How do we know what to do during a project? What are the priorities? What are the activities that a Project Manager should do at the beginning of the project? And at the end?
To answer these questions, the theory of the 5 phases of the project (project life cycle) comes to our aid.
The main role of a Project Manager is to have the current status of the project under control: it means knowing where the project is and what to do to achieve the set objectives.
From experience, we know that each project can have 5 different phases.
For each phase we have guidelines to follow that help us always know what to do in case of loss.
As you will see, the project can go through several phases at the same time (Executing and Monitoring), but in general one follows the other in chronological order.
The 5 phases of each project are:
- Initiation
- Planning
- Executing
- Monitoring
- Closing
Initiation
In this phase the manager collects all the information necessary for the project:
- contact with the client (or with anyone proposing the project, for example other company departments or management)
- analysis and drafting of project requirements (needs analysis, functionality), Statement of Work (SoW) and Project Charter (or also called PID, Project Initiation Document)
- feasibility analysis
Planning
In this phase the manager decides how the objectives established in the first phase are to be achieved. These are the main activities to be carried out:
- project plan, planning of milestones, deliverables, choice of project priorities. Often the WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) and the GANTT are used (mainly used in the “waterfall” methodology. It is not used by startups who prefer to work with “agile” methodology)
- financial plan: drafting of the budget and analysis of the necessary liquidity (cash flow)
- resource plan: analyze all the resources needed for the project, such as personnel, technical equipment, spaces, etc.
- risk plan: identification of risks (for example on initial assumptions or possible future obstacles) and creation of a plan to mitigate these risks
- communication plan: this is a fundamental aspect in any project in which several subjects are involved, it is often underestimated but it is essential to ensure clarity in the management of the project. The Digital Project Manager here makes a list of the stakeholders of the project and establishes how he will keep them updated and the timing
- procurement plan: plan to identify the right suppliers
All these analyzes are inserted within a SoW in order to obtain the official approval of the customer.
In this way, the risk of “scope creep” is considerably reduced, that is, of creating a project with characteristics different from those requested by the customer due to continuous changes or additions.
Executing
In the executing phase, the project manager proceeds to implement the plan created in the previous phases. The key steps are:
- team leadership: having a clear and motivating vision and mission to convey to the team (it is a serious mistake to think that employees are motivated only by salary)
- tasks: write the activities that each team member must complete and make sure that everyone has understood the task to be done
- client management: communicating with the client in order to receive feedback and make sure you are creating the project in the required way
- communication: inform all stakeholders about the progress of the project (even if there are difficulties in the project)
Monitoring
During the Executing phase of the project, the project manager must also be in charge of monitoring performance and results. This means collecting the data and comparing it with the forecasts made at the beginning of the project.
The steps to monitor a project are:
- cost and time management: monitor the budget and timing of the project
- quality management: making sure that the procedures and functionalities created reflect quality standards
- risk management: predict and mitigate all possible risks
- acceptance management: making sure that the features created satisfy the customer
- change management: planning changes (to be submitted to the client) when there are obstacles in the project or when the team wants to propose improvements
Closing
This is a phase that many project managers overlook. At the end of each project (both when it has been successfully completed and when it has failed) it is useful to stop for a moment and analyze what went well and what did not work.
Only this work allows the team to improve by learning from the experiences made. It is also an opportunity to celebrate the eventual success of the project.
The steps are:
- project performance analysis: general evaluation of the project and deviations from the initial budget
- team analysis: analyse the effectiveness and efficiency of the team
- project closure: documents to prepare to finish the project (e.g. close
- contracts with suppliers) and reorder the project documentation
- post-implementation review. write the analysis of successes and failures
Conclusions
In this article we have seen what are the 5 phases of each project (digital or not).
Obviously, at any moment of the project you can go to modify a document created in a previous phase (indeed, periodic revision is recommended).
Each Project Manager must know perfectly the activities proposed in each phase and must commit himself to carry them out.
A project can only be successful if the Project Manager does not neglect each of the activities proposed here.
Soon,
Simone
