Project Management Life Cycle

Any project you are preparing will proceed more smoothly and with greater effect by understanding and utilizing the Project Management Life Cycle.  It will assist you in narrowing the focus, keeping objectives in order, and of course bring the project to completion on time and under budget.

The life cycle of a project progresses though five steps, which are Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring/Control and Closure. There isn’t a single step that is more important that any other, and each step is critical to the successful completion of the project.

The first step is Initiation. It provides the over-view of the project and how it will be successfully achieved.  The most common tools or methodologies used are Project Review, Plan, Overview and Schedule Reviews.  The new project starts by defining its objectives, scope, purpose and list of deliverables to be produced.  During this initial phase the project manager will be appointed, and he will select his team members according to their experience and skills.

Planning is the second step in the project management life cycle.  The plan must include certain elements, such as a breakdown that is detailed into tasks and the assignment of each task to members of the project team, from start to finish.  There must also be set criteria for defining successful completion of each task.  Typically a risk assessment is included in the Planning step as well.
This phase involves creating of a set of plans to help guide your team through the execution and closure of the project.  The plans created will help manage time, cost, quality, change orders or variation, risk factors and other issues. They will also help you to manage key personnel and external vendors/suppliers, to ensure that you deliver the project on time and within budget.

Execution and Control are the third and fourth steps in the project management life cycle.  These phases tend to be grouped together because each step of execution is measured against the control standard of the project.  The solution for the project’s purpose (usually solving an existing problem) is implemented.  As these steps progress, stakeholders become more involved in the planning for the final step.

The Project Execution is usually the longest phase in the project life cycle and it typically consumes the most energy and the most resources.  The most important issue in this part is to ensure activities are properly executed and controlled. You will need to implement a range of management processes during this phase. These processes help you to manage procurement, client approvals and communications.
The most common tools or methodologies used in the execution phase are an update of Risk Analysis Review, in addition to Project/Business Plan. The planned solution is implemented/incorporated to solve the problem specified in the business requirements.

Closure is the natural end to any cycle, and the project management cycle is no different.  A formal written project review report is developed, containing these elements: the formal acceptance by the client of the result of the project; a comparison of the initial requirements against the delivered product; lessons learned; project resources; and the formal project closure notification to higher management.

Create your own Project Life cycle...

Create your own Project Lifecycle

It you don't want to have to start every project from scratch, then it's worthwhile creating your own Project Life cycle.

How should you do this? What should it look like? And how do you use it? Keep reading to find out how to...

Create your own Project Life cycle...

A Project Life cycle is a series of steps that you take to complete a project from start to finish. Of course, it implies that you can complete the same steps for every project— so is this true?

In principle, yes. Every project will have an Initiation phase, a Planning phase, an Execution phase and a Closure phase. However within these phases, the steps you take may vary slightly between projects.

The trick is to create a lifecycle that is generic enough to use for all of your projects, while still being specific enough to add value and save you time on delivery. Here's how to do it...

Map it out

Every project is delivered in some form of lifecycle. You probably usually define your project upfront, then you'll hire your team, you'll plan and complete a set of tasks to create some deliverables and then get your customer to signoff the output. This sequence of steps are what is called a "lifecycle" and chances are that you're using the same generic lifecycle every time you deliver a project!

So start by mapping out your current project lifecycle on a blank sheet of paper and identify the elements that you know work well, and those that don't.

And improve it

Then try and improve your lifecycle by analyzing why certain steps don't work well currently. Analyze the root cause and identify which steps you could take instead, to improve your chance of success. For instance, maybe "scope creep" is an issue for you, so by putting in place better steps for managing changes to scope, it would help.

Once you have identified the sequence of steps that you know will deliver your projects successfully from start to finish, the next thing you need to do is to "get detailed".

Get detailed

With a clearly defined series of steps, you now need to define the tasks and activities that are needed to perform each step efficiently. For instance, if your first step was to get funding for your project, then do you need to create a Business Case or Financial Plan to do it? What type of person will authorize the funding and what information will they need to do it?

For every step, describe how you intend to do it, the tasks and activities to be taken, and as importantly, who is responsible for doing them (e.g. it is yourself or members of your team)?

Tool up

Great—so you have a crystal clear process for delivering projects. Now how can you do each step quickly and efficiently? Typically project managers use templates, software and examples to help them complete each step faster and more efficiently. With a well documented lifecycle, the right lifecycle steps and good tools, you will be armed and ready to tackle any type of project to succeed.

Get ready

And finally, with all of this collateral, you need to collect it into a single place, ready to use on projects. Many project managers use "MPMM" for this, as you can create a brand new Project Lifecycle and import all of your templates and examples into it, ready for use.

By creating your own project lifecycle or customizing that of another, you can apply a single approach to managing successful projects.

Download a complete Project Lifecycle within MPMM now...