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2 - ORGANIZATIONAL INFLUENCES AND PROJECT LIFE CYCLE

The generic life cycle structure generally displays the following characteristics:

• Cost and staffing levels are low at the start, peak as the work is carried out, and drop rapidly as the
project draws to a close. Figure 2-8 illustrates this typical pattern.
• The typical cost and staffing curve above may not apply to all projects. A project may require significant
expenditures to secure needed resources early in its life cycle, for instance, or be fully staffed from a point
very early in its life cycle.
• Risk and uncertainty (as illustrated in Figure 2-9) are greatest at the start of the project. These factors
decrease over the life of the project as decisions are reached and as deliverables are accepted.
• The ability to influence the final characteristics of the project’s product, without significantly impacting
cost, is highest at the start of the project and decreases as the project progresses towards completion.
Figure 2-9 illustrates the idea that the cost of making changes and correcting errors typically increases
substantially as the project approaches completion.

While these characteristics remain present to some extent in almost all project life cycles, they are not always
present to the same degree. Adaptive life cycles, in particular, are developed with the intent of keeping stakeholder
influences higher and the costs of changes lower throughout the life cycle than in predictive life cycles.

High
Risk and uncertainty

Degree

Cost of changes

Low
Project Time

Figure 2-9. Impact of Variable Based on Project time

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