Projects are separate from business-as-usual activities and occur when an organisation wants to deliver a solution to set requirements within an agreed budget and timeframe. Projects require a team of people to come together temporarily to focus on specific project objectives. As a result, effective teamwork is central to successful projects.

Projects require a team of people to come together temporarily to focus on specific project objectives. As a result, effective teamwork is central to successful projects. Project management is concerned with managing discrete packages of work to achieve specific objectives. The way the work is managed depends upon a wide variety of factors.

The scale, significance and complexity of the work are obvious factors: relocating a small office and organising the Olympics share many basic principles, but offer very different managerial challenges. Objectives may be expressed in terms of:

• outputs (such as a new HQ building);
• outcomes (such as staff being relocated from multiple locations to the new HQ);
• benefits (such as reduced travel and facilities management costs);
• strategic objectives (such as doubling the organisation’s share price in three years).