Project Management Life Cycle

Unfortunately, project management life cycle is usually an overlooked of setting and achieving business goals. Being capable of managing a project more effectively on your own or having a project manager can mean a great difference between leaving/stifling a project uncompleted and achieving the project’s full potential. Strategy is everything to any crucial endeavor and every business company or owner will want to ensure they are always in line with the project in its entirety right from the time they started working on it.

Generally, any project right from constructing a new building to establishing a marketing campaign needs directed and thoughtful project management. This means that if your company lacks a well established background in operations, there are some important steps that you need to know to get started.

All projects have certain steps of development. A better understanding of these steps allows executives and managers to maintain control of their project more efficiently. These steps are varied based on the industry involved, but usually use the same basic steps. Therefore, it’s important to know that the life cycle of a perfect may differ in detail within every of the available phases and the number of phases.

Phases of Project Management Life Cycle

There are five simple steps in project management life cycle, namely; Initiation, Planning, Execution, Control and Wrap-Up (project closure).

Step I: Initiation

In this case, initiation simply means choosing the goal in project management. This is the first phase of the project where the project need or objective is identified. It can be a business opportunity or problem. An appropriate reaction to the set objective is documented with recommended solution options. After that, a feasibility research is done to investigate whether these options address the objective of the project and a final solution is determined. Once this recommended solution is approved by managers, a project is launched to deliver the approved recommended solution. At this phase, project managers are also appointed.

Step II: Planning

This is the second phase of the project management life cycle. Possibly, planning the project is the most vital stage in project management. In the process, the project manger has the responsibility to draft project plans which outline what is being carried out and what actions and items are required to do it. This is important because the plans will be needed throughout the entire project to clearly define a project and also make sure it’s properly executed. The following should be done when planning:

Estimating time and resources – as a project manager figure out what exactly you will require and how much time you will need to fully complete different stages of the project. However, it’s easier for this to change while the project is underway and it’s a good idea to make estimates toward both the low and high ends and focus to finish at somewhere in the middle.

Identification of the order of tasks – you also need to determine those tasks that will logically come before others or those that will take the first priority. There are several software programs which can help business managers organize the sequence of their projects.

Execution schedule – Project managers also need to prepare a well structured schedule since it will be used to outline implementation of the project in a focused and clear way.

Risk analysis – here, as a project manager, think about different problems, which you could possibly face during the time of the project life cycle. Also make some alternative plans for those drawbacks in they come to happen.

Communication systems – it is also important to set up relevant standards for reporting progress, any setbacks and change in plans.

Step III & IV: Execution and Control

Once the plan is completed, the project manager can start executing and controlling the project. This is where the deliverable are physically developed and presented to the client for acceptance. While this is done, suite of processes of management is usually undertaken to control and monitor the deliverable that are as a result of the project. These processes include managing suppliers, communication, customers, issues, change, risks, quality, cost and time.

Step V: Wrap-Up (Project Closure)

Project wrap-up involves releasing the final product or service to the customer, terminating supplier contracts, handing over the project documentation to the company, releasing project resources and finally, communicating/pronouncing the closure of the project to all stakeholders of the business.

Project Management Life Cycle photos

Project Management Life Cycle