What is a project?

Hi frens,

I always find myself disliking the word “project” to describe what we’re going to do. In Traditional Chinese, “project” is often translated as 專案 or 案子, or 项目 in simplified Chinese or web3 world.

The definition of a “project” is often described as below:

a piece of planned work or an activity that is finished over a period of time and intended to achieve a particular purpose. (source)

So here’s the part that I feel uncomfortable: over a period of time, usually limited timeframe, which means a project will end, and people often move on after that.

I might be too romantic so I always envision that a product or a brand should strive to live forever. So projects might be created for gathering people to achieve some purposes for it. We work with some people over some period of time, then we move on for other projects that interest us, and that’s life.

I know that business people like to treat a product with a life cycle, either through post-analysis, or self-fulfilling prophecy? I don’t know, it depends on how you define the meaning of a product, or spirit.

I hate saying goodbyes, or not saying goodbyes when people are actually leaving. In the software world, it seems that people in some big tech companies rarely take full responsibility for a product, but view it as a project or a fulfillment that gives them promotion. Or they just can’t because that’s how the capitalism works.

In this sense, I probably shouldn’t describe my “side projects” as projects. They’re all my babies, and I treat them as products even if I haven’t got much resource to take good care of them.

Your friend,

Denken