Introduction
Many of our previous discussions have looked at the various components of project management and what a project manager does on a daily basis. These have been tip-oriented to help you manage the project and your sanity as you move through a sometimes complex and challenging experience!
The current article provides a description of the project lifecycle, which demonstrates what a project looks like when it all comes together. There are several models for the project lifecycle, but let’s start with the classic approach: the waterfall model.
The Waterfall Model
The waterfall model is the classic method for delivering a project, and is the first one that anyone learns in project management class. There are a few variations to the waterfall model, including the number and name of each step. The commonality of all waterfall models is that the steps are successive and each must end before the next begins.
In the model that I use, there are four steps:
1. Initiation
Initiation is the first step. The project manager will focus on kick-starting the project during this phase. He or she will assemble the project team, choose and document the management approach in the charter, and create the project plan. Initiation is the project team’s first opportunity to identify what they will do, how much it will cost, and what they will create.
2. Planning
The purpose of the planning phase is to describe in greater detail what the team will create. When the organization conceived of the project, it had a particular goal in mind. It was trying to address a problem or create an opportunity for itself. This now needs to be further defined in a document or documents that describe exactly what the team will create to meet that goal.
Going back to an often-used example, this phase is similar to developing the blueprints for a house. You knew that you wanted a new home, and now you have to figure out how many bedrooms there are going to be and whether you want hardwood or tile. Once you are finished, you will update the project plan and budget, and make some adjustments when you realize that hardwood is expensive.
3. Execution
Creating the product is the next step of the project. This is called the execution phase. If the planning phase described in detail what the project team will build, the project team will follow those plans during the execution phase to create it. Managing the execution phase involves ensuring that the product you are creating meets the requirements that you identified during planning. If you need to introduce changes beyond what you identified during planning, you will need to engage in some change management and determine whether an update in the project plan and budget is necessary.
This phase also includes deployment, which is the process by which the product or service is delivered to those who are going to use it. The activities associated with deployment will vary depending on the project, but often involve training people, introducing changes to the work processes, and developing a way to ensure the project can sustain itself in the future.
Project teams (and often funders or clients) love to jump right to the execution phase because it is the phase in which the most concrete work occurs. Similarly, a common mistake is to most heavily resource this phase for the same reason. It is important, however, to pay full attention to the other phases and ensure that they are adequately resourced; otherwise, confusion and inefficiency can result.
Using our example of the house construction above, the contractors can only begin building when they have clear blueprints. If they begin without the blueprints, you may end up with a sink in the living room or a stove in the bathroom!
4. Closure
Closing a project is an important step that shouldn’t be forgotten. The project manager focuses on collating documentation, evaluating the project to identify lessons learned, and ensuring that it has successfully transitioned over to operations (i.e., daily delivery of the product or service). Collating all of the project documentation in a central location allows the organization to understand the history of the project and make further changes as required. This is especially important if the project manager is leaving the project or organization, and will no longer be involved with it.
Advantages and disadvantages of the waterfall model
The waterfall model is likely the most common approach to delivering a project, but it is just one of many. It has both advantages and disadvantages associated with it.
The advantage of this approach is that it clearly defines the product or service during initiation and planning, which reduces inefficiency during the execution phase. It is easier for an inexperienced project team to deliver a project like this because the activities follow one another logically. This model reduces the complexity of the project activities and can make it seem much more manageable. The disadvantage of this model is that it is quite inflexible and takes longer to deliver a version of the product. Furthermore, problems that are not identified early in this model can lead to much wasted effort down the road.
Summary
This article presents an overview of one approach for delivering projects: the Waterfall Model. This approach breaks the project into four phases (i.e., initiation, planning, execution, and closure), and is the classic method of project delivery. It is beneficial for inexperienced project teams because it moves them steadily through the project. On the other hand, it is an inflexible approach that takes longer to deliver.
Our next article will briefly discuss other approaches to project delivery, and the advantages and disadvantages of those.
Blair Witzel (blair@mcdoane.com) is a member of the Project Management Institute and a consultant with McDonnell Doane + Associates, an information management and technology firm focusing on the not-for-profit and public sectors. His work centres on managing multi-project portfolios and working with organizations to develop project management methodologies to more effectively deliver projects.
