All attendees of “property management sonoma… by the Numbers” know that every project is a project within another project(!). In other words, every project we manage is a part of another bigger project. So, what is the difference between a business process and a project management process?
Let’s begin the answer with an example…
The CEO of the organization believes the project is to bring a new product to market. Let us call the product the Wireless Internet Waffle Iron (WiWi).
The CEO knows he/she has a process to get the WiWi though his company. This includes identifying the best possible WiWi and all the way to sustaining the WiWi when it is sold to the consumer.
The company has a published plan based on stages for this process (for example; Stage 1 – Ideation, Stage 2 – Assessment, Stage 3 – Feasibility, Stage 4 – Development, Stage 5 – Commercialization, Stage 6 – Sustainment), in order to get the WiWi from one stage to another.
Most often, the process progresses by passing the responsibility of the project from one group to the next along the way of each stage. It does make sense that Engineering manages the conceptual work and Marketing manages the marketing.
Because of this process, the CEO passes the project to his direct reports with confidence that the project can now be managed on time, on budget and that the Wireless Internet Waffle Iron will be exactly as envisioned.
Working with my clients, I have identified this scenario hundreds times over the years and it is easy to recognize this as a “business process” as this is how the business (company) views the work as a project.
