This chapter looks at the ways in which managing projects differs from managing ongoing operations and shows how the discipline of project management has evolved to address the challenges that are unique to projects. In addition, this chapter establishes the terminology used throughout the book, describes the project management process, and investigates the organizational challenges posed by projects. Successful projects deliver a high‐quality product on time and on budget. Success depends on the manager guiding the project through four stages in its life cycle: definition, planning, execution, and closeout. Product development employs a process roughly similar to that of projects; the differences are that a product development life cycle describes the work required to create the product, while a project life cycle focuses on managing the work.