Typical stages of the project life cycle, at the start of a project, the amount of planning and work required may seem overwhelming. There may be dozens or even hundreds of tasks to be completed at just the right time and in exactly the right sequence as experienced project managers know that it is often easier to deal with project details and take steps in the correct order when dividing a project into phases. Dividing your project management efforts into these five phases can help structure your efforts and simplify them into a series of logical, manageable steps.
Typical stages of the project life cycle
The first stage: starting the project
This is where the project starts. The purpose of this stage is to define the project in a greater sense. Here, the project manager begins with an introductory meeting with a client (s) to understand the goals, objectives and most importantly, their expectations from it. It is imperative that he review all the details and ask as many questions as possible to develop a better understanding of the project.
The second stage: project planning
Once all of the goals have been identified, it is time to develop a roadmap for everyone to follow. It includes setting goals and describing job responsibilities for project members. Many project managers set SMART goals to make the process achievable.
SMART goals – It is a common goal-setting process that helps you set ambitious but achievable goals. If the word breaks, each letter of the alphabet denotes an adjective that can help you set well-crafted goals.
The third stage: implementation of the project
This is the stage at which the project begins to form. Since so much happens during the implementation of the project, it is perhaps for this reason that it is referred to as an essential component of the project. Programmers work with coding, web designers with graphic materials, and status and performance reports are made by project managers. This stage is also called the implementation stage.
The fourth stage: project performance
This stage is about measuring project progress and overall performance to see if everything matches the project management plan or not. Different project managers use different techniques to measure performance. Some use project management software while others use key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine whether or not it is on the right track.
Fifth stage: closing the project
This stage represents the completed project. It is the last stage of project management which is also called the post-mortem or follow-up phase. In general, once a project is completed and delivered, effective project managers take some time to identify strengths, valuable team members are identified, what went wrong, how it could be corrected, and what the takeaways of the project were.
While there are a million ways one can choose to structure the project lifecycle, at ClickUp we have found the hierarchy system to be incredibly effective.
At first it might sound a little wobbly, but once you get used to the hierarchy system, you’ll be able to coordinate it to suit your preferences and take on any type of project.
How the hierarchy works
Teams are at the top of the hierarchy. Think of them as the link that encapsulates all of your projects, tasks, and subtasks. You can be a part of as many teams as you want in ClickUp, and you can easily navigate between them in your account.
Each team has a number of spaces that can be fully customized by the user. The spaces are located at the top of the workflow so that you can easily move between them. You can also rearrange their order to prioritize spaces that need to be tackled first!
In the sidebar, you will find Projects and Lists. Basically, projects act as folders that organize separate task lists. Projects are collections of lists, all of which contain tasks.
Every task in ClickUp falls into a list. Tasks may be at the bottom of the hierarchy, but they are essential to the success of your project management. Tasks inherit attributes from the spaces and lists in which they are located, although you can change the task’s location at any time.
Subtasks provide some great additional detail to your workflow, and are centralized within the original tasks. They demonstrate the same properties of tasks and spaces as their original, and if your space contains custom states and multiple administrators, your subtasks as well. project life cycle