Projektlitteratur

Projektlitteratur is a term used in Swedish and Norwegian contexts to describe the written materials produced during and about a project. It encompasses documents generated for planning, execution, delivery, and aftercare, as well as outputs intended for external stakeholders, customers, or the public. The term can refer to practical project documentation as well as publications that report on the project’s results, and it is distinct from scholarly literature about project management or the field at large.

Common contents of projektlitteratur include project plans and scope documents, requirements specifications, design documents, meeting minutes, risk and issue logs, progress and status reports, change requests, test plans and results, and quality records. It also covers deliverables such as manuals, installation guides, training materials, user documentation, and final reports. Lessons learned, evaluation reports, archival records, and compliance documents are often part of the project literature as well. In research projects, data management plans and data dictionaries may be included in the projektlitteratur portfolio.

The purposes of projektlitteratur are governance, accountability, knowledge transfer, and maintenance of institutional memory. It supports audits and evaluations, facilitates reuse of knowledge in future projects, and aids ongoing maintenance and support after project completion. Effective management typically involves standardized templates, metadata, version control, centralized repositories, and clear access rights. Challenges include fragmentation across teams, inconsistent naming, language variation, and long-term preservation of digital materials.