Phases of the Project Life Cycle

The Project Life Cycle refers to a series of activities which are necessary to fulfill project goals or objectives. Projects vary in size and complexity and all projects can be mapped to the following life cycle structure: Starting the project

1. Organizing and preparing
2. Carrying out project work
3. Closing the project

Projects are broken down into phases so that extra control can be applied to effectively manage the processes.
These phases are further divided into subsets for easy management, control, and planning.
For a project to be successful, the project team must:

1. Select the appropriate processes to meet project goals and objectives.
2. Use a defined approach focused on meeting the requirements of the project.
3. Clearly define and agree upon stakeholder/customer needs and expectations.
4. Balance the competing demands of scope, time, cost, quality, resources, and risk to produce the specified product, service, or result.