The term Project is used everywhere when people are speaking about projects. That is a tautology. But there is an important missing feature. What kind of project. A software project, a construction project, a process improvement project? What kind of software project? An ERP deployment, a web site development, how about embedded flight navigation software? Construction? Big, small, medium. Buildings, bridges, harbors, roads, rail systems?
Without a domain and a context in that domain, it's hard to have a conversation around project activities. But this is the case in many conversations. The picture here is the restoration of the Executive Office Building, next door to the White House, on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC. I'm working in DC more these days, with a new office opening in Fairfax, VA, which of course is no where near the White House. But my favorite hotel is in Foggy Bottom, and the Organge Line takes me close enough to the office where I can get picked up in the morning and dropped at night.
When we speak about project management, it's important not to suggest that the processes and methods we speak about are universally applicable to all projects. The Five Immutable Principles are. But how we answer the questions posed by those Immutable Principles are not.
There are of course a large variety of projects types. There is no real "project taxonomy," but we need one. In the mean time, I've learned to ask "what do you mean when you say PROJECT?"
