What are the 5 phases of the Project Life Cycle?

The project life cycle is made up of five project management stages: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and control, and closure.

• Phase 1: Project Initiation

This is the first stage of the project, and the project manager must demonstrate that the project is worthwhile and practicable. This comprises developing a business case to justify the project's need and a feasibility study to show that it can be completed in a fair amount of time and money.

After that, a project charter is prepared, which is a document that explains what the project will deliver. A project brief accomplishes the same thing. The fundamental distinction is that a project charter adheres to the PMBOK framework, but a project brief adheres to the PRINCE2 methodology.

This stage of project management culminates in a project kick-off meeting, where the team, stakeholders, and other interested parties gather to lay out the project's goals, timetable, methods, and communication chain.

• Phase 2: Project Planning

Following project approval, the project enters the second phase of project management: project planning. The purpose of this phase is to create a project plan that will serve as a guide for the following two phases. Every aspect of the project's execution, including expenses, risks, resources, and deadline, must be included in the project plan.

Using a work breakdown structure, the project scope (the work required to accomplish the project) is established during this phase (WBS). The WBS divides the project into activities, milestones, and deliverables, allowing project managers to construct timetables and assign work to their team members with ease.

Gantt chart software, which provides a visual depiction of the complete project, is frequently used by project managers to put out their project plan. This serves as a road map for the work till the project is completed.

• Phase 3: Project Execution

The third phase of project management is project execution, which involves completing the tasks and milestones indicated in the plan in order to create the deliverable to the satisfaction of the customer or stakeholder.

The project manager will reallocate resources as needed along the route to keep the team operating. They will also identify and reduce risks, resolve issues, and incorporate any modifications.

• Phase 4: Project Monitoring and Control

Project monitoring and control, the fourth project management phase, occurs concurrently with the project execution phase. It entails keeping track of the project's development and performance to guarantee that it stays on track and within budget. To ensure quality assurance, quality control processes are used.

The three most important constraints in a project are time, money, and scope, which are generally referred to as the triple constraint. The main purpose of this phase is to establish tight project controls to ensure that those three criteria do not deviate from the original plan.

• Phase 5: Project Closure

Project closure is the fifth project management phase, which involves presenting the final deliverables to the client or stakeholder. Resources are released, documentation is done, and everything is signed off on once they have been approved. The project manager and team can now hold a post-mortem to review the project's lessons learned.

The closure phase may include passing over control to a different team, such as an operations management team, depending on the project. In this instance, it is the project manager's responsibility to guarantee a smooth handover.

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Richard Pierce An expert in Pmi and Iiba Certifications.