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Project Life Cycle

A project life cycle is the series of phases that a project passes through from its
initiation to its closure.

 The phases are generally sequential, and their names and numbers are
determined by the management and control needs of the organization or
organizations involved in the project, the nature of the project itself, and its
area of application. Phases are generally time bounded, with a start and
ending or control point.
 A life cycle can be documented within a methodology. The project life cycle
can be determined or shaped by the unique aspects of the organization,
industry, or technology employed. While every project has a definite start
and a definite end, the specific deliverables and activities that take place in
between will vary widely with the project.
 The life cycle provides the basic framework for managing the project,
regardless of the specific work involved.

Project life cycles can range along a continuum from predictive or plan-driven
approaches at one end to adaptive or change-driven approaches at the other.

 In a predictive life cycle, the product and deliverables are defined at the
beginning of the project and any changes to scope are carefully managed.
 In an adaptive life cycle, the product is developed over multiple iterations
and detailed scope is defined for each iteration only as the iteration begins.

Characteristics of the Project Life Cycle Projects vary in size and complexity. All
projects can be mapped to the following generic life cycle structure

• Starting the project,

• Organizing and preparing,

• Carrying out the project work, and

• Closing the project.

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This generic life cycle structure is often referred to when communicating with
upper management or other entities less familiar with the details of the
project.

The project life cycle is independent from the life cycle of the product produced by
or modified by the project. However, the project should take the current life-cycle
phase of the product into consideration.

 The generic life cycle structure generally displays the following

characteristics:

1. Cost and staffing levels are low at the start, peak as the work is carried
out, and drop rapidly as the project draws to a close.
2. The typical cost and staffing curve above may not apply to all projects. A
project may require significant expenditures to secure needed resources
early in its life cycle.
3. Risk and uncertainty are greatest at the start of the project.
4. The ability to influence the final characteristics of the project’s product,
without significantly impacting cost, is highest at the start of the project
and decreases as the project progresses towards completion.
5. The cost of making changes and correcting errors typically increases
substantially as the project approaches completion.

While these characteristics remain present to some extent in almost all project
life cycles, they are not always present to the same degree.

 Within the context of the generic life cycle structure, a project manager may
determine the need for more effective control over certain deliverables or
that certain deliverables are required to be completed before the project
scope can be completely defined.
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Project Phases
A project may be divided into any number of phases. A project phase is a
collection of logically related project activities that culminates in the completion of
one or more deliverables.

 Project phases are used when the nature of the work to be performed is
unique to a portion of the project, and are typically linked to the
development of a specific major deliverable.
 Project phases typically are completed sequentially, but can overlap in some
project situations. Different phases typically have a different duration or
effort. The high-level nature of project phases makes them an element of the
project life cycle.
 The phase structure allows the project to be segmented into logical subsets
for ease of management, planning, and control. The number of phases, the
need for phases, and the degree of control applied depend on the size,
complexity, and potential impact of the project.

Regardless of the number of phases comprising a project, all phases have

similar characteristics:

1. The work has a distinct focus that differs from any other phase. This often
involves different organizations, locations, and skill sets.
2. Achieving the primary deliverable or objective of the phase requires controls
or processes unique to the phase or its activities. The repetition of processes
across all five Process Groups.
3. The closure of a phase ends with some form of transfer or hand-off of the
work product produced as the phase deliverable.

 There is no single ideal structure that will apply to all projects. Although
industry common practices will often lead to the use of a preferred structure,
projects in the same industry—or even in the same organization—may have
significant variation. Some will have only one phase, Other projects may
have two or more phases
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Some organizations have established policies that standardize all projects, while
others allow the project team to choose and tailor the most appropriate approach
for their individual project.

 One project team may divide a project into two phases whereas another
project team may choose to manage all the work as a single phase. Much
depends on the nature of the specific project and the style of the project team
or organization.

Phase-to-Phase Relationships
When projects have more than one phase, the phases are part of a generally
sequential process designed to ensure proper control of the project and attain the
desired product, service, or result. However, there are situations when a project
might benefit from overlapping or concurrent phases.

There are two basic types of phase-to-phase relationships:

1. Sequential relationship. In a sequential relationship, a phase starts only

when the previous phase is complete.
2. Overlapping relationship. In an overlapping relationship, a phase starts
prior to completion of the previous one. This can sometimes be applied as an
example of the schedule compression technique called fast tracking.

 Overlapping phases may require additional resources to allow work to be

done in parallel, may increase risk, and can result in rework if a subsequent
phase progresses before accurate information is available from the previous
phase.

For projects with more than one phase, there may be different relationships
(overlapping, sequential, parallel) between individual phases. Considerations such
as level of control required, effectiveness, and degree of uncertainty determine the
relationship to be applied between phases. Based on those considerations, both
relationships could occur between different phases of a single project.
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Types of Project Life Cycles

1. Predictive Life Cycles

Predictive life cycles (also known as fully plan-driven) are ones in which the
project scope, and the time and cost required to deliver that scope, are determined
as early in the project life cycle as practically possible.

When the project is initiated, the project team will focus on defining the overall
scope for the product and project, develop a plan to deliver the product (and any
associated deliverables), and then proceed through phases to execute the plan
within that scope. Changes to the project scope are carefully managed and require
re planning and formal acceptance of the new scope.

 Predictive life cycles are generally preferred when the product to be

delivered is well understood, there is a substantial base of industry practice,
or where a product is required to be delivered in full to have value to
stakeholder groups.

(Example; Creating an E-learning Platform:

Developing an online learning platform may involve phases like requirements

gathering, design, content creation, platform development, and quality
assurance, with a predefined sequence in a predictive life cycle.)

2. Iterative and Incremental Life Cycles

Iterative and incremental life cycles are ones in which project phases (also called
iterations) intentionally repeat one or more project activities as the project team’s
understanding of the product increases. Iterations develop the product through a
series of repeated cycles, while increments successively add to the functionality of
the product. These life cycles develop the product both iteratively and
incrementally.

During iteration, activities from all Project Management Process Groups will be
performed. At the end of each iteration, a deliverable or set of deliverables will be
completed.
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Future iterations may enhance those deliverables or create new ones.

Iterative and incremental life cycles are generally preferred when an organization
needs to manage changing objectives and scope, to reduce the complexity of a
project, or when the partial delivery of a product is beneficial and provides value
for one or more stakeholder groups without impact to the final deliverable or set of
deliverables.

(Example: Product Design in the Fashion Industry:

Fashion designers often use an iterative approach. They create initial designs,
receive feedback from stakeholders or customers, and then refine or modify
the designs in subsequent iterations before finalizing the product for
production.)

 (You had made I phone 14 now you are making I phone 15.)

Adaptive Life Cycles

Adaptive life cycles (also known as change-driven or agile methods) are intended
to respond to high levels of change and ongoing stakeholder involvement.
Adaptive methods are also iterative and incremental, but differ in that iterations are
very rapid (usually with a duration of 2 to 4 weeks) and are fixed in time and cost.

 Adaptive methods are generally preferred when dealing with a rapidly

changing environment, when requirements and scope are difficult to define
in advance, and when it is possible to define small incremental
improvements that will deliver value to stakeholders.

(Example: Covid-19 Vaccine, Researchers don’t know what are the end
results ; they take small steps to reach the results.)

Planning is of major importance to a project because the project involves

doing something that has not been done before. We do plan the things because
resources are scarce.
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Planning Processes
 Core Planning processes:
Some planning processes have clear dependencies that require them to be
performed in essentially the same order on most projects. For example, activities
must be defined before they can be scheduled or costed. These core planning
processes may be iterated several times during any one phase of a project.

They include:

1. Scope Planning: developing a written scope statement as the basis for future
project decisions.

2. Scope Definition: subdividing the major project deliverables into smaller, more
manageable components.

3. Activity Definition —identifying the specific activities that must be performed

to produce the various project deliverables.

4. Activity Sequencing —identifying and documenting interactivity dependencies.

5. Activity Duration Estimating —estimating the number of work periods that

will be needed to complete individual activities.

6 Schedule Development—analyzing activity sequences, activity durations, and

resource requirements to create the project schedule.

7. Risk Management Planning—deciding how to approach and plan for risk

management in a project.

8. Resource Planning —determining what resources (people, equipment,

materials, etc.) and what quantities of each should be used to perform project
activities.

9. Cost Estimating —developing an approximation (estimate) of the costs of the

resources required to complete project activities.

10. Cost Budgeting—allocating the overall cost estimates to individual work

packages.
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11. Project Plan Development—taking the results of other planning processes and
putting them into a consistent, coherent document.

 Facilitating Planning processes: are performed intermittently and

as needed during project planning, they are not optional.

They include:

1. Quality Planning—identifying which quality standards are relevant to the

project and determining how to satisfy them.

2. Organizational Planning—identifying, documenting, and assigning project

roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships.

3. Staff Acquisition—getting the human resources needed assigned to and

working on the project.

4. Communications Planning—determining the information and communications

needs of the stakeholders: who needs what information, when will they need it, and
how will it be given to them.

5. Risk Identification—determining which risks are likely to affect the project and
documenting the characteristics of each.

6. Qualitative Risk Analysis—performing a qualitative analysis of risks and

conditions to prioritize their effects on project objectives.

7. Quantitative Risk Analysis—measuring the probability and impact of risks and

estimating their implications for project objectives.

8. Risk Response Planning —developing procedures and techniques to enhance

opportunities and to reduce threats to the project’s objectives from risk.

9. Procurement Planning —determining what to procure, how much to procure,

and when.

10. Solicitation Planning —documenting product requirements and identifying

potential sources.
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Executing Processes
The executing processes include core processes and facilitating processes.

1. Project Plan Execution—carrying out the project plan by performing the

activities included therein.

2. Quality Assurance —evaluating overall project performance on a regular basis

to provide confidence that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards.

3. Team Development—developing individual and group skills/competencies to

enhance project performance.

4. Information Distribution—making needed information available to project

stakeholders in a timely manner.

5. Solicitation—obtaining quotations, bids, offers, or proposals as appropriate.

6. Source Selection—choosing from among potential sellers.

7. Contract Administration —managing the relationship with the seller.

 Controlling Processes
Project performance must be monitored and measured regularly to identify
variances from the plan. Variances are fed into the control processes in the various
knowledge areas.

Controlling also includes taking preventive action in anticipation of possible

problems.

The controlling process group contains core processes and facilitating processes.

1. Integrated Change Control—coordinating changes across the entire project.

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2. Scope Verification—formalizing acceptance of the project scope.

3. Scope Change Control—controlling changes to project scope.

4. Schedule Control —controlling changes to the project schedule.

5. Cost Control —controlling changes to the project budget.

6. Quality Control —monitoring specific project results to determine if they

comply with relevant quality standards and identifying ways to eliminate causes of
unsatisfactory performance.

7. Performance Reporting—collecting and disseminating performance

information. This includes status reporting, progress measurement, and forecasting.

8. Risk Monitoring and Control —keeping track of identified risks, monitoring

residual risks and identifying new risks, ensuring the execution of risk plans, and
evaluating their effectiveness in reducing risk.

 Closing Processes
1. Contract Closeout —completion and settlement of the contract, including
resolution of any open items.

2. Administrative Closure —generating, gathering, and disseminating

information to formalize phase or project completion, including evaluating the
project and compiling lessons learned for use in planning future projects or phases.