What is Project Management?

This chapter places context around the practice of project management by defining projects and their characteristics, the process of project management, and the knowledge and skills needed to be a project manager.

Project Management Overview

The starting point in discussing how projects should be properly managed is to first understand what a project is and, just as importantly, what it is not.

People have been undertaking projects since the earliest days of organized human activity. The hunting parties of our prehistoric ancestors were projects, for example; they were temporary undertakings directed at the goal of obtaining meat for the community. Large complex projects have also been with us for a long time. The Pyramids and the Great Wall of China were, for their day, roughly the same level of undertaking as the Apollo project to send men to the moon. We use the term "project" frequently in our daily conversations. For example, a husband may tell his wife, "My main project for this weekend is to straighten out the garage".  Going hunting, building pyramids, and fixing faucets all share certain features that make them projects.

Source: Adrienne Watt, https://opentextbc.ca/projectmanagement/chapter/chapter-2-what-is-a-project-project-management/
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