The Project Life Cycle

Initiation

Every project starts somewhere, and every formal project starts here. A project is initiated when someone has a new idea to improve an existing product or service or create an entirely new one. During initiation, a clear foundation is developed for the project's vision and success.

In this phase, a project charter that describes the project's scope and objectives is developed.  Included in the charter is the business value the project will deliver.  the charter fines rules and responsibilities, including what authority the project manager will have over resources, including a project team.

Stakeholders, those impacted by the project's success or failure, are identified and documented. They include the project's sponsors (the folks who want it done), government regulatory agencies, customers, suppliers, and more. Documenting who the stakeholders are and their interests in the project will help later when the project manager needs to update them about it.

An initial schedule and budget are produced at this early stage based on what is known.  These will be updated as the scope is further refined during planning.  

Planning

Project planning takes the project's scope and further refines it to determine boundaries, deliverables, and deadlines.  The project plan describes explicitly what the project team will do, how it will get done, and what the finish line looks like.

The deliverables are divided into tasks, and the duration and order of each task are determined. This is usually documented as a visual map called the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The WBS is useful in creating the project schedule and calculating resource costs to develop a budget. This step is critical to validating the initial budget and timelines proposed during the project's initiation phase or seeking additional time and funding to accomplish all objectives.

Execution, Monitoring, and Controlling

The project plan is implemented. The team executes tasks according to the project schedule. The PM tracks the completion and costs of each task, balancing resources and timelines as the project progresses,

Communication with stakeholders and between project team members is most active in this phase.  The PM will maintain updates internally and externally, keeping everyone informed so that there are no surprises.

If the project starts to deviate from the plan – for example, tasks take longer or are more expensive than envisioned during the planning stage – the project manager must detect this as soon as possible while monitoring progress.  Monitoring is essentially continuous from initiation to project closure.  Controlling is the term given to a project manager’s efforts to right the ship if a project goes off plan.  Sometimes, this can be accomplished by adjusting schedules; sometimes, it means allocating more resources.

Closing

A project must have an ending; it’s part of the definition. project comes when the deliverables are handed over to the project’s customers or sponsors, who accept the output. This last part is key. For the project to be considered a success, the customer must accept the deliverables. 

After acceptance, the project manager documents how well the project performed.  Was it completed on time?  Was there a lot of scope creep?  Did the project stay within its budget?  What lessons were learned during the project?  This information can be shared with the project team and stakeholders as appropriate.