What is the Project Life Cycle all about?
In our previous page we discussed the functions of project management
and observed the difference between planning a project and delivering
the product. "Product", by the way, could be a facility,
system, service or other "deliverable". Clearly, successful
project management requires careful planning to precede the production
work itself and, indeed, this is at the heart of the modern concept
of effective project management.
The origin of the project life cycle, life cycle process, project
timeline, work flow, or whatever you want to call it, is to be found
in the term project management itself. For convenience we'll call
it "PLC". First, a project has, by definition, a start and a finish,
while the essence of management is to plan before doing. From this
we may conclude that the PLC has four basic sequential periods,
namely, start", "plan", "do", and "finish". Indeed, the works of
many authors recognize that a project, passes through these four
major and distinct generic project phases.
Even at this high level, we continue to marvel at how many organizations
skip over a satisfactory start period as a cost avoidance measure,
or the project manager short-changes the finish period because either
the time, or the money, or both have run out.
Unfortunately, there has been no general agreement on what these
four phases should be called. Consequently, they are invariably
called by different names. In the engineering and construction industry
one hears terms like "initiation, planning, implementation and commissioning".
In software engineering quite different terms are used, such as:
"Inception, elaboration, construction and transition". However,
the general intent is the same. Figure 2 shows the project life
cycle diagrammatically.
Figure 2: The Project Life Cycle
We like to refer to the four phases as Conceive, Define, Execute
and Finish, which happens to be convenient because the sequence
C, D, E, F, is easier to remember. In
a well organized project each phase is expected to deliver a result
at which point an executive decision can be taken on whether to
proceed or turn back. These major milestones are typically referred
to as "control points", or better: Executive Control Points. However,
their intent might be better served by the term "emergency exit
ramps" — opportunities to pull over if the vehicle is not
performing well. Obviously the switch from planning to production
represents a significant turning point and hence requires a go/no-go
decision which should be the result of a senior management review
and determination of whether or not to provide the project with
further funding.
Several features of the PLC are worth noting here:
- Crossing this planning/production boundary typically signals
a major change in pace, change in the organizational structure
and change in the numbers and types of skills required.
- How each phase is managed, is heavily dependent on the type
of project and its degree of technological uncertainty. For example,
the greater the uncertainty, the more the iteration that may be
necessary, especially in the planning phase
- The PLC provides a major baseline for all educational, presentation,
and practical management purposes
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Is the Sequence Significant?
