What is a project lifecycle?

Projects differ from routine day-to-day tasks – projects are inherently more risky than stable, business as usual activities, and often benefit from a tailored approach to managing the work involved.

A project typically has a life which starts from the beginning of the project and continues until its end. As the project moves through its life the focus of work changes: from the initial step of investigating the drivers and need for the investment, then defining and planning the work required in more detail, through to delivering the outputs and finally closing the project.

The project lifecycle is a way of viewing a project through its life from start to completion. Breaking a project down into different steps helps project managers and others to focus on the things which are important at a particular point. For example, at the start of its life the project focuses on making sure that the investment idea is sound, fits with the overall strategy and is worth investigating in more detail. As it moves through to more detailed definition and planning, the focus changes to ensuring that the project is built on firm foundations and has established clear and effective governance and controls. As the project’s products are delivered it’s important to make sure the right outputs are created to the right quality, progress remains on track, and risks and issues are resolved. And at the end of the project the focus is on tying up loose ends, making sure that the products produced have been handed over to operational areas, and reflecting on lessons for improvements which can be passed on to help future projects.

Linear lifecycle

A linear project lifecycle (also known as a ‘waterfall’ approach) defines and fixes the scope and requirements early in the project and delivers its products through a set of sequential phases. As scope and quality are fixed early in the project, time and cost are usually flexed in order to deliver the requirements within those constraints.

Iterative lifecycle

An iterative lifecycle (also known as an ‘agile’ approach) defines and fixes the time and cost available for the project. Products are delivering iteratively and scope and quality flexed to deliver within the time and cost constraints.

Hybrid approach

A hybrid lifecycle includes elements of both linear and iterative approaches. Some phases of the project (eg product design) may be more suited to an incremental approach, particularly at the early stages of the project, while others (eg product delivery) may benefit from a sequential linear approach.

Praxis is a free, community-driven framework for managing projects, programmes and portfolios. At the heart of Praxis lies a project lifecycle which can be adapted for use with different types of projects, whether they are simple or complex, run as standalone initiatives or as part of a wider program. To help introduce the Praxis lifecycle, we will assume that we are embarking on a simple project in which each step follows consecutively from the previous one.

Identification phase

The objective of this phase is to explore an initial idea, develop it into a high-level outline of a project, and assess whether the early concept is likely to be feasible and therefore worth investigating in more detail. Each project is triggered by a mandate – the initial idea – and the identification phase takes this and formalises it in high-level justification for the project, called a brief. This phase also identifies the work needed to do the more detailed planning and investigation activities needed in the next phase, and this is documented in the definition plan.

Together, the brief and definition plan are used as the basis for deciding whether or not to proceed to the next phase in the lifecycle where the work needed to deliver the project will be defined in more detail. At the end of this phase there is a gate, which is where a decision is made whether or not the project should continue to the next stage.

Definition phase

This phase focuses on setting up a firm foundation for the project. It aims to develop a more detailed picture of what the project needs to produce, the work involved in delivery and how the project should be managed, in order to determine whether it should proceed to delivery.

This is where the scope of the project is defined and the work planned, scheduled and costed, and justification for the project (comparing the costs, benefits and risks involved) documented in a business case. At the end of this phase is another decision point where the relevant documentation is used as a basis to authorise the delivery of the project.

Delivery phase

This phase is where plans are executed and products delivered. This involves authorising work to be done and accepting products as they are completed, monitoring progress against plans and taking corrective action if needed to keep on track, reporting and communicating with stakeholders, and resolving or escalating issues as they arise.

Closure

At the end of the project it’s important to close things down in a controlled way and make sure any loose ends are tidied up. This phase involves making sure that all the products have been handed over and accepted by the relevant operational areas, any outstanding items have been allocated a home for later resolution, the project is reviewed for lessons and improvements which can be passed on to help other projects in the future, and any resources such as people or equipment are demobilised.

The project lifecycle helps project managers to focus on the things which are important at different stages of delivery. If you want to learn more, head over to the Praxis Framework website where there is a wealth of free resources available.