Project Management: The 5 Phases of the Life Cycle, And the Fundamentals to Know
Companies that base their project management on good practices lose 21 times less money than their counterparts who have no credentials in project management (PMI, 2018)
The constantly changing context in which we live requires the assessment of opportunities and the implementation of strategic choices.
The ideas, the result of these strategic decisions have value when you break them down into projects. Each project consists – according to the PMI – of a temporary activity with a start and end date.
Concretely, project management is an operating mode adopted more and more by companies in order to guarantee the achievement of their strategic objectives.
We, therefore, dedicate this theme to clarifying its operational mode, while explaining all its processes, methods, tools, professionals, and many other essentialities.
Fundamentals Project Management (5 Phases)
1: Initialization
2: Planning
3: Execution
4: Control and Monitoring
5: Closure
What is Project Management?
Project management is above all a lot of “common sense” supported by the application of niche knowledge, skills, latest tools, and techniques to the activities of a project.
The objective is to achieve the set objectives and achieve the expected benefit while creating value.
Project management is carried out by applying and integrating, as appropriate, the processes identified for the project.
It enables organizations to run projects efficiently.
To summarize, we can say that project management is represented by the project golden triangle, namely: Time – Quality – Cost.
The Golden Triangle of the Project
Indeed, the whole point is to manage and maintain the balance between the three decisive factors for the success of a project.
The Role of Project Management
The main role of project management is to lead a project in compliance with the triple constraint: cost, quality, deadlines.
The objective is that the project achieves its purpose which is nothing other than the creation of value. This you can achieve by moving the organization from a current state to a desired future state.
The Life Cycle of a Project
A project generally comprises five phases: from project start-up or initialization of the project, until its closure.
Each phase is made up of a number of tasks that contribute to the achievement of a common project objective.
The goal is to create value, which transitions a project from a current state to a desired future state.
How Do These Stages Of Project Management Work?
Here are the 5 phases of the project life cycle:
Initialization:
This phase marks the start of any project and its objective is to find out the outline of the project in general terms. It generally begins with a related business case and ends with a project charter.
Planning:
This phase is the key for successful project management and emphases setting a roadmap for the group and ensuring that everyone will follow. It usually commences with setting goals and the scope of the project and ends with developing a project plan.
Execution:
After starting and planning the project, it is necessary to set up an execution plan adapted to the challenges of the project. This implementation plan must clearly represent the project description as well as its execution methods.
At the end of this phase, deliverables are submitted to participants as well as to stakeholders.
Control and Monitoring:
This is a phase parallel to the execution phase, where you can watch the progress and performance of the project. while ensuring compliance with the project management plan.
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are determined and used to monitor the project and ensure its proper direction.
Closure:
Completion of deliverables is certainly an important part of a successful project.
However, one should not neglect the closing phase which includes many tasks such as: drawing up the project report, project evaluation, compilation of lessons learned, and closing of accounts and contracts.
Each phase of the life cycle of a project is enclosed by the production of one or more deliverables, such as the opportunity study, the project charter, or even the project report.
Also, each phase is characterized by the use of a certain number of tools, project management software, as well as various techniques, for example:
SWOT analysis
The Gantt chart
The critical path
The risk matrix
And many others
These tools and methods of project management are no longer the preserve of experts. Anyone interested in project management or becoming a project manager can more easily access intuitive, out-of-the-box tools.
Conclusion
The success of your project will depend not only on your ability to manage project tools. Above all to effectively manage project activities while respecting the quality, cost, and deadlines.
In short, effective project management includes both the strategic aspect, the technical aspect, and the human aspect. The latter is a key success factor that Management often overlooks or manages poorly by organizations.
After all, a project manager is a human resource who interacts with the participants and stakeholders of the project on a daily basis. He, therefore, strives to develop good relationships inside and outside his organization.
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