Toward a fundamental differentiation between projects

Summary form only given. The authors contend that it is possible to look beyond immediate project shortcomings for some pivotal dimensions that would enable better correlation between different types of project and appropriate styles of management. The authors suggest that all projects, or at least their major elements, can be typified according to the fundamental differences in the type of product produced and the type of work required to produce that product. Two fundamentally different types of product are identified as 'tangible' and 'intangible' and similarly two types of work (effort) are identified as 'craft' and 'intellect'. These two dimensions together form a simple 2/spl times/2 matrix in which four fundamentally different types of project element can be found. These are represented by tangible-intellect, intangible-intellect, intangible-craft, and tangible-craft. The paper describes each of these four elements, their typical characteristics and example projects. Intuitively, one suspects that people involved in craft work respond better to being told what to do, while those involved in intellectual work expect to be allowed to think for themselves. These represent the need for very different styles of project management. In the course of the project life cycle, other project management styles are also no doubt required.