Lesson 2: Fundamental Project Concepts: Part 1

Project Life Cycles

Thankfully, learning about the Project Life Cycle (PLC) is a little bit easier than learning about Project Processes. This seems only fair, don’t you think?

But just what are those cycles? Well, we just came from looking at processes, so right now on our stage, here's that dazzling foursome that has been exhilirating Project Managers across the globe with their unique brand of organized music...ladies and gentlemen, James P. Lewis' Four Cycle PLC! (wild applause and mild hysteria/fainting)

FOUR-PHASE PLC :

1. Concept: marketing input, feasibility studies, surveys of competition.

2. Planning: determining the appropriate way to achieve project goals.

3. Execution: carry-out activities to achieve project goals.

4. Close-Out: wind-down project and conclusion.

And why, you might ask, is knowing about each cycle in the PLC so important?

A Project Manager (and his/her team) must always know what cycle of the PLC the project is in, because that knowledge tells everyone just where the heck they are in the project: are we at the beginning, in the middle, at the end? Is it over? Can I go home now? And so on...

You can sense the echo here of the previously discussion on project processes. As a result of this echo, things can get a little confusing (knowing what is a process, and what is a cycle in the PLC). So let's unconfuse you before you get confused: