{"id":7072,"date":"2026-08-26T12:21:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T19:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writtenbymurphy.com\/wonderblog\/?p=7072"},"modified":"2026-08-23T08:31:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T15:31:26","slug":"projct-vs-operation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/writtenbymurphy.com\/wonderblog\/2026\/08\/projct-vs-operation\/","title":{"rendered":"PRoject vs Operations"},"content":{"rendered":" When I wrote I my book The AV project manager handbook, I assumed some things. I didn\u2019t stop to answer the fundamental question:
What is a project?
My friend Joe Way says everything is sales. I clap back \u201cEverything is a project!\u201d But there is a demarcation. This is a project: \u201cA project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.\u201d That sounds like lawyer talking. Let me pull out the dividing line. A project is something with an end, and it does something that isn\u2019t already being done.
A project contrasts with operations. For an organization\u2014whether a business, government or a household\u2014there are the everyday systems that keep everything running. In my household, I really want things to stay the same. We rely on a lot of systems. A really big one is our cars. We use our vehicles every day, and my daughter got her driver\u2019s license recently. We are all zipping around for school, work and sports.
Making sure we park in the driveway in the right order so we can drive our cars in the order we are going to leave, keeping the gas tane full are folded into the week\u2019s chores.
They are not a project. Nothing unique to see here. In fact, as far as my household is concerned, we want it to stay this way. Can I just go about my business please?
We can all get where we need. UNTIL! Disaster strikes: A car breaks OR Operational Upgrade! A new Vehicle purchase
Maybe my car breaks down and needs a new transmission. We would have to come up with a plan for the time and resources it will take to deal with this disruption in operations. The other drivers in the household might have to share their vehicles. The family would do decision analysis about the kind of repair we would do (repair or replace? What\u2019s the budget? How old is my car? Etc.)
We would all weigh the opportunity and the cost in time and resources to make the best choice to restore the vehicle transportation system. We could brainstorm ideas. Do we need three cars? How do the choices fit with our values and future plans? The stakeholders \u2013all of whom are still involved in operations\u2014have their part to play in the project as it gets scoped, designed and executed. In this case, all of them want to get back to operations as soon as possible. For a professional services organization, a project is likely the source of revenue, Projects are the reason for operation, not an interruption of operations. The goal might be to define and execute as many project as possible, as quickly as possible.
Projects and Operations exist side by side, and the team would do well to understand the difference and right-size the effort and attention on both All the stakeholders would be wise to identify which projects support their operations and which operations support their projects. It\u2019s a changing continuum. What is the core value for the team? What things are always a NO? Communication, analysis and leadership will support success and progress. Priorities, opportunities and disasters shift. Resources and attention can be distributed in response. ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"