in advance--you aren't going to get one until next month.

Some explanation of why this discussion is occurring probably wouldn't be inappropriate here. Since I started asking the question of what project management is, and how someone knows that they are doing project management, it has become increasingly apparent that while many do it, few can define it and many actually don't recognize that what they are doing is project management.

This challenge very much stems from the initial thoughts expressed in my column on accidental project managers --that there are far more people in a far greater number of walks of life that actually "do" project management than actually realize it. The final thought in that column was that we need a better way of explaining project management and introducing project management neophyte's who view their role as just "getting stuff done."

The problem that immediately presents itself once you start looking for a better way of introducing project management to people is the fundamental challenge of defining exactly what …

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