Project Phases

The project life cycle is the path for your project from start to finish. Each project phase builds
toward the subsequent phase and helps to create a structure for the project. To recap, the main
phases of the project life cycle are: initiating the project, making a plan, executing and completing
tasks, and closing the project.

We will summarize each phase of the project life cycle.

The project life cycle

Initiate the project

In this phase, ask questions to help set the foundation for the project, such as:

 Who are the stakeholders?

 What are the client’s or customer’s goals?
 What is the purpose and mission of the project?
 What are the measurable objectives for the team?
 What is the project trying to improve?
 When does this project need to be completed?
 What skills and resources will the project require?
 What will the project cost? What are the benefits?

Make a plan

In this phase, make a plan to get your project from start to finish.

 Create a detailed project plan. What are the major milestones? What tasks or deliverables make up
each milestone?
 Build out the schedule so you can properly manage the resources, budget, materials, and timeline.
Here, you will create an itemized budget.

Execute the project

In this phase, put all of your hard work from the first two phases into action.

 Monitor your project team as they complete project tasks.

 Break down any barriers that would slow or stop the team from completing tasks.
 Help keep the team aware of schedule and deliverable expectations.
 Address weaknesses in your process or examine places where your team may need additional training
to meet the project’s goals.
 Adapt to changes in the project as they arise.

Close the project

In this phase, close out the project.

 Identify that your team has completed all of the requested outcomes.
 Release your team so they can support other projects within the company.
 Take time with your team to celebrate your successes!
 Pass off all remaining deliverables and get stakeholder approval.
 Document the lessons you and your team learned during the project.
 Reflect on ways to improve in the future.

Each phase of the project life cycle has its own significance and reason for existing. By following the
project life cycle, you’re ensuring that you are:

 Capturing the expectations of your customer

 Setting your project up for success with a plan
 Executing project tasks and addressing any issues that arise
 Closing out your project to capture any lessons learned
As you continue through this course, we will walk through each project phase in more detail.

Comparing Waterfall and

Agile approaches
Now that you know more about some of the different approaches and frameworks associated with
project management, let's compare specific aspects of Waterfall (also commonly called
traditional) and Agile approaches.

Waterfall
Project manager serves as
Agile
an active leader by
Project prioritizing and assigning
Scrum Master acts primarily as
a facilitator, removing any
tasks to team members.
manager's barriers the team faces. Team
shares more responsibility in
role managing their own work.

Scope Project deliverables and plans Planning happens in shorter

are well-established iterations and focuses on

and documented in the delivering value quickly.
early stages of initiating Subsequent iterations are
and
planning. Changes go through adjusted in response to
a formal change request
process.
Follows a mostly linear path
through the initiating, planning,
executing, and closing phases of
Schedule Quality the project.

Costs are kept under control by

careful estimation up front and
close monitoring throughout the
life cycle of the project.
Project manager makes plans and
clearly defines criteria to measure
Cost quality at the beginning of the
project.
feedback phases called Sprints.
or Each Sprint has a defined
unforesee duration, with a set list of
n issues. deliverables planned at
the start of the Sprint. Team solicits ongoing
Costs and schedule stakeholder input and user
Time is could change with feedback by testing products in
organiz each iteration. the field and regularly
ed into implementing improvements.
Communication Project manager Team is customer-focused,
continually with consistent communication
between users and the project
communicates progress
toward milestones and
other
key indicators to stakeholders,
team. ensuring that the project is on
track to meet the customer’s
expectations.
Stakeholders Project manager continually Team frequently provides
deliverables to stakeholders
manages and monitors
throughout the project. Progress
stakeholder engagement to
toward milestones is dependent
ensure the project is on
upon stakeholder feedback.
track.
 Understanding the fundamentals of—and differences between—these common project
management approaches can help you demonstrate your project management knowledge during
an interview. It can also help you evaluate a project to determine the right approach when working
on the job.

Waterfall and Agile are implemented in many different ways on many different projects, and
some projects may use aspects of each. The chart below briefly describes and compares
Waterfall and Agile approaches. You can use it as a quick reference tool, but be aware that in
practice, the differences between these two approaches may not always be clearly defined.
Waterfall and Agile Comparison

Now that you better understand the differences between Waterfall and Agile project
management approaches, you can use this understanding to determine which is most effective
for your projects.

Lean and Six Sigma methodologies

Previously you learned about Agile and Waterfall project management approaches. Now, we will
define some key concepts from Lean and Six Sigma methodologies. We will learn how these
methodologies can be used to organize and manage your projects, and we will discuss which is the
most effective for different kinds of projects.

Lean
Lean methodology is often referred to as Lean Manufacturing because it originated in the
manufacturing world. The main principle in Lean methodology is the removal of waste within an
operation. By optimizing process steps and eliminating waste, only value is added at each phase of
production.

Today, the Lean Manufacturing methodology recognizes eight types of waste within an operation:
defects, excess processing, overproduction, waiting, inventory, transportation, motion, and non-
utilized talent. In the manufacturing industry, these types of waste are often attributed to issues such
as:

 Lack of proper documentation

 Lack of process standards
 Not understanding the customers’ needs
 Lack of effective communication
 Lack of process control
 Inefficient process design
 Failures of management
These same issues create waste in project management.

Implement Lean project management when you want to use limited resources, reduce waste, and
streamline processes to gain maximum benefits.

You can achieve this by using the pillars of the Lean 5S quality tool. The term 5S refers to the five
pillars that are required for good housekeeping: sort, set in order, shine, standardize, and sustain.
Implementing the 5S method means cleaning up and organizing the workplace to achieve the
smallest amount of wasted time and material. The 5S method includes these five steps:

1. Sort: Remove all items not needed for current production operations and leave only the bare
essentials.
2. Set in order: Arrange needed items so that they are easy to use. Label items so that anyone can
find them or put them away.
3. Shine: Keep everything in the correct place. Clean your workspace every day.
4. Standardize: Perform the process in the same way every time.
5. Sustain: Make a habit of maintaining correct procedures and instill this discipline in your team.
 Within the Lean methodology, 5S helps you boost performance.

The final concept of Lean uses a Kanban scheduling system to manage production. The Kanban
scheduling system, or Kanban board, is a visualization tool that enables you to optimize the flow of
your team’s work. It gives the team a visual display to identify what needs to be done and when. The
Kanban board uses cards that are moved from left to right to show progress and help your team
coordinate the work.

Kanban boards and 5S are core methods of the Lean methodology. They can help you successfully
manage your project. Now let’s analyze the Six Sigma method and learn when is the best time to
use it.

Six Sigma
Six Sigma is a methodology used to reduce variations by ensuring that quality processes are
followed every time. The term “Six Sigma” originates from statistics and generally means that items
or processes should have 99.9996% quality.

The seven key principles of Six Sigma are:

1. Always focus on the customer.

2. Identify and understand how the work gets done. Understand how work really happens.
3. Make your processes flow smoothly.
4. Reduce waste and concentrate on value.
5. Stop defects by removing variation.
6. Involve and collaborate with your team.
7. Approach improvement activity in a systematic way.
Use this methodology to find aspects of the product or process that are measurable like time, cost,
or quantity. Then inspect that measurable item and reject any products that do not meet the Six
Sigma standard. Any process that created unacceptable products has to be improved upon.

Now that you understand both Lean and Six Sigma, let's see how they come together to improve the
performance of your project!

Lean Six Sigma

After both Lean and Six Sigma were put into practice, it was discovered that the two methodologies
could be combined to increase benefits. The tools used in Lean, such as Kanban boards and 5S,
build quality in processes from the beginning. Products developed using Lean methods are then
inspected or tested using Six Sigma standards. The products that do not meet these standards are
rejected.

The largest difference between these methodologies is that Lean streamlines processes while Six
Sigma reduces variation in products by building in quality from the beginning and inspecting
products to ensure quality standards are met. You may find that one of these two methods—or using
them both together—can improve the efficiency of your projects.

Common project management approaches

and how to select one
You have been learning a lot about different project management approaches and when to use
them. In this reading, we will briefly recap some of the most common ones and recommend a
couple of articles with supporting information. You’ll continue to learn more about these
approaches throughout this certificate program.

Popular project management approaches

Below is a brief recap of some of the project management approaches you’ve been introduced to
so far:

Waterfall is a traditional methodology in which tasks and phases are completed in a linear,
sequential manner, and each stage of the project must be completed before the next begins. The
project manager is responsible for prioritizing and assigning tasks to team members. In
Waterfall, the criteria used to measure quality is clearly defined at the beginning of the project.

Agile involves short phases of collaborative, iterative work with frequent testing and regularly-
implemented improvements. Some phases and tasks happen at the same time as others. In Agile
projects, teams share responsibility for managing their own work. Scrum and Kanban are
examples of Agile frameworks, which are specific development approaches based on the Agile
philosophy.

Scrum is an Agile framework that focuses on developing, delivering, and sustaining complex
projects and products through collaboration, accountability, and an iterative process. Work is
completed by small, cross-functional teams led by a Scrum Master and is divided into short
Sprints with a set list of deliverables.

Kanban is a tool used in both Agile and Lean approaches that provides visual feedback about
the status of the work in progress through the use of Kanban boards or charts. With Kanban,
project managers use sticky notes or note cards on a physical or digital Kanban board to
represent the team’s tasks with categories like “To do,” “In progress,” and “Done.”

Lean uses the 5S quality tool to eliminate eight areas of waste, save money, improve quality,
and streamline processes. Lean’s principles state that you can do more with less by addressing
dysfunctions that create waste. Lean implements a Kanban scheduling system to manage
production.

Six Sigma involves reducing variations by ensuring that quality processes are followed every
time. The Six Sigma method follows a process-improvement approach called DMAIC, which
stands for define, measure, analyze, improve, and control.

Lean Six Sigma is a combination of Lean and Six Sigma approaches. It is often used in
projects that aim to save money, improve quality, and move through processes quickly. Lean Six
Sigma is also ideal for solving complex or high-risk problems. The 5S organization framework,
the DMAIC process, and the use of Kanban boards are all components of this approach.

Despite their differences, all of these project management methodologies require communication
and collaboration among various teams and aim to deliver projects on time and within budget.
Selecting a project management approach
With so many methodologies available, there are many options that would work well for your
project. Since projects and the organizations in which you will execute them vary greatly, the
approach you choose to implement for each project will vary. At Google, we often use a hybrid
of approaches and frameworks to efficiently meet the project goal! All approaches can be
combined with others, depending on the needs of your project.