What are the Stages to Managing a Project
If you’re taking on a new project, it’s important to have a solid project management process in place to ensure success. Breaking down project management into key stages can help you effectively plan, execute, and wrap up your project. In this insight, we’ll outline the 5 main phases of the project management lifecycle:
- Initiation
The initiation phase is when you formally start your project. It typically involves drafting key documents like a business case to justify the need for the project, a feasibility study to evaluate if the project will solve the problem at hand, and a project initiation document (PID) that outlines critical details including goals, scope, constraints, risks, stakeholders and more. Defining these elements early on will pay dividends as you execute later stages.
- Planning
The planning phase is critical for mapping out how you’ll manage your project. It starts by clearly defining goals and desired outcomes. From there, you’ll outline the project scope, resources needed, team member roles, timeline, milestones, and metrics to track progress. Developing a thorough project plan and work breakdown structure during this stage will be invaluable for smooth execution down the road.
- Execution
With your detailed project plan in place, the execution phase involves carrying out the actual tasks and activities outlined to produce project deliverables. Careful monitoring of budgets, resources, timelines, quality, and risks during this stage is essential to keep things on track. Make any necessary adjustments promptly to avoid falling behind.
- Monitoring and Control
As the name suggests, the monitoring and control phase overlaps with execution. It focuses on continually tracking key performance indicators to ensure your project remains aligned with the plan and handling any issues that crop up. Measure progress against your defined schedule, budget, risk management plans, and other metrics.
- ClosureÂ
The closure phase wraps up your project by completing all remaining work and documentation. This may involve handing over final deliverables, closing out budgets, releasing resources back to the business, documenting lessons learned, and more. Evaluating wins and failures can provide valuable insights to strengthen your project management process for the future.
Breaking project management into clearly defined stages encourages effective planning, accountability, and continuous improvement.
For more information, please contact Sean Devlin on sean.devlin@ballardsllp.com or call 01905 794 504.
Disclaimer. This article has been prepared for information purposes only. Formal professional advice is strongly recommended before making decisions on the topics discussed in this release. No responsibility for any loss to any person acting, or not acting, as a result of this release can be accepted by us, or any person affiliated with us.
