Project

A project is a purposeful, one-time undertaking consisting of a set of coordinated, controlled activities that can be carried out in order to achieve a goal, taking into account constraints such as time, resources (for example, financing or costs, production and working conditions, personnel and operating resources) and quality.

Project is derived from Latin proiectum, neuter to proiectus 'thrown forward', past participle of proicere 'to throw forward' (cf. projectile). In projects, 'forward' is understood to have a temporal dimension (see also scheduling). The German word comes into use in the later 17th century meaning 'building project'.

For the implementation of projects, project teams are usually formed, which are responsible for control tasks. To make their project management efficient, consulting firms and universities offer special training courses and software manufacturers offer tools.

Many project management doctrines recommend that the goals or objectives of a project be formulated in advance according to the SMART rules (SMART = Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realistic, Timed). For research projects, however, this only applies to a limited extent.

The strategic approach is determined by the project objective described in the project definition - i.e. even before the project begins. The necessary processes/activities and the helpful basic structure, which determine the handling of resources, are based on this.

Project in didactics

In addition to projects in the economic field, there are projects in the educational field with a different definition and task. These were already developed at the beginning of the twentieth century by John Dewey, William Heard Kilpatrick and others as a counter-design to head-emphasised frontal teaching. They are forms of teaching and learning with which certain teaching and educational goals are to be achieved. As didactic concepts, they are understood and used on the one hand simply as a method (Frey), on the other hand (more complex) as a socially integrative form of teaching (Warwitz/Rudolf, Bastian et al.), in which the impulses of the learning processes do not come from the teacher alone, but are shaped in coordination of interests by the entire teaching and learning community. In the understanding as a complex form of teaching, not only the learning paths and the organisation of the teaching (= methods) but also the contents, aims, justification questions and learning success checks of the learning processes are negotiated with each other and are jointly responsible. If the more demanding form of project teaching is defined by certain hard criteria, project-oriented teaching has the function of working towards it methodically and motivationally. This is based on the assumption that certain subjects are open to interdisciplinary cooperation, for example as "project-oriented physics, German or physical education". Both forms of teaching are also sometimes simplified and referred to as "project work".

Colloquial meaning

Not conforming in the sense of temporal limitation, but in the sense of thematic/organizational differentiation from the "normal case", i.e. with the meaning that it is "something special", the term project is also used in order to:

• "alternative lifestyles, charities or non-profit organizations, etc." to describe. E.G.: "housing project" or "unemployment project". The so-called project funding of the public sector for limited projects, which however have to be applied for again and again, has probably favoured this naming convention in these areas (e.g. for so-called permanent projects of social institutions).
• to designate a process of development that has not yet been completed.
• to designate something new in the field of art. For example, many young music groups (e.g. The Alan Parsons Project) refer to themselves as a "project" (because of a higher attention effect and with the secondary meaning of dropping this designation when one considers oneself established).

Language dictionaries (e.g. Duden) tend to define projects in this more general sense as planning, undertaking, design or project.

In psychosocial care and social work, (new) services are often also referred to as projects, even if they are designed from the outset to be permanent or recurrent, regardless of their funding.