A project is a bounded effort within an endeavor, directed toward a defined end state.
Secondary intension
Something is a project when it has all of:
- Boundedness: it has a defined scope and an identifiable completion condition
- Internal control: the completion condition depends on something the project itself controls — when the artifact is built, the system is configured, the specification is written. The project decides when it is done.
- Temporality: it begins and ends (unlike the endeavor it belongs to)
- Purpose: it serves one or more objectives of the encompassing endeavor
Distinguished from
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Endeavor: an endeavor is sustained and open-ended; a project is bounded and temporary. An endeavor encompasses many projects. The emsemioverse is an endeavor; “stand up the PM system” is a project within it.
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Operation: an operation also ends, but its completion depends on an external, non-controllable state meeting some criteria — not on something the operation itself produces. A project ends when you finish building; an operation ends when conditions are met.
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Plan: a plan is a specific work item with steps and acceptance criteria. A project may encompass multiple plans. In the current ASR implementation, the distinction between project and plan is not yet formalized — plans currently serve both roles.
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Milestone: a milestone is a named state where a set of closure conditions are met. A project may target a milestone, or a milestone may require multiple projects.
In the semiotic framework
A project is a closure-bounded subset of the endeavor’s work — a region of the predicate graph where specific satisfaction conditions have been declared and are being pursued. When those conditions are met, the project closes. The endeavor continues.