Projects are at the heart of the system. They are pivotal for the organization and management of your work.
Projects consist of two main elements:
Projects are built step-by-step and are cross-departmental, involving different departments to create a product. Project coordinators assign tasks to team members from different departments involved in the delivery of a final result.
You can use projects in any way to serve your particular needs,
but if you are after efficiency:
Product-centered vs. Department-centered projects
Another fundamental element in the system’s concept is the product-centered approach to project building.
Most companies look at projects as lists of activities and tasks that each department should execute– Design projects, Production projects, Sales projects, and so on, and most software solutions replicate the same approach. However, we know that different teams cooperate to create one product.
Why should we separate processes in different projects and distribute them in different departments?
Why should we manage projects separately?
It’s much more efficient to put all processes relevant to a specific outcome in a single project and manage them centrally by informing/pulling different departments when needed.
Build your projects by including all activities that contribute to the achievement of the final result, no matter if they need to be executed by different departments. Only thus you can secure a level of synchronization that would allow timely management throughout the whole product lifecycle.
Alternatively, avoid building projects that include only activities pertinent to one department, especially if it isn’t a department with a big impact on the final result.
Next: Structuring projects