ARC483 Project Management & Feasibility Studies

Project life cycle and Organization

Strategy

Rania El Tahan

Based on:
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK® GUIDE ), Sixth Edition
 Agenda

Chapter 2:

• Project life cycle and organization

• Project life cycle
• Features and types of organizational structure
• Organizational systems
Project life cycle
Divide projects into phases to provide better management control with
appropriate link to ongoing operations.

Project life cycle defines:

- What technical work to do in each phase

- What deliverables are to be generated in each phase and how

they are reviewed, verified and validated

- Who is involved in each phase

- How to control and approve each phase

Characteristics Of The Project Life Cycle
Although projects are unique and highly unpredictable, their standard framework consists
of same generic lifecycle structure, consisting of following phases:

• The Initiation Phase: Starting of the project

• The Planning Phase: Organizing and Preparing

• The Execution Phase: Carrying out the project

• The Termination Phase: Closing the project

Project life cycle stages
Project life cycle stages
Project life cycle stages
Project life cycle stages
Project Management Process & Phases
1- Project Initiation
Project initiation is the first Project Business vision and mission:

• Project goals and benefits

• List of stakeholders
• Scope of the Project
• Project deliverables
• Risks associated with the project
• Project budget and resources
2- Project Planning
The project plan developed should include all the essential details related to
the project goals and objectives and should also detail how to achieve it.

It is the most complex phase in which project managers take care of

operational requirements, design limitations, and functional requirements.

The project planning phase includes the following components:

3-Project Execution
4- Project Monitoring And Control
5- Project Closure
Organizational Systems
Why Project Managers Need to Understand the Strategic Management
Process?

• Changes in the organization’s mission and strategy:

• Project managers must respond to changes with appropriate decisions about future projects and
adjustments to current projects.
• Project managers who understand their organization’s strategy can become effective advocates of
projects aligned with the firm’s mission.

• Review and define the organizational mission.

• Set long-range goals and objectives.

• Analyze and formulate strategies to reach objectives.

• Implement strategies through projects

Characteristics of Objectives
Benefits of Project Portfolio Management

Builds discipline into the project selection process.

• Links project selection to strategic metrics.

• Prioritizes project proposals across a common set of criteria, rather than on politics or emotion.

• Allocates resources to projects that align with strategic direction.

• Balances risk across all projects.

• Justifies killing projects that do not support strategy.

• Improves communication and supports agreement on project goals.

Project Portfolio Management Problems

• The Implementation Gap

– The lack of understanding and consensus on strategy among top management and middle-level
(functional) managers who independently implement the strategy.

• Organization Politics
– Project selection is based on the persuasiveness and power of people advocating the projects.

•Resource Conflicts and Multitasking

– Multi project environment creates interdependency relationships of shared resources which results in
the starting, stopping, and restarting projects.
Features And Types Of Organizational Structure

When choosing an organizational structure, certain features shouldn't be overlooked.

The key elements that contribute to a proper organizational structure are as follows:

•Degree of alignment with organizational objectives

•Accountability assignment
•Delegation of Capabilities
•Simplicity of Design
•Physical locations
Organizational Systems

The interaction of multiple factors within an individual organization creates a unique

system that impacts the project

Operating in that system. The resulting organizational system determines the power,
influence, interests, competence, and political capabilities of the people who can act
within the system.

The system factors include but are not limited to:

•Management elements,

•Governance frameworks,

•Organizational structure types.