Same or different?

The management of integration and project management are often confused, particularly when it comes to the skills, the roles and responsibilities and the complexity required to fulfil the objective, but in reality they are quite different challenges altogether.

In a nutshell, here is the difference:

Integration: is the act of bringing together smaller components into a single system or entity that functions as one.

Project Management: is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements and end goals.

Well, that makes integration sound like a project doesn’t it? Correct! Integration can be a project with the goal to bring operational unity between people, engineering, systems, tools and a multitude of other components to achieve a permanent effect.

And, as pointed out by some of our colleagues in system engineering, integration can also be an element of a project to merge a project deliverable into the wider environment.

Here are three scenarios we have come across in pictures:

Here are the two compared further:

Integration

Integration is the achievement of permanent operational unity and harmonisation among:

functional specialists
teams
departments
systems
tools
technology
projects.

The scope of integration can apply across a team, department, business or a business supply chain ecosystem.

Project Management

Project management is the ability to deliver a project which typically has the following characteristics:

clearly defined client objectives
scope
budget
stakeholders
the management of risk
a project team
project resources
an end point
milestones and timescales
success criteria.

So, If integration is a project, why this article?

The table above makes it look like integration is primarily the goal of a project manager handling an integration project, so why this article?

Integration doesn’t just happen - it requires special focus from an organisation to get right:

integration requires a different skillset, of which project management is one
an integrator needs to be an influencer (without necessary having authority) at all levels and be equipped to have ‘difficult conversations’
integrators act along the value chain from raw materials to end-product - cutting across the silos or functional boundaries of an organisation. Organisations are generally not structured by value chains (more likely by function), therefore the integrator can be working against the grain of an organisation which takes resilience, courage and well-honed soft skills
the challenges of the integrator are more complex and require a different way of thinking and an adaptability beyond the boundaries of a project
integration is very much about the ‘bigger picture’, particularly the way that ‘change’ affects the lives of employees, organisational culture and ability to deliver for and delight customers.

Why is Integration Different?

By understanding the difference between project management and integration, companies can select the most appropriately skilled people to undertake the task.

Though integration and project management have many similarities and overlap, an integrator is much more than a project manager.

Integration is fundamentally about achieving change and permanent operational unity. Consequently, the integrator needs to be up to the task of bringing people, businesses, systems, technology, processes and projects together - they are like the glue that sticks the disparate pieces of the system together into a cohesive whole to deliver solutions that not only meet customer requirements but surprise and delight them too.