Project Management Life Cycle

Over the past 20 years, businesses around the world have undergone rapid change. Customers are no longer happy with their 'status quo' products or services: they expect businesses to adapt rapidly to the changing environment by providing more offerings – cheaper and faster than before. This rate of change has forced businesses to transform their operational processes into project-based initiatives.

This transformation has not been without its risks, as a large percentage of projects (estimated by the Standish Group as more than 70%) fail to deliver on time, on budget and to the level of quality expected.

WHY SO MANY PROJECTS FAIL TO DELIVER

Typical causes include poor project sponsorship, undefined requirements and miscommunication. However the number one cause of project failure is the lack of adoption of a formal project methodology.

Without adopting a clear methodology or framework for delivery, most project teams start building deliverables before their scope and objectives are clearly thought through. They have no structured processes for undertaking project tasks, and so they fail to effectively manage time, cost, quality, risks, issues and changes within the project.

It is inevitable that such projects suffer from scope creep, milestone delays, poor deliverable quality and a lack of customer satisfaction. The answer is simple: use a repeatable project methodology with structured project processes for initiating, planning, executing and closing projects effectively.

WHICH METHODOLOGY TO USE

There is no clear answer. Few best-practice project management methodologies exist in the marketplace. Most self-professed methodologies are nothing more than a set of stages with a brief description for each stage.

To date, the only comprehensive project management methodologies have been those created by the 'big six' consulting firms. Of course those methodologies are heavily protected, as they form the intellectual property upon which they operate.

These methodologies work intelligently, by using their intellectual property to structure the way that projects are undertaken, then after initiation using repeatable processes to vastly reduce the time taken to produce deliverables, thereby maximising profit. By using a clearly defined methodology, they rarely have to start from scratch.

WHAT PROJECT MANAGERS USE NOW

As there are very few comprehensive project management methodologies available in the marketplace, project managers:

• have to resort to writing their own methodology – unfortunately because of the nature of their roles, they never have the time to research, write and implement a comprehensive methodology for their projects
• rely on industry standard guidelines for their project, which offer a generic framework but do not provide the depth of knowledge required to successfully undertake a project
• are forced to initiate projects without the time to put in place the structure needed to ensure their success

Adopting a clear methodology or framework for delivery in the future could improve the quality of project management, ensuring that projects are delivered on time, within budget and to the standard expected.

Edited excerpt from The Project Management Life Cycle, by Jason Westland. Paperback, pp 256, £24.95, published by Kogan Page.