Please read to answer and answer questions

In 500 words or more -- IN YOUR OWN WORDS -- please do not copy word for word from source -- answer questions below

How is Project Management defined?

Do projects differ from operations? Why or why not?

How do you know whether your new work assignment is a project or whether it's going to benefit from project management techniques? If you're like most of us, once you get to work and settle in for the day, you check your email and voice mail and touch base with some of the other folks on your team. The boss may drop by and ask for a status report on a problem you've been working on, gently nudging you to get back to it. All of these tasks are everyday work. They don't really have a beginning or end; they're ongoing. Projects are not everyday work. For work to be considered a project, it must meet a certain set of criteria. Projects set out to produce a unique product, service, or result. They have a limited time- frame and are temporary in nature. This means that projects have a definite beginning and ending. You can determine that a project is complete by comparing its end result or product to the objectives and deliverables stated in the project plan. Everyday work is ongoing. Production processes are an example of ongoing operations. Maybe you love popping a handful of chocolate drops into your mouth mid-afternoon for a quick treat. Producing those chocolate drops is an example of ongoing operations. The production line knows how many candies to produce, what colors to coat them with, how many go in a package, and so on. Every day, hundreds of thousands of those little drops make their way into bags, onto the store shelves, and eventually into our mouths-yum. But the production of these candies is not a project. Now let's say that the management team has decided it's time to introduce a new line of candy. You've been tasked with producing the new candy flavor and shape. You assemble a research team to come up with a new candy formula. The marketing team gathers some data, which shows that the new candy has real potential with the consumers. The candy is produced according to plan, monitored for adherence to the original formula and design, and shipped to the stores. Is this a project or ongoing operations? The answer is, this is a project even though candy making is something the company does every day. The production of chocolate drops is considered an ongoing operation. The new candy, however, is a unique product because the company has never produced this flavor and shape of candy. Remember that projects are originated to bring about a product, service, or result that hasn't existed before. The new candy project was kicked off, carried out, monitored, and then ended when all the requirements were met. Candy production didn't stop there, though. At the end of this project, the production of the candy was turned over to ongoing operations and absorbed into the everyday work of the company. The project ended in this case by being assimilated into the ongoing operations of the company. Table 1.1 recaps the characteristics of projects versus ongoing operations