A Survival Guide for Project Managers, Second Edition

Part Two. Managing a Project

Introduction to Part Two

Part One discussed the various human and technical skills and tools needed for project management. Part Two discusses where and when to apply this knowledge.

A project has a life cycle with several phases, much the same as a human: It starts slowly in the concept and development phases, builds during development to a peak in the implementation phases, and then begins a steady decline until termination. It is often difficult to differentiate between a project’s life cycle phases because some overlapping of activities or tasks is inevitable. Even so, it is useful to think in terms of discrete life cycle phases because that facilitates identification of typical project management activities and ...