Project Is as Project Does

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to further develop the processual approach in project management theorizing. The article introduces Gadamer’s (2004) play ontology as a novel perspective used to describe microactivities in a project environment. Play ontology refers to the back-and-forth movements of seemingly mundane microactivities as they unfold during a project. The findings of the study suggest that sensitivity to the microactivities allows considering dissonant or indecisive events as vital and constructive project elements. Play ontology offers new ways for conceptualizing a project as a process: as something that emerges through practical activities as a dynamic and complex phenomenon.

Developing Project Management Principles by Examining Codesign Practices in Innovative Contexts

“…Salovaara et al (2020) discuss the project-as-practice approach, which criticizes project management as being rather positivistic and failing to recognize messy, ambiguous, fragmented, and context-situated practices. This aligns with the work by Cicmil and Hodgson (2006), which views projects less as objects and more as evolving, living, and emerging phenomena that manifest through activities, events, and interactions.…”

“…Ontological views allow us to examine sociocultural dimensions that exist in the social world and assumptions about the form and nature of that social reality (Lawson, 2019). Salovaara et al (2020) discuss the project-as-practice approach, which criticizes project management as being rather positivistic and failing to recognize messy, ambiguous, fragmented, and context-situated practices. This aligns with the work by , which views projects less as objects and more as evolving, living, and emerging phenomena that manifest through activities, events, and interactions.…”