It you don't want to have to start every project from scratch,
then it's worthwhile creating your own Project Lifecycle.
How should you do this? What should it look like? And how
do you use it? Keep reading to find out how to...
Create your own Project Lifecycle...
A Project Lifecycle is a series of steps that you take to
complete a project from start to finish. Of course, it implies
that you can complete the same steps for every project— so
is this true?
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In principle, yes. Every project will have an Initiation phase,
a Planning phase, an Execution phase and a Closure phase.
However within these phases, the steps you take may vary
slightly between projects.
The trick is to create a lifecycle that is generic enough to use
for all of your projects, while still being specific enough to
add value and save you time on delivery. Here's how to do
it...
Map it out
Every project is delivered in some form of lifecycle. You
probably usually define your project upfront, then you'll hire
your team, you'll plan and complete a set of tasks to create
some deliverables and then get your customer to signoff the
output. This sequence of steps are what is called a "lifecycle"
and chances are that you're using the same generic lifecycle
every time you deliver a project!
So start by mapping out your current project lifecycle on a
blank sheet of paper and identify the elements that you know
work well, and those that don't.
And improve it
Then try and improve your lifecycle by analyzing why certain
steps don't work well currently. Analyze the root cause and
identify which steps you could take instead, to improve your
chance of success. For instance, maybe "scope creep" is an
issue for you, so by putting in place better steps for
managing changes to scope, it would help.
Once you have identified the sequence of steps that you
know will deliver your projects successfully from start to
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original Educational
or standard purchase,
and we'll give you a
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original purchase.
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corporate licenses as
well. If you upgrade
from a single user
license to a multiuser license, then this
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100% of your money
back on your single
user purchase!
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finish, the next thing you need to do is to "get detailed".
Get detailed
News
With a clearly defined series of steps, you now need to define
Enterprise Edition
the tasks and activities that are needed to perform each step
efficiently. For instance, if your first step was to get funding
for your project, then do you need to create a Business Case We've nearly
completed our new
or Financial Plan to do it? What type of person will authorize
client server version
the funding and what information will they need to do it?
of MPMM, which will
allow corporates to
For every step, describe how you intend to do it, the tasks
install it on an
and activities to be taken, and as importantly, who is
internal server and
responsible for doing them (e.g. it is yourself or members of
allow projects to
your team)?
openly share
methodologies.
Tool up
Great—so you have a crystal clear process for delivering
projects. Now how can you do each step quickly and
efficiently? Typically project managers use templates,
software and examples to help them complete each step
faster and more efficiently. With a well documented lifecycle,
the right lifecycle steps and good tools, you will be armed
and ready to tackle any type of project to succeed.
Get ready
And finally, with all of this collateral, you need to collect it
into a single place, ready to use on projects. Many project
managers use "MPMM" for this, as you can create a brand
new Project Lifecycle and import all of your templates and
examples into it, ready for use.
By creating your own project lifecycle or customizing that of
another, you can apply a single approach to managing
successful projects.
Download a complete Project Lifecycle within MPMM now...
If you would like to
use a methodology to
manage projects and
you have a team size
of 10 or more people,
then drop us a line
and we'll let you
know as soon as the
new Enterprise
edition is released.
Email
support@mpmm.com
Thanks
A note from our CEO:
"I just wanted to give
a special thanks to all
of you who completed
our recent survey."
"We received loads of
great ideas for
building a world class
project management
software application."
"It will be a lot of
work, but thanks to
you, we now have
what we need to be
able to create a
solution that perfectly
meets your needs. So
Watch this space :-)"
Jason Westland, CEO
Method123 & MPMM
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