Below are the five fundamental phases of a typical project lifecycle, each essential for successful project delivery.
1. Initiation
- Goal: Define the project at a high level and gain authorisation to proceed.
- Key Actions: Develop the project charter; identify key stakeholders; establish initial scope and objectives; assess feasibility and alignment with organisational strategy.
- Outcome: Formal project authorisation and initial clarity on purpose and boundaries.
Key Documents Produced:
- Project Charter – officially authorises the project and the project manager, containing project objectives, scope statement, initial budget allocation, and primary stakeholders
- Stakeholder Register – lists who the stakeholders are, their stake in the project, and communication expectations
- Business case
- Initial risk assessment
Benefits of This Phase:
- Provides formal authorisation of the project
- Ensures alignment with business objectives and organisational strategy
- Establishes clear project boundaries and high-level success criteria
- Creates early stakeholder engagement and buy-in
- Defines the project manager’s authority and responsibility
Signs of Poor Execution:
- Unclear or undefined objectives – leads to confusion, misaligned efforts, and scope creep
- Inadequate stakeholder engagement – results in missed requirements, lack of support, and resistance to change
- Missing or inaccessible stakeholders – regulatory, compliance, security, and subject matter experts not identified early
- No clear business case – team cannot articulate why the project exists or what problem it solves
- Unrealistic expectations – skipping feasibility studies leads to unachievable project goals
- Lack of executive sponsorship – projects without senior management support are very likely to fail
2. Planning
- Goal: Establish the roadmap to achieve project objectives.
- Key Actions: Develop detailed scope and requirements; create Work Breakdown Structure (WBS); define activities, schedules, resource plans, budgets; identify risks and planned responses; create subsidiary plans covering communication, quality, procurement, and change control.
- Outcome: Approved comprehensive project management plan that guides execution.
Key Documents Produced:
- Project Management Plan – comprehensive document integrating all project components
- Scope Statement – defines what work is included and establishes boundaries
- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) – hierarchical breakdown of project work
- Project Schedule/Gantt Chart – timelines, milestones, and dependencies
- Budget/Cost Management Plan – estimated costs and financial tracking methods
- Risk Management Plan – identifies risks and mitigation strategies
- Communication Management Plan – defines stakeholder communication approach
- Quality Management Plan – establishes quality standards and control metrics
- Resource Management Plan – identifies team roles, responsibilities, and acquisition methods
- Assumption log, risk register, issue register, change log
- Requirements documentation and traceability matrix
Benefits of This Phase:
- Sets foundation for successful execution and reduces uncertainty
- Enables accurate estimations for schedule, cost, and resources
- Provides clear accountability through defined roles and responsibilities
- Establishes baseline for measuring project performance
- Forces different stakeholder expectations to surface early
- Creates systematic approach to resource optimisation and cost savings
Signs of Poor Execution:
- Inadequate planning time – rushing through planning is directly correlated with project failure
- Undefined success criteria – leads to different stakeholder expectations and assumptions
- Lack of change control processes – no mechanism to manage scope, requirements, or schedule changes…..costs and schedule may escalate
- Unrealistic timelines and budgets – underestimating complexity due to optimism bias
- Poor risk identification – failure to conduct proper risk assessments leads to surprises and no risk mitigation
- Missing resource plans – insufficient budget, skilled personnel, or technology allocation
- No documented requirements or scope – stakeholders will have differing expectations
3. Execution
- Goal: Complete the work defined in the plan to produce the project deliverables.
- Key Actions: Allocate and manage resources; perform scheduled activities; coordinate team efforts; manage stakeholder communication; procure needed goods/services; ensure quality control.
- Outcome: Project deliverables produced and objectives met according to scope, time, and cost baselines.
Key Documents Produced:
- Project deliverables – the actual products, services, or results
- Team assignments and resource allocation
- Status reports and updates
- Quality assurance documentation
- Dashboard and flow charts
- Contracts and agreements with vendors
- Refined project plan based on ongoing adjustments
Benefits of This Phase:
- Transforms plans into tangible, measurable results
- Creates the actual value and outcomes the project was authorised to deliver
- Enables team coordination and collaboration toward common goals
- Produces deliverables that meet stakeholder expectations
- Generates momentum and visible progress
Signs of Poor Execution:
- Ineffective communication – lack of coordination causes delays, misunderstandings, and misalignment
- Weak leadership – project manager fails to guide, coordinate, and keep team aligned
- Shifting organisational priorities – constant changes disrupt project focus and direction
- Resource constraints – insufficient skilled personnel, budget, or technology
- Poor task delegation – unclear responsibilities lead to gaps in accountability
- Low team morale – demotivation from unclear goals, lack of recognition, or fear of project failure
- Scope creep – uncontrolled changes expand project work without proper evaluation
- Quality issues – deliverables and documents don’t meet standards due to inadequate quality control
4. Monitoring and Controlling
- Goal: Track, review, and regulate progress and performance.
- Key Actions: Measure project performance against plans; monitor risks; manage changes through formal processes; conduct quality assurance; communicate progress and issues to stakeholders.
- Outcome: Early identification and correction of variances, keeping the project on track.
Key Documents Produced:
- Status Reports – regular updates on project performance
- Quality Reports – verification that deliverables meet standards
- Risk Reports – ongoing risk assessments and mitigation status
- Performance Reports – KPI tracking and earned value analysis
- Updated change logs and issue logs
- Decision logs
- Budget variance reports
- Schedule performance updates
Benefits of This Phase:
- Early problem detection – identifies issues before they escalate into major problems
- Risk mitigation – proactive identification and management of potential threats
- Maintains alignment – ensures project stays on track with objectives, schedule, and budget
- Data-driven decisions – provides real-time metrics for informed decision-making
- Stakeholder satisfaction – keeps stakeholders informed and confident in project progress
- Dramatically improves success rates – projects with robust monitoring are much more likely to finish on time and within budget
- Efficient resource utilisation – enables optimisation of resource allocation
Signs of Poor Execution:
- No regular performance tracking – failure to measure progress against baselines
- Reactive rather than proactive – problems only addressed after they become crises
- Poor KPI definition or tracking – inability to gauge actual project health
- Delayed or missing status reports – stakeholders lack visibility into project status
- Uncontrolled scope creep – changes implemented without proper evaluation and approval
- Cost and schedule overruns – budget exceeded and deadlines missed without corrective action
- Inadequate risk management – risks not identified or mitigation plans not executed
- Communication breakdowns – lack of coordination between team members and stakeholders
5. Closing
- Goal: Finalize all project work and formally close the project.
- Key Actions: Obtain formal acceptance of deliverables; close contracts and procurements; release resources; archive documentation; conduct lessons learned actions; communicate project closure.
- Outcome: Official project closure with documented outcomes and lessons captured for future projects.
Key Documents Produced:
- Final Report – summary of project performance including scope, quality, cost, schedule objectives, and achievement of benefits
- Project Closure Report – comprehensive documentation including successes, challenges, lessons learned, and final budget vs. actual costs
- Lessons Learned Documentation – captures what worked well and areas for improvement for future projects; ideally changes organisation documents or templates to incorporate the learning
- Final Product/Service Transition – formal handover documentation to operations or client
- Stakeholder satisfaction evaluation
- Contract closure documentation
- Updated organisational process assets
Benefits of This Phase:
- Archives project information – preserves knowledge for future reference and organisational learning
- Releases resources – frees team members and budget for new work
- Ensures formal acceptance – confirms deliverables meet requirements and client has approved
- Captures lessons learned – enables continuous improvement across the organization
- Provides closure – gives team members and stakeholders psychological completion
- Evaluates project success – measures achievement against original objectives and success criteria
- Maintains professionalism – ensures all contracts fulfilled, vendors paid, and obligations met
Signs of Poor Execution:
- No formal closure – project just “fades away” without official sign-off
- Missing lessons learned – failure to capture what went well and what didn’t
- Incomplete deliverables – work not fully completed or accepted by client
- Unreleased resources – team members remain assigned despite project completion
- Unpaid vendors or unresolved contracts – procurement documentation incomplete
- No stakeholder evaluation – missing feedback on satisfaction and perception of success
- Inadequate documentation – project artifacts not properly archived for future reference
- No celebration or recognition – team contributions not acknowledged, affecting morale