Lesson 4: The Project Cycle

All project work is executed in the project cycle. It is the anatomy of a project, and consist of four phases:

• Initiation - this is where we obtain clarity about the problem, the final deliverable/solution/product and the benefits. Further also the scope of work
• Planning - here we decide how long the project will take (durations), and what resources are required (how much)
• Implementation - here we build the final deliverable
• Close Out - Essentially we close out from and administrative and accounting point of view and evaluate or efforts

Unfortunately, because not enough time is spent in the initial phases (initiation and planning) we design problems into the project. These problems are often only discovered in the implementation phase, and becomes very difficult to solve.

The lesson - make sure you address the right problem, define and plan the project well!


The following slide-show is a visual aid to help explain the idea ( you can download it from Slideshare)

The Project Cycle Revisited

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