Introduction | Project Management | Success | Nature | Content
Project Work | Style | Types of Leader | All Together | Conclusions

The Nature of Project Work

The foregoing classification provides a way of categorizing projects and consequently for assessing the extent and type of management techniques required. But what of the people involved? Are there differences in the styles of management that would be most appropriate in each case for managing the people on the project?

It is a common experience that different people respond to different styles of leadership. Some respond better to being told what to do, while others respond better when allowed to think more for themselves. Intuitively, one suspects that the former aligns more with craft work requiring training while the latter aligns more with intellectual work where people have more opportunity to educate themselves.

Therefore, the authors suggest that differences in project management styles should be determined by a more fundamental distinction between or within projects. This distinction has to do with both the type of product emanating from the project and the type of work required to create that product, and this distinction should be made at the individual work-package level.

Depending on the nature of the work package product, the effort required to manage the process and to produce the product will require varying degrees of both intellectualism and craftsmanship. From the perspective of management, it is the extent and balance between these components that provide the distinguishing features.

Thus, we can envision a simple matrix consisting of two broad types of product, namely, "tangible" and "intangible", and two types of work, namely, "craft" and "intellect". These may be defined as follows.[10]

Tangible Product. These products are ones in which the primary value is in the physical artifact.

Examples — new building, a piece of hardware.

Intangible Product. These products are ones in which the primary value is in their intellectual property even though there is some tangible product as the vehicle for conveyance.

Examples — new software, a manual.

Craft Work. This work is the result of manual dexterity, has been done before, and essentially requires repetitive effort.

Examples — brick laying, welding.

Intellect Work. This work is the result of applying "brain-power", has not been done before, and requires new ideas and imagination.

Examples — new process, new design.

It should be noted that all projects involve intellectual work in their planning and in this respect all projects appear to be similar. Indeed, this may be the root of a popular misconception with many that all project management is the same. However, it is the production work in the execution stage of the project that results in actual final product and, from a project management perspective, it is this that distinguishes one type of project from another.

At first glance it might appear that craft work is simply the requirement of tangible-type projects, and intellect work is the requirement of intangible-type projects. However, a 2x2 matrix introduces the possibility of adding both tangible-intellect projects as well as intangible-craft projects.

Table 3[11] shows the characteristics, results, and some examples of each of all four basic project types.

		Tangible		Intangible
		Characteristic - Not done before - Subject to linear logic - Requires iterations - Resources less predictable		Characteristic - Non-repetitive, first of its kind - Creative effort - Minimal repetition - Resources unpredictable - Exploratory
		Result Development of new physical artifact		Result Development of new piece of intellectual property
		Examples New invention, device; All-new 'mouse-trap'; new product from R&D		Examples New book, poem, music, movie, etc; New algorithm, theory, idea; New technology process; New software
		Characteristic - Much repetitive effort - Linear logic applies - Learning curve effects - Learn by doing - Resources predictable - Relatively high cost involved		Characteristic - Based on previous model - No iterations, only corrections - Learn by repetition - Physical format required only for distribution - Resource predicatble - Relatively low reproduction cost
		Result Typical physical artifact		Result Typical piece of intellectual property
		Examples Typical new physical plant, infrastructure, product, e.g. building, utility, car, appliance		Examples Typical system, software upgrade, etc; Policies, procedures manual; Plan for factory shut-down
		Tangible (value is in the entity)		Intangible (value is in the content)
		Type of Product (from the project)

Table 3: Basic Project or Major Element Classification

Technological Content

Style and Personality Traits

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