You get the idea: Deliverables determine the tasks & activities needed, which in turn determine the project life cycle. On the other hand, there are the Five Key PM Processes that pretty much everyone agrees are universal: Initiate, Plan, Execute, Control, and Close Out. No matter what your project, you can apply these processes to keep things moving. The trouble is that a lot of PM newbies (and organizations who are new to PM) confuse the five generic PM processes with their life cycles. They try to pound the square pegs of their project’s necessarily unique phases into the round holes that are the five generic PM processes.
The result is that I sometimes find myself working with clients who insist that their local PM model has a distinct phase labeled “Plan” or “Execute” or, worse yet, “Control.” But, I usually ask them, how can you possibly restrict all “execution” chores to a single phase? And aren’t you “controlling” throughout the project? As you can see, this can all be very confusing for a PM newcomer.
Though it usually takes some time to sink in, here’s my bottom line message to these folks: Any project’s life cycle (that collection of tasks, activities, and phases) are unique and always reflect a specific set of deliverables or “best practices” of an industry. On the other hand, any project’s work processes (i.e., what you do to move from phase to phase) involves the 5 generic PM processes: Initiate, Plan, Execute, Control, and Close-Out.
So no matter what phase of a project you’re in (any project!), you must Initiate that phase, then Plan that phase (or revisit & revise the Plan), Execute the tasks associated with that phase, Control the tasks, and finally Close Out that phase. When you complete the phase (i.e., when you “close out” the phase), then you start all over again with the next phase and Initiate, Plan (replan), Execute/Control, and Close Out that phase. And so it goes… over and over again.
The image below is from a PDF file of a few simple slides I sometimes share with PM-newbie clients to help them see the distinction (and the relationship) between the Five Key PM Processes and your project’s unique life cycle. Click the image, check them out, provide your own narration, and maybe you can help clarify this confusing topic for a PM newbie you know!
