Project Management Tips

Three is the Magic Number

Three overarching phases to the project lifecycle

In a recent strategy meeting at a typical corporation, a debate arose regarding the steps of the project management process. At the core of the discussion was the question raised by a senior manager, "A successful project is the sum of how many parts?"

Every manager had a different opinion on the stages of the project lifecycle. One manager said five, others blurted out that there were seven stages, and one suggested that the question was unimportant. Words like "Gantt charts," "implementation" and "launch" whizzed through the air. As voices boomed and tension rose, it became apparent that everyone had an idea about the number of steps in a project, but very few team members could clearly define those steps and their respective components.

The senior manager suddenly brought the rapidly degenerating meeting back on course. "It seems to me that a project lifecycle can be sliced and diced more ways than an onion," he said, "and is comprised of as many layers. Let's simplify the issue. Instead of considering the minutia, we will assume that a project is made up of a few, overarching stages. It is most useful to break a project down into three top-level components and consider how these three parts can comprise a successful whole."

The team considered this for a moment. After a pause, one junior manager tentatively put forth the observation that each part of the project process is necessarily dependent on the previous step. Given this dependency, problems with preliminary steps can cause chain reactions that will inevitably lead to future trouble. "The steps are related and must follow in proper order. Otherwise," he pointed out, "our steps will proceed as haphazardly as three blind mice."

"Quite right," said the senior manager. "It seems like a rudimentary concept, but we have repeatedly seen missed deadlines, repetition of labor and higher costs on projects because of flaws and holes in our initial planning. Sometimes we don't see a critical issue until it rears its ugly head much later in production. Therefore, we will define the first of the three steps as the "Discovery and Planning" stage. Now, how can we make this phase into a solid foundation for our project?"

Discovery and Planning: Step One in the Project Lifecycle

After some debate, the team determined that in the first stage of project planning the team members would sit down and discuss the business goals of the project. Second, they would thoroughly investigate possible avenues of approach, and define a strategy that would achieve those goals. Next, a plan of action would be devised, based on the input of all relevant teams within the company. Finally, the plan would be recorded in a document that would serve as a reference guide for all future work on the project. In short, the group decided to organize and record the blueprint for the agreed-upon plan of action, and to disseminate that blueprint, or "specification", to every member of the project team. The group noted that some projects would require more than one document, including such things as a technical specification.

"But won't all of this planning take a great deal of time?" asked one recently hired manager. "We won't have as much time to do the actual work."

"Indeed," replied the senior manager. "However, consider how much time we will save by creating a comprehensive, accepted plan. By investing more time into our Discovery and Planning stage, we will prevent conflicts later in the project. We will eliminate those nasty surprises that catch us off guard when we are knee-deep in development. This step is the foundation of everything that comes after it, therefore it must be a major focus of our effort and time."

"Now that our initial phase has been established," he continued, "what is our next step?"

Implementation, they decided, was project cycle step two.


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