Part I: Your Deliverables, Phases, and Project Life Cycle
,A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service.1 Because projects by definition are temporary, project managers must make sure their projects are completed by expending only the amount of time, money, labor, and other resources that have been allocated. In addition, because projects result in unique products or services (deliverables), projects are typically organized into specific phases which most appropriately reflect the evolution of these unique deliverables. These project phases, taken as a whole, make up the overall life cycle of the project. Thus the deliverables of your project, the project’s phases, and your project’s life cycle are inextricably linked. Let’s look at each of these.
By deliverables we are referring to any measurable, tangible, verifiable output that must be produced to complete the project.2 These may include interim deliverables (like scripts, system specifications, or blueprints) and finished deliverables (like the finished motion picture, software package, or com pleted building). Let’s say you are creating a new product that will help your organization obtain a larger market share and greater profits. The deliverables for your project might include the following:
• An analysis of the market describing where your new product will fit in among its competitors and what specific needs it will meet in the marketplace.
• A feasibility study detailing how your organization will be able to design, manufacture, and distribute the new product.
• A description of the overall project concept.
• A detailed project plan.
• Product specifications (blueprints, flowcharts, etc.).
• A prototype or mock-up of the new product.
• Tests of the new product using members of the product’s target audience or buyers.
• Enhancements or revisions to the new product based on the test results.
A project phase is a collection of project activities, usually resulting in the creation of a major deliverable.3 Consider the list of deliverables above. There are literally hundreds of project activities that must be undertaken in order to complete all the deliverables listed. We could jump right in and try to complete all of these activities at once, but this would likely result in chaos. Instead, we combine the activities into clusters and sequence them so that we can proceed logically and systematically. In short, we group the project activities into phases. To continue our example, here are some appropriate project phases that would systematically yield the deliverables from our example above:
• Phase I: Determine Need and Feasibility— In this phase we would complete all the detailed analysis work, including the market analysis, feasibility study, and overall project concept.
• Phase II: Create Project Plan— In this phase, after the need and feasibility are approved, we would complete all the activities necessary to create a detailed plan for completing the rest of the project.
• Phase III: Create Product Specifications— In this phase we would create detailed product blueprints, flowcharts and so on. These would then be reviewed by outside experts and managers, then revised as needed.
• Phase IV: Create Prototype Product— In this phase we would complete all the activities necessary to create our prototype or mock up.
• Phase V: Test and Implement— In this phase we would organize and conduct tests, make enhancements and revisions, and finalize the product.
Notice that our project phases are logically related to the deliverables we are creating. Within the phases, the deliverables evolve gradually, in successive approximations. In particular, the phases assure that our new product provides plenty of opportunity for project players to review our results and make changes before too much time and money are spent.
The project life cycle is a collection of project phases whose name and number are determined by the control needs of the organization involved in the project.4 For example, the five-phased sample project life cycle above affords plenty of opportunity for control by the sponsoring organization. At the end of each phase the project may be reviewed, deliverables may be revised, or the entire project may be stopped. In this way the organization may protect its investment.
Because the types of deliverables resulting from projects differ widely from one industry to another, the project controls and phases used also can be quite different. For example, most film production projects include an editing or postproduction phase, while most homebuilding projects include a blueprint phase.
So different deliverables evolve in different ways, requiring different project phases. Yet no matter what the industry, stakeholders (i.e., those who are affected by project activities)5 review and approve deliverables at each phase before allowing the next phase to begin. In this way, stakeholders try to assure that deliverables evolve in a steady, controlled fashion and that resources are not wasted.
As an industry matures, its typical project life cycles come to represent industry-wide “best practices.” By using an industry-standard project life cycle, project managers can help assure that deliverables will conform to recognized quality standards and that the project schedule and budget will be maintained. What’s more, when you compare your project to the industry standard, you can quickly identify how your project will differ. This allows you to isolate activities that require especially thorough analysis and planning.
Sometime, however, you might find yourself in charge of planning and managing a project that doesn’t seem to fit one of the industry-specific life cycles. In such situations, you can apply our Generic Project Life Cycle. It incorporates phases and activities that we believe are nearly universal in their application. The five phases of the Generic Project Life Cycle are illustrated in the diagram below:
Let’s briefly examine each of these phases: