Difference between Product and Project

Submitted by nbhavani01 on Thu, 04/19/2012 - 10:20

Please help me to clarify the difference between a product and a project. Also is project subset of product or a product subset of project. I got confused after reading PMBOK and Rita.


 


Thank you.

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projmanpro

Thu, 04/19/2012 - 10:43

hi, why are u confused? Rita was able to explain it well in her book.

Reading from the definition of a "Project" - a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.

Very clearly,  product could be one of the project's deliverables. The word "subset" here does not apply, as a product could be one of the outputs of a project and not a co-existing activities or whatever. A project exists because of a unique product required by the owner or customer. 

I hope i have cleared your doubts.  

nbhavani01

Thu, 04/19/2012 - 12:00

Thanks for your reply..  However, In PMBOK, the last line from the Product definition (pg 442) reads, "Generally a project life cycle is contained within one of more product life cycles". I couldnt understand this line and getting confused.. what does it mean when it says project life cycle is contained within one or more product life cycles. please clarify with example.

projmanpro

Thu, 04/19/2012 - 13:22

OK, let me explain it further. To understand deeper these two terms, let us define each as per PMBOK.
 
Product Life Cycle. A collection of generally sequential, non-overlapping product phases whose name and number are determined by the manufacturing and control needs of the organization. The last product life cycle phase for a product is generally the product’s retirement. Generally, a project life cycle is contained within one or more product life cycles.
 
Project Life Cycle. A collection of generally sequential project phases whose name and number are determined by the control needs of the organization or organizations involved in the project. A life cycle can be documented with a methodology.
 
The two definitions at first glance are quite confusing. It is probably the reason why you are confused. However, reading them again and extracting the specific difference, you would get as follows:
 
Product life cycle refers to sequence of "product phases", whereas Project life cycle refers to " project phases". Now we are getting some hints right? We can simplify now the question to - Is "Product Phases" different from "Project Phases"? Yes or No?
 

More explanation in this link with a graph.. please follow: http://www.pmptrend.com/index.php/en/forum/11-Questions-Answers-Queries-Infos-Etc/55-Difference-between-a-Project-and-a-Product#57

nbhavani01

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 04:43

Thank you very much. With the graph, i am able to understand it now. thanks again.

projmanpro

Sat, 04/21/2012 - 08:46

you're welcome dude.. you can follow my thread at http://www.pmptrend.com/index.php/en/forum/11-Questions-Answers-Queries-Infos-Etc/55-Difference-between-a-Project-and-a-Product#57