Sylvain CarrierRetired| Canadian Forces and Government of CanadaOttawa, Ontario, Canada
I had to do some research to compare the name/structure of project phases in various methodologies and came across an interesting paper by Mounir Ajam.
The paper basically says that PMI/PMBoK has process groups but no project phase/stage structure as such.
Bala S DuvvuriProject Manager| ShellBangalore, Karnataka, India
interesting,even i would like to know. Saving Changes...
Bala S DuvvuriProject Manager| ShellBangalore, Karnataka, India
Actually section 2.4.2 in PMBOK talks about phases,different phase to phase relationships,different life cycles. Saving Changes...
Sylvain CarrierRetired| Canadian Forces and Government of CanadaOttawa, Ontario, Canada
Yes, indeed.
It does not say that there are "standard" phases that should be used though. It only presents the concept of phases as far as I can see...
The closest to an answer to that is in the Construction Extensions to the PMBoK 3rd edition. Section 2.1.2 says that projects are usually viewed in five phases with all process groups operating within those: concept, planning, detailed design, construction and start-up/turnover. Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
PMBOK Define Phases as parts of one project where each phases completes a deliverable. I guess what you are referring to Sylvain is the phases in general for the whole project.
PMBOK defines 5 Process Groups: Initiating, Planning, Executing, M&C, Closing - Normally in every project, we follow all these 5 process groups. However, if I am not mistaken, internally and depending on the life cycle of the project, type of project, industry these can be many phases which you can introduce into the project (Not Process Group), for example:
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
As far as I am aware, there is no mandating of phases other than section 2.4.2 which talks specifically about a projects divided into parts, each part is a phase and delivers a certain deliverable because phases are different from project to another and it depends what type of project life cycle you are adopting. For example: Figure 2-13 / Page 44 / Predictive Life Cycle.
However, PMBOK mentions that the project life cycle is a series of phases and I agree with the article on that some people has confusion that process group are phases which is not the case.
In other words: Every project has to pass through the 5 Process Groups - Depending on the project type, you adopt a life cycle and divide it into phases. You can't mandate a specific set of phases, you can propose some phases but not mandate them. Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Hello Sylvain et al
Thanks for posting and commenting. Since I am assuming not every one has read the paper - let me clarify a few points in order to avoid misunderstandings.
Chapter 2 of the PMBOK does mention the concept of a project life cycle and that the life cycle consists of different phases. It is also correct that PMBOK does not maintain a certain number or names of phases, because it cannot. The PMBOK is generic (most projects ...) and the project life cycle is usually variable and highly dependent on the industry, type of project, organization involved, etc.
For example - the project life cycle (and phases) for an industrial project is different than for software development, military, media, etc.
Even within the same industry - different companies could have different life cycles (and phases).
Another key point that is critical and that it is the reason behind my article, is this point. A large percent of PM practitioners (including PMP) do NOT understand the PMBOK. They think the process groups are project phases, which is not correct. These process groups REPEAT in every phase. So if a project life cycle has 3 phases, the process groups repeat 3 times (at least most of the processes if not all). If a project has 6 phases, then the process groups repeat six times,
Hope this clarify.
...
1 reply by Rami Kaibni
Jan 20, 2016 2:40 PM
Rami Kaibni
...
I totally agree with you Mounir and this is what I exactly mentioned above.
Saving Changes...
Sylvain CarrierRetired| Canadian Forces and Government of CanadaOttawa, Ontario, Canada
It's nice to get additional info directly from the author of the cited paper. Thanks.
Having seen all this, it is necessarily wrong to use "initiate, plan, execute and close" as standard or fundamental project phases/stages? Even if those will get repeated within every phase/stage of a given project, they do correspond to the right steps in a project life cycle. One could say that we have some kind of recursive process.
In addition PRINCE2 is basically using the same phases/stages with their "pre-project, initiation, delivery and closing" phases. The boundaries of the phases are a pretty good match too I think. Saving Changes...
PANKAJ KUMAR JOSHIGeneral Manager| Transrail Lighting LimitedNainital, Uttrakhand, India
PMBOK explains WBS as per phase or activities(engineering, procurement, site execution etc). Each activity can be treated as separate project by Engineering, procurement and site team and can be done in phases. Saving Changes...
Community Champion
