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The Project Approach

When and how to use traditional project management effectively

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Section 4 of 5
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When Projects Make Sense

Not everything should be treated as a product. Project management is the right approach when outcomes are well-defined, requirements are stable, and there's a clear endpoint. Understanding when to use project approach prevents the overhead of product management where it's not needed.

Appropriate Project Scenarios

Well-Defined Outcomes

When requirements are clear and unlikely to change

Examples

  • • Building a bridge
  • • Event planning
  • • Physical construction
  • • Compliance implementations

Key Characteristics

  • • Fixed specifications
  • • Established best practices
  • • Regulatory requirements
  • • One-time delivery

Project Management Best Practices

📋

Planning

Define clear scope and deliverables upfront

→ Prevents scope creep

Create detailed project plan with milestones

→ Enables tracking progress

Identify risks and mitigation strategies

→ Reduces surprises

Establish change control process

→ Manages expectations

⚙️

Execution

Track against baseline plan regularly

→ Early issue detection

Manage stakeholder communications

→ Alignment maintained

Document decisions and changes

→ Audit trail created

Control quality throughout delivery

→ Meets requirements

✅

Closure

Formal handoff to operations team

→ Ownership transferred

Document lessons learned

→ Organizational learning

Release project resources

→ Team can move on

Conduct post-mortem review

→ Continuous improvement

⚠️ Warning Signs

Projects are misapplied when used for:

  • • Building products that need to evolve based on user feedback
  • • Software with ongoing market competition
  • • Services that require continuous optimization
  • • Initiatives where learning and adaptation are critical

Key Takeaways

  • •Projects work best with well-defined outcomes and stable requirements
  • •Clear scope, timeline, and budget control are project management strengths
  • •Projects have defined endpoints with formal closure and handoffs
  • •Misapplying project approach to products leads to failure
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