Explain 5 Benefits of a Project Lifecycle (2024)

Five Benefits of a Project lifecycle are:

It provides a structure for project delivery.
It improves communication between team members.
It enables progress to be tracked across the organisation.
It provides for the progressive evolution of the project.
It enables structured reviews that support governance.
It provides a structure for project delivery.

It provides a structure for project delivery.

The project lifecycle provides a structured approach for the delivery of the project. This allows everyone working on the project to identify and monitor how the project is progressing; and whether there are any issues with particular aspects of the deliverables. It also has clearly defined activities and outputs for each phase and the assigned responsibilities. This provides a common roadmap for teams to follow.

It improves communication between team members.

Aids communication and helps define roles within the project organisation as it provides a framework for the project that is visible and understood by all members of the project. Also, roles and responsibilities can be assigned according to the project phase. This makes it easy for people to understand what they should be doing in each phase. It also helps the business to plan levels of resource requirements to avoid wasted resources but ensuring that resource is available as required. The Implementation phase will require the most resource.

It enables progress to be tracked across the organisation.

The project lifecycle will allow the project manager to link progress directly to each phase and recognise the completion of each phase, i.e. the Concept Stage encompasses everything up to the production of the business case. The Definition phase includes the production of the project management plan and all subsidiary plans, such as the risk management plan and the quality plan and the Implementation phase covers the construction of the various components that comprise the end product – this phase is broken down into Design and Build stages.

It provides for the progressive evolution of the project

The phases within the project lifecycle provide an understanding of the evolution of the project, being able to identify areas that need greater attention at different times such as risk management in the early stages and more Project Evaluation Reviews during the Implementation stage. With each stage, the project detail is elaborated in more detail. The costs estimates are improved and the plans refined in more detail.

It enables structured reviews that support governance.

The project lifecycle will define when the Project Evaluation Review and the Gate Reviews will take place, therefore allowing the project manager to plan completion of reports in readiness to support the reviews. It will also allow required people to pre-plan their attendance to enable quick decisions on a ‘go no go’ for the project progress. These regular reviews also provide increased confidence for the stakeholders in confirming early successes and confirmation that the project is still viable and on plan – alternatively these can be escape routes, if the project is no longer viable.

If your project could benefit from a structured lifecycle then please get in touch and we can help you define the stage.

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Read our in-depth Guide To Project Management Qualifications for information about the range of professional qualifications that provide a progressive structure for project managers to boost your career prospects.

22 Comments Leave a comment

Project Life Cycle says:
6th October 2020 at 2:46 pm
Another very useful example answer for this APM PMQ exam question
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Kimoro andrew masatu says:
28th January 2021 at 9:11 pm
Good notice but some information are missing try to put more notice for further understanding
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Kemi says:
11th February 2021 at 11:52 am
See Also
Organisational structure by product | nibusinessinfo.co.uk Advantages & Disadvantages of Critical Path Method | Smartsheet You Should Absolutely Take a Break Right Now—And Here’s the Best Way to Do It 6 benefits of simplification
I am revising in preparation for my exams in few weeks but struggling with this question:
“Explain reasons why projects are structured as phases in a linear project life cycle”. Can someone help with the answer to this question please? Thank you
Reply
- pnaybour says:
  11th February 2021 at 12:34 pm
  Hi
  We have a new on-line “how to pass the APM-PMQ BoK 7” exam prep e-learning module; You can get it here: https://www.parallelprojecttraining.com/events/35-apm-project-management-qualification-apm-pmq-bok7-hints-and-tips/. It’s going to cast £50 but we have not got the e-commerce working yet. Would you like a free copy. It includes answers to all the typical questions.
  Reply
  - Kemi says:
    11th February 2021 at 11:19 pm
    Thank you. I will like to receive a free copy please.
    Reply
    - pnaybour says:
      12th February 2021 at 11:26 am
      Kemi
      I have added you to the ‘How to Pass the APM PMQ in 3 hours’ module free of charge as we are still in the pilot phase of market testing. Please could I ask that you leave some feedback below on how useful you find the module?
      Reply
      - Kemi says:
        12th February 2021 at 12:50 pm
        Thanks very much Paul. I will definitely do.
      - Kemi says:
        22nd February 2021 at 12:43 pm
        I found the materials very useful. It is informative, educative and easy to use.
        Thank you very much Paul.
      - pnaybour says:
        22nd February 2021 at 12:46 pm
        Kemi
        I am glad you found it useful. Exam for the APM PMQ is an area that gets lost in all the other content. Good luck with your exam, do let me know how you get on.
      - Teri says:
        22nd June 2021 at 2:46 pm
        See Also
        What is the Programme Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)?
        Can you Please add me?
  - Lina Todorova says:
    13th February 2021 at 9:43 pm
    Hi Paul, I am currently revising for my exam scheduled for 10th March and enrolled onto the PMQ course as part of our company training. I am not sure I have seen this document. Would it be possible to receive a copy, please?
    Reply
    - pnaybour says:
      14th February 2021 at 6:12 pm
      Hi
      It free to registered users module on our Moodle e-learning site. Just use your Moodle login and you can self enrol. If you can’t login you can re-set your password. The link for the the Moodle e-learning is at the bottom of the website.
      Reply
- J says:
  18th October 2021 at 10:19 am
  Hey,
  I was also after some help with this question if possible?
  your help would be much appreciated
  Kind regards,
  J
  Reply
  - pnaybour says:
    18th October 2021 at 10:57 am
    We have put together a whole exam prep course for people taking the BoK7 exam. including this question. It’s only £50 plus VAT. You can take the course here: https://www.parallelprojecttraining.com/events/35-apm-project-management-qualification-apm-pmq-bok7-hints-and-tips/
    Reply
Shannen says:
10th April 2021 at 11:27 pm
I would like assistance with the question ” why is an understanding of the life cycle relevant for your understanding of projects? can anyone assist?
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Patricia Chadauka says:
25th June 2021 at 11:32 am
I want to be asdisted with the question which says how useful is the project lifecycle in the project financial management
Reply
bala says:
9th October 2021 at 9:18 pm
Hi is ‘How to Pass the APM PMQ in 3 hours’ still offered free ?
thx
bala
Reply
- pnaybour says:
  9th October 2021 at 9:47 pm
  It’s free to any Paralell existing customer with a Moodle login. Just login to Moodle and self subscribe. It £50 plus VAT for new customers.
  Reply
KAZ says:
23rd November 2021 at 10:04 pm
Hi – I have never used Moodle, would I need to download something? You mention above that the 3hr session includes answers to all the typical questions. Is this something that you send out as part of the sessoion?
Many thanks
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- pnaybour says:
  20th June 2022 at 8:38 pm
  Moodle does not need a download; it’s used by many thousands of schools and universities. The exam prep is designed to support people studying our distance learning courses. This includes printed materials, e-learning podcasts etc.
  Reply
Paul @ Forest Design says:
29th August 2023 at 4:43 pm
This is great and simple advice. In my experience when working on large projects with others, the plans / tracking are either way too complex and long winded – making the admin side of the project eat up into the actual design time, or there isn’t much of a plan and there is no accountability – meaning the project drifts along slowly and doesn’t get completed very quickly. If you don’t mind I’m going to use your basic principles to refine my standard contract for design work! Thanks, have a nice day.
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Pmoglobal says:
6th November 2023 at 11:03 am
]Hey there! Just finished reading your article on the benefits of a project lifecycle, and I have to say it was quite an eye-opener. First off, thanks for breaking down these advantages in such a clear and concise manner. It makes understanding the concept so much easier, even for someone like me who’s not a project management expert.
Your point about risk management being a significant advantage really hit home. It’s amazing how a well-structured project lifecycle can help identify and mitigate potential issues before they become big problems. Your real-world examples brought this home for me. I’ve had my fair share of project mishaps in the past, and now I see how a proper lifecycle could have saved the day.
And then there’s the whole stakeholder communication aspect you mentioned. I never realized how crucial it is to keep everyone in the loop throughout a project’s life. Your insights on how this can boost collaboration and buy-in are spot on. It’s made me think about how I can apply these principles even in my non-project-related work. Thanks for the great read!
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