Introduction
A project is a temporary endeavor to produce a unique product or service. A program is collection of projects that share a purpose. Operations is an ongoing, repetitive set of activities that sustain an organization (“business as usual”). Modern public health practice consists mainly of project activities (e.g., public health anti-smoking media campaign). Project management consists of methods and techniques based on accepted management principles for planning, estimating, and controlling work activities to reach a desired result on time, within budget, and according to specification. Yet public health professionals receive little to no formal training in project management. This is not surprising when we realize that the “Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals” do not even include basic project management as a core competency. If project success means completing projects on schedule, within budget, and with high quality deliverables, then the majority of public health projects actually fail!
