Project cycle management (PCM) is a strength of project management to approach the complexities of a project in all phases. At the same time, it’s necessary to continue the strategic alignment and objectives selected and agreed upon by the company’s stakeholders.
Is it a method based on several developments, focusing on organizing and planning projects through active phases and tasks? The process covers everything from planning to execution.
Why should you choose project cycle management?
Many professionals experience the overwhelming that comes from a large project. Project cycle management eliminates the risk and gives more effective solutions. There are three reasons to depend upon choosing project cycle management.
- Simplicity
The PCM process simplifies the work of the project. Thus, it creates better results that ultimately lead to better project success.
- Improved productivity
As there is a product manager or a leader to lead the project, the main aim is to work together, and we can do this. This states that the team member is productive enough to complete the project on time.
- Transparency
When it comes to managing projects, it becomes difficult at times; PCM clears the stage and methods with stakeholders, parties, and clients. It maintains transparency between the parties.
How does project cycle management work?
PCM gives the project life cycle strategy by engaging from a well-organized system to prove better results. It works according to the phases laid by objective goals, clarity, and universal practices. Each cycle stage works as a book chapter that means to be started and completed. Later, moving into the next step, ensuring better quality and meeting project expectations from the stakeholders.
When one phase is completed, the new one starts. A project manager or leader leads his team through each stage of the project cycle and moves towards creating points until the project is completed.
Project cycle management uses basic principles of project management. It focuses on project structure, works on clear goals, maintains transparency, recognizes risks easily, and several other factors. Out of all this, the significant outcome of a positive project life cycle is a cost-effective process based on quality results.
The phases of project cycle management
The heart of project cycle management belongs to its five phases. Each phase ensures a better outcome with better results aiming to execute a project wonderfully. These methods are set up in an organized and clean way to meet conjecture on time.
- Project initiation
It is the beginning stage where all the project participants and project manager brainstorms on issues the project needs to work on. It is a stage where a project starts, and this phase aims to define the project in a larger sense. Here, the project manager begins with a leadership meeting with clients to understand the purpose and objectives and, most importantly, their vision and expectations from us.
It’s essential that the project manager undergoes all the details and asks as many questions as possible to understand and nurture the client’s idea to develop an assessment to complete a project.
- Product planning and design
Like every successful project, planning is crucial. Once the objectives are decided, t’s time to move and develop a roadmap for everyone to follow, it involves setting goals and describing job responsibilities to the project members. Many project managers have used a trick, such as SMART, which means the goals to achieve the process beautifully.
SMART goals: A popular goal-setting process helps PCM create solid, successful, ambitious, and doable goals. If you break down the word, every letter sets some quality.
- Product execution
Here is some of the third stage of the project cycle, named the longest stage of the process, where the project starts taking its shape and hard work gets done. This is the stage where everything that has been planned for the project needs to be carried out. As many things are happening while executing a project, maybe that’s why it’s referred to as the meat of the project.
The programmers work on coding, web designers with the graphic material, and project managers make status and performance reports. The literal execution of the project is happening to give quality product delivery to the client.
- Project monitoring
This is when the project manager must check if all the plans and steps are going accordingly. This phase is about measuring project progress, valuable feedback, and overall performance to see if everything is going well according to the project management plan, where the situation can turn into best-case or worst-case scenarios.
The stage also includes controlling the problems solved promptly within the timeline and balancing work. Different project managers use various techniques to measure performance. Some use project management software, while others use key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine whether it is on track.
- Project closure
The closure stage is the end of the project, and in this stage, the Project Manager dissolves the team and returns all the assets to their owners. This phase represents the completed project and is the last phase of project management, also called the post- follow-up stage.
Generally, once a project is completed and delivered to the client, the effective project managers set aside some time to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the valuable team members. It is possible to state what went wrong and steps to gain valuable feedback and how the takeaways from the project can be rectified.
Take your career to a new level.
PCM has proven to be an effective and growing method for all projects. When a professional decides to learn, Simplilearn online learning is a platform to learn and grow project management program certification.
Every organization worldwide has started using PCM to improve and present projects better and systematically. So, it is time to begin learning about project management and give your career a new height.
