ABSTRACT
Projects are change agents. Reports and anecdotal evidence suggest that billions of dollars have been invested in these ventures at the national and organizational levels to help effect some change, transformation, or development. Projects have played and continue to play an important role in societies, groups, and organizations from the premodern era to what is considered modern civilization in the twenty-first century. The construction of the pyramids and travel to the New World are examples of how history has revealed to us numerous unique, complex undertakings limited in time and scope (Packendorff, 1995). Similarly, the modern world has seen multiple ventures ranging in size, funding, and complexity such as the design of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) spaceships, expeditions to the Moon and Mars, the creation of the first computer, the development of the first set of vaccines for polio, the development of school curricula based on industry and global demands, and the delivery of a new bank product to market. All these important projects have defined and influenced our lives in one way or another. The common theme among the development of these monuments or artifacts is the creation of a unique outcome in terms of product, process, services, and results, and this involves some level of innovation in the actual outcome or process to produce the outcome.
