This article focuses on those projects tied to initiatives that are critical for a company to remain competitive. They are typically longer in duration and involve all or multiple segments of the organization. They often include suppliers and customers and other outside stakeholders. Examples include a merger/acquisition, transformation integration (of many systems and operations), “re-engineering” effort, technology installation, performance/quality improvement program or even a strategic planning initiative.
Of course, it should be recognized that on a rare occasion, the efforts of these projects become “baked-in” to the way the organization conducts its day-to-day business. This would be the case, for instance, when an organization embraces its quality improvement program, and successfully makes it the “mindset” of everyone.