Conclusion
The purpose of this paper has been to establish fundamentally different types
of project tasks with a view to subsequent correlation with different styles
of management. The objective of this correlation would be to increase the proportion
of successful projects experienced.
Every project is composed of a range of activities or tasks. To achieve a project's
objective, many tasks are often accomplished as separate work packages or elements
and then integrated into the final product. The exact nature of an element depends
on the mixture and type of the contained tasks. To gain insight into the type
of project, it is necessary to look within the project to its major work elements.
These elements may then be examined to ascertain the best form of management
most likely to lead to a successful outcome.
The nature of these work elements can be distinguished according to two scales:
type of end product and type of activity (work done) to produce that end product.
There are two fundamental types of product: tangible and intangible; and two
fundamental types of work (effort): craft and intellect. These two dimensions
form a simple 2x2 matrix in which four essentially different types of project
can be found. These are Tangible-Intellect; Intangible-Intellect; Intangible-Craft;
and Tangible-Craft.
The paper describes each of these four types and their typical characteristics.
Intuitively, one suspects that people involved in craftwork respond better to
being told what to do, while those involved in intellectual work expect to be
allowed to think for themselves. This topic will be examined in a later paper.
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How
the Matrix might relate to a Spectrum of Management Style