Setting your project up for success: The Project Management Lifecycle

Whether you are responsible for developing a new office building or updating your information system, you need to have a process in place to get you from the beginning to the end of your project successfully. This process is called the project management lifecycle. Typically, it consists of five steps: project initiation, project planning, project execution, project monitoring and controlling, and project completion.

We’re going to discuss each of these 5 phases, and the benefits of executing the project management lifecycle effectively.

What is the Project Management Lifecycle?

The project management lifecycle is a series of phases that a project goes through from its initiation to its completion. It offers a structured approach to managing projects, ensuring that they are initiated, planned, executed, and controlled effectively.

No matter how big or small your project is, using the project management lifecycle structure can provide several key benefits, which we will discuss later. 

Phases of the Project Life Cycle

There are 5 key phases of the project lifecycle. We’re going to explore each phase, and identify the key roles and responsibilities of the project manager.

1. Project initiation - Get the ball rolling

It’s tough to define each of these stages in terms of their importance, but you can make a solid case for project initiation being the most important within the project management lifecycle!

In this step, you are developing the need for your project and defining the scope of it. Key data points include defining the project’s purpose, vision and mission, identifying stakeholders and understanding how the project affects them, along with many more.

As project manager, you must also perform a feasibility assessment, which concludes if the project is viable. This is an essential task, as if the project fails to meet feasibility criteria, it could lead to wasted time, effort, and resources.

Once the project has passed the feasibility stage, you can assemble your project team.

Learn how to improve stakeholder comms here – The Principles of Stakeholder Management

2. Project planning - Decide on the most efficient way to get to your goal

Project planning defines the overall approach you will take in tackling the project (strategic planning) and fleshing out the specific tasks to accomplish it (implementation planning). This detailed project plan should include the following:

• Statement of Work document to break down the specifics of the project deliverables
• Resource allocation
• Risk mitigation plan
• Work breakdown structure
• Stakeholder communication plan
• Key timelines and deadlines
• Deliverables.

The aim of this exercise is to create an extensive and detailed map of how team members on the project will carry out the work.

Be equipped for any scenario with this guide on different approaches to project management. 

3. Project execution — Execute the plan

In this stage, you carry out all the tasks you planned in the previous step. This is when the project really starts, and tasks can start to get completed to produce deliverables.  

Your role as a project manager in this stage would be:

• Assign specific people and resources to tasks
• Ensure that you and your team carry out the tasks in an organised, logical manner
• Keep track of your expenditures versus your budget 
• Adjust your plans if you encounter unexpected difficulties.

The main outcome of the Execution phase is the production of deliverables that align with the detailed project plan. Learn more about the specifics of project execution here – The Project Management Process Explained

4. Project monitoring and controlling – Checking project progress

This phase of the project management lifecycle usually runs alongside the project execution phase, and involves tracking the project’s progress and making necessary adjustments. The project manager must make sure that everything complies with the project plan, and report progress to stakeholders. 

Key activities include:

• Performance planning – compare actual progress against the project plan using key performance indicators
• Use the risk mitigation plan from step 2 of the cycle of project management to continuously assess and manage risks to mitigate their impact
• Verifying that project deliverables meet the required standards through regular inspections and testing
• Keeping stakeholders informed about the project status through regular updates and reports.

To understand how best to monitor your project’s progress, follow this guide on the critical success factors of project management. 

5. Project completion - Evaluation is key to the success of future projects

In this final stage, project managers will look to get final approvals and sign-offs from project stakeholders, and ensure that all project deliverables are completed.

The project manager can then conduct a project wrap. You evaluate how successful you were in meeting your project’s objectives, and document any lessons learnt that will help you execute future projects. Learning from our mistakes is one of the most valuable skills in life, and is especially applicable in project management.

There may be unallocated resources left at the end of the project, which can then be reallocated to future projects. Learn more about project completion here – Project Completion: Everything You Need To Know

Benefits of Effective Project Lifecycle Management

These are the key benefits of correctly executing the 5 phases of the project management lifecycle.

• Quality organisation and structure: The phases of the project management lifecycle provide a clear framework for managing the project, ensuring that all tasks and activities are systematically planned and executed in the most efficient and effective manner 

• More effective risk management: By frequently assessing potential risks throughout the project management life cycle, potential setbacks can be identified at an early stage and the risk can be mitigated

• Better stakeholder engagement: Regular communication, reporting, and updates help stakeholders understand the project’s progress and important information.

• Higher quality deliverables: The whole purpose of a project is the output at the end, right? By continuously monitoring each part of the project, and adding quality control measures, there’s a much better chance of the deliverables meeting the standards and specifications of project stakeholders.

Use Verto to execute a successful project management lifecycle

Project management tools like Verto can help your project management office and stakeholders interact more efficiently and improves project control. This gives you an edge in all five of the project management lifecycle phases.

With Verto, you can:

• Track your project’s progress towards goals with Benefits realisation
• Create a Gantt chart of your project and plan for key milestones
• Create collaborative workspaces for tasks and projects
• Manage task delegation, resource allocation, and visualise progress with Kanban boards
• Create intuitive, interactive and customisable data reports for your project with our reporting software
• Gain a birds-eye view of progress with Project dashboards tailored to your data needs, and keep stakeholders informed.

Our cloud-based software provides dashboard status and reports, as well as document storage and sharing. Use Verto’s platform, which gives you all of the tools to conduct all 5 phases of the project management lifecycle.

Get in touch with the Verto team today, or book a demo to find out how Verto can help you.