Exploring Project Lifecycle
There are many ways to manage projects and not always one right way to do so. Picture this, you’re project managing a political campaign for a local candidate. To make it happen, you need to think about things like your available resources, the people you’ll be working with, the election date, and the location. You need to be aware of lots of details to successfully complete your project. Because so many different things can impact a project, it’s important to understand its basic structure. We call this structure the project life cycle. The life cycle is a great way to guide your project in the right direction so that you and your project stay on track and end up in the right place.
Most project life cycles have four major phases, each with its own set of tasks and concerns. The main phases of a project are initiating the project, making a plan, executing and completing tasks, and finally, closing the project.
Initiate the project
This is the launchpad for the entire process of your project. In this phase, you’ll define project goals and deliverables, identify the budget and resources you’ll need, the people involved in your project, and any other details that can impact the successful completion of your project. You’ll document all this information in one place to showcase the project’s value, and hopefully get approval to move forward with it.
Make a plan
How you will meet the goals of your project. creating a plan of how you’re going to meet your goals is absolutely 100 percent essential. For example, a budget, a breakdown of all the tasks that you need to be completed, ways to communicate team roles and responsibilities, a schedule, resources, and what to do in case your project encounters problems or needs to change
Execute and complete
As a project manager, your role’s a little different. While you might be in charge of completing certain tasks in the project, your primary tasks as the project manager are to monitor progress and keep your team motivated. You also remove any obstacles that might come up so that the tasks are executed well and on time.
Close the project
Why is it important to close the project? One big reason is that your team has a moment to celebrate all of their hard work. Closing the project is also a chance to evaluate how the project went. You can make note of what worked and what didn’t so you can plan better for next time. Even if the project was a massive success, it’s helpful to take time to reflect. Closing the project is also a great way to connect with anyone outside your team who may have had an interest in the project’s goal. You can let everyone know what was completed and what you accomplished.
