A solid understanding of the Project Life Cycle in Project Management is essential for effective project management. It provides a roadmap, helps in resource allocation, risk management, and ensures that projects are delivered successfully within the constraints of time, cost, and quality. By the end of this article, you’ll have complete understanding on Project Life Cycle in Project Management Process along with Development Life Cycle, types of project life cycle in project management, project life cycle in project management with examples, project life cycle 5 phases, project life cycle diagram, project life cycle phases in project management, project life cycle in software project management, project life cycle as per Project Management Institute (PMI).
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Introduction to Project Life Cycle in Project Management
The Project Life Cycle in Project Management refers to the sequential phases that a project progresses through from initiation to closure. It provides a framework for managing projects effectively by dividing the work into manageable stages. These stages typically include initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and control, and closure. Understanding and effectively navigating the Project Life Cycle in Project Management is crucial for successful project management.
A project life cycle is a progression of phases
The Project Life Cycle in Project Management is a methodology of any organization who is managing projects. It is made by set of interdependent phases where one’s output is the input of other phase. Phases are divisions within a project for extra control and ease of management.
It depends on the size, complexity and impact of project. All projects phases are collectively called project life cycle.
Phases are typically deliverable oriented. At the end of each phase, a phase end review is performed. This particular event in project life cycle is called Phase Exit, Stage Gate or Kill Point. A phase gate involves analyzing the result of completed phase with already planned or established business documents, project charter and project management plan.
Based on output result, it is decided whether to move further to next phase or redo this phase or choosing not to work on this project.
If decision is to move further to next phase, it will begin with initiating processes on next phase and progress through project management process groups for that phase.
Project Life Cycle in Project Management can be predictive or adaptive. It is also called plan driven or change driven. Within project life cycle, there are many phases.
Few of those phases are associated with development of product, service or result. These are called development life cycle. Example of development life cycle for a software project may be analysis, design, code, test and deploy. Development life cycle can be:
1. Predictive
It is also called predictive development life cycle and referred as waterfall or traditional life cycle.
It requires project scope, schedule, and cost to be determined in details at early in the life of project i.e. as much as possible, it should be fixed at beginning to produce project deliverables. The best example is construction project.
2. Iterative
It is a type of change driven life cycle. It recommends redoing whole product in each iteration. It adds successive level of details to create the end result.
For example, to build a website, first iteration may have planning to complete whole website than next iteration may create skeleton of the website.
Each iteration will add more details in the result of last iteration and it will keep on progressing until fully complete and functional website is achieved.
3. Incremental
It is a type of change driven life cycle. It recommends building a working prototype at end of each increment with currently planned scope, schedule and cost.
The result of each increment delivers a complete, usable portion of the project. Increment life cycle will involve prioritized requirement into increment that delivers fully functional portion of product and keeps on adding details in each increment but making every time fully functional until it is a completed product required by end users.
4. Adaptive (Agile)
It is a type of change driven life cycle. It involves fixed schedule and fix cost. As you know, scope, schedule and cost are three main constraints of any project, if two of them are fixed, third will be variable. At the starting, scope is broadly defined with understanding and acceptance criteria of few deliverables. Scope is refined throughout the life of project.
Customer requirements are added and prioritized in product backlog. It is adjusted as project progresses based on requirement changes within time and cost constraints. Work is performed in form of increments.
At the time of increment planning (sprint planning), high prioritized and ready for implementation product backlog items are picked and planned for completion based on those acceptance criteria (also called Definition of Done). After completion of an increment, a working prototype of new increment is released. It is also called as agile development life cycle.
5. Hybrid
Hybrid life cycle is a combination of predictive and adaptive development life cycle. Predictive development life cycle is used to manage well defined requirement. Adaptive development life cycle is used to manage less clear requirements.
Conclusion of Project Life Cycle in Project Management
In conclusion, a thorough understanding of the Project Life Cycle in Project Management is crucial for individuals seeking PMP certification. By comprehending the various stages involved, project managers can effectively plan, execute, and control their projects, leading to successful outcomes. Remember to stay updated on industry best practices and trends by subscribing to our newsletter. Stay informed, enhance your skills, and propel your project management career forward.