Defining Project

Lets talk first something about Project:

Project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service.
Features of project. It can be a construction Project, an IT project, a project of launching a new product in the market but 3 basic characteristics will be necessary for a project: 

• Temporary: project has a definite beginning and end.  The duration may vary from one day to even few years – but ultimately all projects must either meet their objectives or be terminated. Please note that even though the projects are temporary, the product or service created by the project may far outlast the projects themselves.
• Unique product or service: all projects create something unique which has never been created before e.g. a product or service may be unique even if the category to which it belongs is large. (E.G. A project to create a building has a unique design, location, resources, etc.).
• Progressively elaborated:  because the project creates a unique product or service, the detailed characteristics of the product or service are not known in advance – it has to be defined in steps i.e. progressively elaborated.

From a PMP exam perspective, you will be given a situation and asked to 

Determine if you are working on a project. Please use these guidelines which

will help in defining a project :

1. Does it have features of usual operational work that is done in your

    company? (i.e. if it does not have a well defined beginning and end, then it

    is not a project)

2. Is it just fixing something which is broken or making minor modifications or 

     maintenance activities (e.g. making small changes in a document or 

     website, fixing small problems etc.) These activities will not produce a unique product and are hence not projects.

3.  Will doing the work require you to follow project management rigors e.g. 

     does it cover the different PMBOK knowledge areas like Integration 

     Management, Time Management, Schedule Management, Cost 

     Management etc.? Will it require a project plan to be created and project 

     manager assigned? If answers to these questions are “No”, then you are 

     not dealing with projects.